We Think Your Easement’s Sexy
The Fight to Save Farmland
We were in Moscow, Idaho recently for the regional Idaho Nonprofit Conference, talking with nonprofits about impact and fundraising.
During one conversation, an organization that specializes in conservation easements admitted, "It’s hard to make easements sexy."
My business partner and I didn’t hesitate: "Challenge accepted."
Not only was this a fun challenge for our work in supporting nonprofits in communicating their impact, it was also perfect timing as it aligned with our Do Good Conversation: Farm to Fable.
After digging into the realities of our food systems for the event, one thing became clear: one of the biggest threats to America’s ability to grow food is the rapid de-farming of our land.
So we had a bit of a risqué idea to draw attention to it.
We caught up with Chris Colson of the Land Trust of the Treasure Valley—local expert, conservation easement connoisseur, and patient explainer—to explore one of the most effective, but often overlooked, tools farmers and communities have to protect farmland: conservation easements.
We broke it all down from what’s driving the problem, to how easements work, and how realistic they are to implement.
And yes, we made it sexy (or at least we tried to), because this issue deserves all the attention it can get.
Let’s dig in:
First, What’s an Easement?
Let’s start with the basics, because the legal world of easements can get complicated fast. And I'm about as close to a layperson as it gets.
Easement (noun):
An interest in land owned by another that entitles its holder to a specific limited use or enjoyment. [1]
Simplified: it's the legal right to use someone else’s land for a particular purpose without owning it. Our cities and neighborhoods often enact easements—think utility companies maintaining power lines, neighbors sharing a driveway, or a city maintaining a sidewalk through private property.
At their core, easements are about shared use between a landowner and another entity, usually to serve a greater public or property benefit.
But conservation easements are a little different.
According to the American Farmland Trust:
A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement that permanently limits uses of the land to protect its conservation value. [2]
In plain English: it ensures that land—whether it's a farm, wildlife habitat, or open space—stays that way forever. Ownership stays with the landowner. But the land’s use is legally locked in, binding not just the current owner but every future one too.
We’ve got to be honest, conservation easements on farmland tend to feel complicated, technical, and, well, significantly less sexy than we anticipated.
But the implications couldn’t be more attractive.
Why Does This Matter?
Let’s set the stage: the U.S. is losing farmland at a rate of 11,000 acres per day [3]. In Idaho’s Treasure Valley, the pace of farmland loss is happening even faster, potentially double, driven by rapid growth, urban sprawl, and the pressure of booming development.
“Between 2017 and 2022, the number of farms in the U.S. declined by 141,733 or 7%, according to USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture, released on Feb. 13. Acres operated by farm operations during the same timeframe declined by 20.1 million (2.2%), a loss equivalent to an area about the size of Maine.” Market Intel, 2024
According to Chris Colson and his sources, between 2017 and 2022, Idaho lost 2,794 farms and ranches, totaling 76,626 acres of farmland. During that same period, only 1,158 acres were conserved.
Adding to the concerns, the U.S. has imported more food than it’s exported in the last four years [4], specifically fruits and vegetables that make up a healthy diet [5]. Meanwhile, much of the farmland in big ag states like Iowa and Illinois is used for commodity crops like corn and soy, not the local produce that feeds communities.
In short: our ability to feed ourselves is not just at risk—it’s already slipping.
A Real Solution: Conservation Easements
Every big problem deserves a real solution.
Conservation easements are one of the most powerful tools we have to protect agricultural land. They lock in the land’s purpose—farming, open space, habitat—forever.
It’s a big deal for farmers who want to preserve their legacy. It's a big deal for communities who want to keep their rural character. And it even boosts nearby property values because people love living next to open space that’s permanently protected.
When a landowner creates a conservation easement, they’re not giving up ownership. They’re giving up future land use rights to make it impossible for any big time developer to develop it into something else.
How the Process Works
There are two ways to create a conservation easement:
Donation: The landowner donates the development rights to a land trust. Ownership stays with the landowner until they choose to sell, but the use of the land is permanently restricted, including to any new owner. The process takes about 3–6 months.
Sale: The landowner sells the development rights. This process is usually funded through competitive federal grants and takes closer to two years.
But here’s the reality check: In Idaho last year, only $14 million in federal funding was available for agricultural land preservation. Given that a single easement can cost around $1 million (including all legal, administrative, and transaction costs), the competition for grants and funding is fierce.
And it moves slowly. Bureaucracy, paperwork, grant cycles. It all adds up to a lot of waiting.
Worse yet, the federal money was designed to be a match… not the whole pot. It was supposed to encourage state investment. But Idaho’s state land conservation programs are still in their infancy and severely underfunded.
Choose Your Legacy Adventure
Let’s be real: this is where things get uncomfortable. Most farmers don’t have traditional retirement savings. For many, the farm is the 401(k). In 2021 just 14.5¢ of every dollar spent on food went back to the farmer, compared to 40¢ in 1975 [6].
After decades of operating on razor-thin margins, selling the farm is often the only way farmers can retire, cover debts, or provide for their families. And with farmland near cities like Boise fetching top dollar from developers, the pressure to sell is enormous.
We don’t judge. Every farmer’s situation is different.
But here’s another hard truth: if a farmer chooses a conservation easement, the land’s market value can drop by 30–60%.
That multi million-dollar payday from a housing developer? Off the table.
Here’s why: lush developers aren’t looking to purchase farmland to admire the view. They want to build neighborhoods, commercial centers, and parking lots. Once a conservation easement is attached to a property, it strips away the development potential, the very thing that makes the land so valuable to them. Not sexy for your average developer.
