State program looks to conserve Texas ranch and farmland

A Texas program designed to assist landowners who want to conserve working farm and ranch lands is helping families hold on to heirloom acres. The Texas Farms and Ranch Lands Conservation Program, created by the legislature in 2005, was meant to play a vital role in protecting agricultural lands, which are disappearing as a result of the recent population boom. A 2014 Texas A&M study found that the state was losing farm and ranch land at a faster rate than anywhere else in the country. The program provides state funds to nonprofits — often land trusts — to purchase conservation easements. Landowners that sell or donate those easements retain title to their land if they agree not to mine or build a residential subdivision or commercial development on the property. Read more and watch the story at NBCDFW…