Another $300 million for rural and family lands conservation makes it into House budget

Image via Lauren Yoho / Wildpath.

A House budget released on Friday includes $300 million for rural and family lands conservation. That’s $50 million more than the Senate currently provides in its own proposed budget.

A look at the line items accompanying a budget release shows Speaker Daniel Perez wants a Rural and Conservation Land Protection effort funded with $100 million from general revenue with another $200 million budgeted from the state’s Land Acquisition Trust Fund.

That budget line would match the $300 million secured by Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson when he was Senate President to launch the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program. Since winning state office, Simpson has pushed for the purchase of hundreds of family farms.

A state website says the program is designed to protect important agricultural lands through the acquisition of permanent agricultural land conservation easements. Projects are reviewed by a Technical Review Team, ranked through a formal process by the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program Selection Committee.

That has led to the purchase of projects like the Ryals Citrus and Cattle Easement, helping protect the Peace River. The program also funded purchases approved by the Florida Cabinet of easements in the Northern Everglades and the Kissimmee Valley.

The release from the House indicates a desire for the funding to be used to buy conservation easements.

Notably, the House budget also puts more toward this mission than the Senate currently does, even as Senate President Ben Albritton has prioritized investment in Florida’s Heartland as part of a “Rural Renaissance.”

The Senate budget released earlier this week includes $250 million for Rural and Conservation Land Protection, including $50 million from general revenue, $100 million from the Land Acquisition Land Trust and $100 million from other incidental trust funds.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ budget does not have a specific line item mentioning rural land acquisition but he has budgeted more than $204 million for a state lands program.