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Farmland Protection Program
There are many ways that farmland owners and their communities can protect farmland.
- Farmland owners who plan to farm for the long-term can enroll for Maine's Farmland Property Tax Program to reduce property tax on their working farmland.
- Forest and woodland owners who plan to grow and harvest timber and wood product for the long-term can enroll for Maine's Tree Growth Property Tax Program to reduce property tax on their working forestland.
- Farmland owners can register their farmland to require the neighbors’ well to be set back 50’ from the edge of the registered farmland.
- Farmland owners can donate or sell a conservation easement to a land trust.
- Contact Maine Farmland Trust
- Find a land trust near you through the Maine Land Trust Network
- Contact staff in the Division of Agricultural Resource Development to learn more about selling development rights in exchange for granting an agricultural conservation easement.
- Communities, like Winslow, Maine, can create a Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program to reimburse property taxes on farmland and farm buildings in exchange for 20 year conservation easements.
- Communities can consult with GrowSmart Maine to consider how best to develop agriculture-friendly policies and programs.
For more information, please contact Alex Redfield, (207) 592-0640 or at alexander.redfield@maine.gov.