Survey Finds VOF Easements Largely Protecting Working Farms and Forestland

Trey Davis
Assistant Director

The Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) recently compiled a survey of 631 landowners who granted conservation easements to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) since 2000.  Its findings reveal that landowners are primarily managing those lands for agricultural production and/or forestry, and that they are reinvesting many of the tax credits they receive from the state back into their operations.  I think the results are telling and show that many active farms have been able to prosper under a conservation easements.

http://www.virginiaoutdoorsfoundation.org/2014/11/survey-finds-vof-easements-largely-protecting-working-farms-forestland/

We support voluntary conservation easements as an option for our members in preserving farmland.  The data from this survey is encouraging for individuals who seek to keep their land in production and offers some incentives to expand their business.