American Farmland Trust calls on Biden to conserve 30 percent of farm, ranch lands

American Farmland Trust on Tuesday released “Agriculture’s Role in 30×30: Partnering with Farmers and Ranchers to Protect Land, Biodiversity, and the Climate,” outlining agriculture’s role in the effort to “conserve at least 30% of our lands and waters by 2030” as put forth in the Biden administration’s executive order Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.

AFT recommends that the Biden administration take the following actions in support of the 30×30 initiative:

▪ Commit to protecting and conserving 30% of working farmland and ranchland by 2030 (including permanently protecting 5% of working land with agricultural conservation easements).

▪ Take immediate action to accelerate working lands protection and biodiversity conservation using USDA’s existing programs and authorities.

▪ Fight the loss of working lands to development by proposing legislation to dramatically expand the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program – Agricultural Land Easements and Healthy Forest Reserve Program and strengthening the Farmland Protection Policy Act.

▪ Launch a targeted effort to protect wildlife habitat on working lands by proposing legislation to provide major new funding for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program to establish an initiative focused on protecting and conserving private working lands in biodiversity hotspots and wildlife movement corridors.

–The Hagstrom Report