Agricultural Land Trust
Providing business tools for farmers
Orange grove with view of the Sierra Nevada
Sequoia Riverlands Trust (SRT) is a regional, agricultural land trust that has been working on the valley floor with ranchers, farmers and other non-profit groups in the leading California farming counties of Kern, Kings, Tulare and Fresno for nearly ten years. We operate with a highly skilled staff, sustainable revenue streams and years of agriculture production experience. With that knowledge, capacity and expertise, our California farmland conservation program offers resources and funds to farmers to support their agricultural operations and to bolster their businesses while conserving their farmland.
What we do
As a local agricultural land trust, SRT facilitates the use of voluntary farmland conservation agreements, otherwise known as agricultural easements, to safeguard farmland. These flexible agreements are negotiated between the landowner and our trust to purchase the property’s development rights. Legally, they are a limitation on the property’s deed, made by the landowner, to maintain the land’s continued agricultural use. Agricultural easements are written to meet the specific needs of the farmer while ensuring that the farm stays in productive agriculture. With an agricultural easement, the farmer continues to own and manage his/her land and can pass it on to his/her family or sell it at a later date.
Farmland property ownership comes with many rights, including the right to farm, graze, build, sell and develop. If the landowner sells or donates the right to develop to Sequoia Riverlands Trust, the land enters into an agricultural easement.
A business tool: how it benefits you
In addition to protecting the agricultural value of the land for future generations, agricultural easements are an important business tool in a farm family’s financial planning.
Agricultural easements offer a number of economic benefits including:
- Recapitalization of a farm or the reinvestment of funds for new equipment, a new barn or expanded business operations.
- Funds to pay down debt
- Tax benefits: An agricultural easement reduces property taxes. Furthermore, a farmer can deduct a donated easement’s value from his/her income taxes.
- Like-kind property exchange (1031 Exchange): Allows a farmer to defer paying capital gains taxes by purchasing another property within a specific time frame.
- Estate planning: An easement lowers the property value of a farm, which lowers estate taxes (which can be as high as 45%). This can enable a “land rich but cash poor” family to pass their farm on to the next generation.
- Mitigation Services
SRT also provides mitigation services to developers and businesses who need to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Read more about these services on our mitigation page.