Without the ability to subdivide or rezone for new projects, the market pool shrinks dramatically. The only buyers left are people who value the land as it is for farming, conservation, or open space. And those buyers usually aren't backed by deep-pocketed investors.
So no, it’s not the biggest cash-out. But it is something else entirely.
Enter the Next Generation of Farmers
Despite the challenges, there’s a growing movement of young people stepping into agriculture and they want the land just as it is.
According to the USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture [7], there was a 7% increase in producers under the age of 44 from 2017 to 2022, with the largest jump among those under 25. Even more telling: 75% of these new farmers didn’t grow up on a farm.
In Idaho, Chris stated, 489 farmers and ranchers left the profession—but interestingly, the number of beginning farmers still increased by 535. Additionally Idaho saw a 13% increase of 'New and Beginning Producers’ during this same time period.
This new generation of farmers aren’t inheriting the work, they’re choosing it.
Conservation easements are one of the strongest tools we have to make farmland affordable and accessible to this new wave of growers. And attractive—talk about love at first sight for budding farmers (we’re trying. 😉).
When land can’t be developed, its speculative value drops—but so does the barrier to entry for beginning farmers. Conservation easements offer access and opportunity to new generations of food growers. Local food stays local, neighboring farms can expand and thrive, and communities maintain character and open space. And we all maintain accessible, nutritionally dense diets! Win, win, win, and win.
And another bonus: when a land trust holds these easements they continue as stewards of the property—checking in annually to ensure the terms are honored and the farmers legacy is safeguarded for generations to come.
Maybe it’s not Wall Street sexy. But protecting the land, feeding your neighbors, and shaping the future of your community? That’s a different kind of breadwinner, bringing home the bacon (or tomatoes) kind of energy we think is sexy.
Peaceful Belly Farms Drops the Mic
If you didn’t learn anything new, aren’t convinced, or still think it doesn’t add up—we hope you’ll sit with this:
During the writing process, we shared early drafts with other non-experts—people like us. The first reaction was hesitation.
“People who think in numbers will see it doesn’t add up,” someone said. “They’re losing money. Easements just sound like a lot of bureaucracy and red tape.”
It’s not an unfair take. But it’s a tale as old as money: monetary value does not equal inherent value—and convincing people to prioritize values that aren’t measured in dollars is hard. Really hard.
So we searched for more perspectives.
It didn’t take long to find one that said everything we were trying to put into words. No one sums it up better than Josie Erskine of Peaceful Belly Farms, who secured their conservation easement not more than a few years ago. Here, we quote her in full because it was to beautiful to deliver in any other way:
“Our ideas of community as Americans have shifted from thinking as a collective to thinking as individuals. That shift in ideals and values has also moved into how we value land. In many land hearings, county commissioners and developers think of agricultural lands as land just waiting to be developed with housing or commerce.
An easement is a very strong statement that the best and highest use for this land is in agriculture and should remain that way. This idea and thought is a very community-based thought, and I see easements as a very strong tool to preserve agricultural lands for future generations.
Saving agricultural lands is an act of being a good ancestor—as is simply being a farmer. It is an act that acknowledges all of the people who have lived on this land for thousands of years and shows great respect for the Earth and the bounty that she provides.
Putting land into an easement is a deeply community-centered act. It’s not just about preserving open space—it’s about preserving a way of life. It’s about ensuring that future generations can grow food, raise livestock, and carry on the work we've done with our hands and hearts.
In our current capitalist system that values everything by what it can be sold for, agricultural easements can feel like a radical act. But they are also an act of love—for the land, for our families, and for the communities that depend on us.
We have put an easement on our farm because we love our great-great-great-grandchildren so much, and we want to see them live in a community that can sustain and feed itself.”
After hearing from Peaceful Belly farms, we know we're not crazy for valuing this solution and we know there are people that still define community as a collective. Peaceful Belly is proof as well as others. As of 2025, the United States has over 221,000 conservation easements, encompassing more than 37.9 million acres of land [8]. That’s not a fringe idea. That’s a movement. People care about our farmlands and open spaces, and they want to see the next generations thrive.
As for those early readers who said easements weren’t compelling? We asked if Peaceful Belly’s words changed anything.
Their answer: “Yeah… that’s compelling.”
If it takes storytelling, data, food, values, even a little flirtation to get there—so be it. Let’s make conservation easements sexy. Saving farmland has an impact you can see, feel, and taste. 🍆🍑
Call to Action
If you believe farmland is worth saving, here's how to help:
Farmers: reach out to your local land trust. Explore whether a conservation easement could be the right fit for your land, your legacy, and for making farmland accessible to the next generation of farmers.
Community members: support and donate to your local land trusts. Shop at your local farmers market. Advocate for farmland protection policies in your town and state.
And show up—speak with local real estate developers, attend planning and zoning hearings, and use your voice to stand up for the farmers who worked a 14-hour day and can’t be there themselves.
These conversations don’t happen without you. Let’s make sure the future still has fields to grow in.
What HMK Impact Can Do to Help
We’ve got a vision: a full-blown awareness campaign featuring a calendar of sexy farmers on their easements. Think of your local firefighter fundraiser, but for land trusts and conservation easements.
If this sounds like your kind of fun (and impact), let’s talk. We’ll handle the project management and you get the proceeds, the publicity, and the satisfaction of making easements a little sexier.
