Program Description

The Clean Ohio Agricultural Easement Purchase Program (hereinafter "AEPP") will have a total of $ 3.125 million to purchase agricultural easements in the seventh funding round.  The deadline to submit an electronic version as well as a signed printout of the submitted electronic version to the Ohio Department of Agriculture (hereinafter "ODA") is May 11, .

This application must be completed by a "Local Sponsor" on behalf of a "Landowner."  All sections of the application must be completed and include all of the required attachments, or the application may be invalidated.

There shall be payment caps for the program.  The caps are as follows:

          1.) Each Landowner can receive only one award for each year's program.  A Landowner cannot have ownership interest in two or more funded properties per year under this program.

          2.) AEPP shall not pay more than $2,000 (Two Thousand and 00/100 Dollars) per acre.  This amount assumes one of three conditions:

• at least a 25 percent donation of the agricultural easement value from the Landowner,

• at least a 25 percent cash contribution from the Local Sponsor toward this value, or

• a combination of the Landowner and Local Sponsor cash and donation of the easement value totaling at least 25 percent.

(All of this information is verified by the Points Based Appraisal portion of this application.)

3.) A Landowner may only receive a maximum award of $500,000 per funding round.

4.) A county will not be awarded more than $500,000 per funding round.

The Ohio General Assembly has created a two-tier ranking system for selecting farms under the AEPP.  The submitted application will be ranked.  The ODA staff will conduct a Tier 1 evaluation with the highest-ranking applications being forwarded to the 12-member Ohio Farmland Preservation Advisory Board for Tier 2 evaluation.  The Advisory Board will recommend to the Director of the ODA which farms they have determined meet the criteria and qualifications to be awarded funding.  The award shall be conditioned upon the following:

• A title search showing:    a)  The Landowner has outright title/fee simple ownership or has clear title to the property.  b)  The exact acreage of the property, and c)  An accurate legal description of the property's boundaries.

• A subordination of interests to the ODA by any party that has a mortgage, lien or any other third party interest(s) on the applicant property, the exercise of which could result in a conversion of the land from predominately agricultural use.

• An acceptance by the Landowner of ODA's "Option to Purchase an Agricultural Easement" for the amount determined by the "points based" appraisal method, or less if subject to the county or landowner program caps.

ODA will request that the State Controlling Board approve funding for each selected farm subject to the following conditions:

• Clear title to the property,

• Exact acreage of the property and accurate legal description of the property's boundaries, or a survey if necessary, which must be completed at the expense of the Landowner,

• Signing of any Subordination Agreement(s),

• Signing of the "Option to Purchase an Agricultural Easement", and

• Acceptance by the Landowner of the "points based" Agricultural Easement value, or less if subject to the program's county or landowner caps.

Once approved, ODA will forward the funding for each selected farm to the Local Sponsor.  The money will be awarded to the Landowner when the Deed of Agricultural Easement is signed by the Local Sponsor, Landowner, and the ODA, and, if federal funds are involved, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and recorded in the appropriate county recorder's office.

Local Sponsors who have questions on the AEPP must contact the ODA Office of Farmland Preservation; Landowners who have questions must contact their Local Sponsor.