Moore County lost 1,789 acres of agricultural, farm, and forest land to development between 2015 and 2024 — nearly 900 of those acres converted from agriculture straight into residential subdivisions, according to a University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture analysis of Comptroller and county assessor records. It’s the same pressure now playing out in the Metro Moore County Planning Commission meetings each month.

As of September 1, Tennessee landowners have a new tool aimed at making sure their farms and forests don’t end up in that column: a state program that lets them place their land under a permanent conservation easement, taking it off the table for development — forever, no matter who owns it later.

The Preserving Land for Agriculture Now (PLAN) program opened for applications at midnight Central time. The application window closes January 8, 2027.

PLAN is the product of the Farmland Preservation Act, which Governor Bill Lee signed into law in May 2025 after telling lawmakers Tennessee was losing roughly 10 acres of farmland an hour. The law set aside $25 million for the state to help pay landowners for a portion of the value of a conservation easement, plus certain costs tied to enrolling.

Two types of land qualify. Parcels with less than 75% forest cover can apply if they also meet at least one agricultural condition — agricultural zoning, farm property tax classification, or Greenbelt classification. Parcels with 75% forest cover or more qualify on that basis alone.

Applications aren’t filed solo. Every owner of a parcel has to apply jointly, and alongside a “qualified easement holder” like the Land Trust for Tennessee — typically a land trust or conservation nonprofit with 501(c)(3) status — that will hold and enforce the easement once it’s recorded.

Local century farm owner Todd Jennings appeared before the Metro Planning Commission in February of this year to talk about his experience with the Land Trust for Tennessee and outline how conservation easements can be used to permanently protect farmland and open space while keeping property in private hands. {To read our full coverage of that discussion, click here.}

Jennings spoke about his family’s experience working with the Land Trust, a nonprofit organization that facilitates voluntary conservation easements across the state. He emphasized that easements are not a transfer of ownership, but a legal agreement that limits future development of land in perpetuity while allowing owners to continue farming, selling, or passing property to heirs.

THE CATCH CRITICS ARE WATCHING

Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher has called the program a partnership between the governor’s office and the General Assembly to protect what he’s described as the backbone of the state’s economy. Once land is enrolled, the restriction is permanent — it can’t be undone by a future owner, and the property can’t be subdivided.

But not everyone thinks PLAN solves the problem it’s aimed at. Some farmland advocates argue the program has a structural gap: it doesn’t require that enrolled land actually stay in active food production — only that it stay open and undeveloped.

That distinction matters, critics say, because a conservation easement can’t legally require someone to farm. In practice, that means a buyer looking for a large private lot or a second home in the country could purchase “preserved” land, keep it open, and never put it into production — pricing out the working farmers the program is nominally designed to help.

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture spent months writing the program’s rules following public feedback before this week’s opening, a process advocates were watching closely for exactly this issue.

For landowners in Moore County weighing whether PLAN fits their situation, the practical questions are the same ones facing anyone considering a permanent easement: whether the compensation offered will make up for a locked-in loss of development rights, and whether they can find a willing easement holder before the next year’s deadline.

Full eligibility rules and the application itself are available through the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. •

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