REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio (AVC News) — Muskingum and Perry counties are among 36 Ohio counties where local sponsors have been approved to purchase agricultural easements on family farms through the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s farmland preservation program.
The department announced Oct. 8 that local sponsors were approved to purchase easements on 58 family farms covering 5,165 acres statewide through the Local Agricultural Easement Purchase Program.
The program uses funding from the Clean Ohio Fund to help keep farmland in agricultural production permanently, supporting Ohio’s food and agriculture industry.
Local sponsors, including land trusts, counties, townships and soil and water conservation districts, manage the program and use the funding to purchase easements from willing landowners through a competitive process.
Eligible farms generally must be larger than 40 acres or adjacent to a preserved farm, actively engaged in farming, enrolled in the Current Agricultural Use Value program and demonstrate good land stewardship. Farms must also have local government support and not be located too close to development.
Landowners may use proceeds from an easement sale as they choose, with many reinvesting the funds in their farming operations.
From 2002 through 2025, the state preserved 100,954 acres across 689 family farms in 54 counties through the program. Including permanent easements preserved through related programs, Ohio now has more than 111,000 acres protected across 769 farms in 62 counties.
The department also secured an additional $2.4 million in federal matching funds in 2026 through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Conservation Easement Program. The funding helped increase the number of farms and acres preserved compared with previous years.
The 36 counties approved for easement purchases include Muskingum and Perry, along with Licking, Fairfield, Ross, Knox and other counties throughout Ohio.
Meanwhile, applications for the program’s 2027 local sponsor certification are being accepted through Oct. 23, 2026. Counties, soil and water conservation districts, land trusts, cities and townships are eligible to apply to become sponsors and receive a portion of the program’s funding to purchase agricultural easements.
More information about farmland preservation and the sponsor application process is available through the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
Last Updated on October 9, 2026 by AVC News
