Welcome to Nicholas County’s Farmland Protection Program
Our mission is to preserve Nicholas County’s land and economy by helping landowners to permanently protect their farmlands.
Farmland is important to our economy, food security, and rural landscape. Good soils and the labor of our farmers have given us the beautiful and productive farms we have today. We hope to continue that legacy- to ensure that quality farmlands are available for the future.
Landowners wanting to limit development on their farms may, with the help of the Farmland Protection Board, place conservation easements on their properties. These voluntary easements restrict certain types of development and land use. Easement restrictions and allowances are unique to each property and landowner. Landowners continue to own and operate normally on their properties. The difference is the peace of mind that the land they’ve worked hard to cultivate will remain available for farming long into the future.
Further, the Homeland Security Act, which the Congress passed as a protection measure following the attack of September 11, 2001, specifies that America’s farms should be protected as a means of making us self-sustaining in the event of attacks which would prevent the importation of foodstuffs from foreign countries. Because of the enormous loss of farmland nationwide during the last 25 years, the United States is no longer self-sustaining according to statistics provided by the American Farmland Trust.