NC: Agricultural Conservation Easement Grant Program (ACEP) - Agricultural Land Easement (ALE) Component

The NC Agricultural Conservation Easement Grant Program (ACEP) supports the purchase of Agricultural Land Easements (ALE) to protect eligible agricultural lands. This program helps maintain farming operations by conserving land and its ecological values. NRCS may contribute up to 50% of the fair market value for these easements, which are crucial for ensuring food supply sustainability while providing additional public benefits such as environmental quality and wildlife habitat.

NOTE: NRCS accepts applications year-round. If you apply after the program ranking date, NRCS will automatically consider your application during future funding cycles.
Agricultural Land Easements (ALE)
NRCS provides financial assistance to eligible partners for purchasing Agricultural Land Easements (ALE) that protect the agricultural use and conservation values of eligible land. In the case of working farms, the program helps farmers and ranchers keep their land in agriculture. The program also protects grazing uses and related conservation values by conserving grassland, including rangeland, pastureland and shrub land.
Under the ALE component, NRCS may contribute up to 50 percent of the fair market value of the agricultural land easement. Easement values for ALE are based on a fair market appraisal.
Benefits
Agricultural Land Easements protect the long-term viability of the nation’s food supply by preventing conversion of productive working lands to non-agricultural uses. Land protected by agricultural land easements provides additional public benefits, including environmental quality, historic preservation, wildlife habitat and protection of open space. Additionally, ALE easements leverage local partnerships to match NRCS funding and local partners are responsible for the long-term stewardship of the easement.

Eligibility

Eligible partners include Indian tribes, state and local governments and non-governmental organizations that have farmland or grassland protection programs.For standard enrollments, all landowners of the property offered for enrollment must meet Farm Service Agency (FSA) payment eligibility criteria as it applies to the NRCS easement programs. Landowners must ensure they establish or update the property record and applicable payment eligibility paperwork with FSA for the fiscal year in which the application will be submitted.  Land eligible for Agricultural Land Easements (ALE) includes cropland, rangeland, grassland, pastureland and nonindustrial private forest land. ACEP-ALE easements may contain forest land on up to two-thirds of the ACEP-ALE easement area. There are many other land eligibility factors that must be considered during an application review including title review.