Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program (FRPP)

Description of the Program

The Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP) provides matching funds to help purchase development rights to keep productive farm and ranchland in agricultural uses. Working through existing programs, USDA partners with State, tribal, or local governments and non-governmental organizations to acquire conservation easements or other interests in land from landowners. USDA provides up to 50 percent of the fair market easement value of the conservation easement.

To qualify, farmland must:

• be part of a pending offer from a State, tribe, or local farmland protection program.

• be privately owned; have a conservation plan for highly erodible land.

• be large enough to sustain agricultural production; be accessible to markets for what the land produces.

• have adequate infrastructure and agricultural support services.

• have surrounding parcels of land that can support long-term agricultural production.

Depending on funding availability, proposals must be submitted by the eligible entities to the appropriate NRCS State Office during the application window.

Announcement of Program Funding (APF)

The Fiscal Year 2006 Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP) “Announcement of Program Funding” (APF) was published on Monday, March 27, 2006 on the Grants.gov Web site.  The FRPP now has over $70 million available nationwide in federal financial assistance to help communities and eligible entities purchase conservation easements on eligible farmland. New York has received an initial allocation of $2,166,000 in financial assistance available to eligible entities for pending offers submitted this fiscal year.

This information will also be available on the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s national Web site. Click on "Farm Bill" and scroll down to FRPP and the 2006 APF, news releases and fact sheets.

Please note: Responses must be physically received in my office by May 11, 2006, to be considered eligible." Written responses must follow the “Application and Submission Information” and the “Criteria for Proposal Evaluation” outline in the ‘APF’.

Applicants should send their responses addressed to:

Ron Alvarado, State Conservationist
Attn: Marilyn Stephenson, FRPP Program Manager
USDA-NRCS
Leo O’Brien Federal Building
1 Clinton Square, Room 333
Albany, New York 12207

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding the Announcement of Program Funding for the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, please contact:

FRPP Program Manager

Marilyn Stephenson
Telephone: 518-431-4110 Extension 102

If you would like to see the entire original notice, you can visit the Request for Proposals page on the national NRCS Web site.

< Back to Programs