Governor and Cabinet approve spending $19M for conservation deals

Properties approved for easements included ranches in DeSoto, Glades and Hendry counties.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet on Tuesday approved spending $19 million to conserve rural land used for cattle, while also expanding a list of agricultural properties the state could help shield from residential or commercial development.

Meeting briefly by phone, DeSantis and the Cabinet approved a new ranking list of 258 farms, ranches, and forests that could be preserved through the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Rural and Family Lands Protection Program.

“That's 178 new projects just applied for this year and 80 that have rolled over from the previous cycle,” Department Rural and Family Lands Director Sue Mullins said.

Mullins and other state staff members were listening in the Capitol’s Cabinet meeting room while DeSantis, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and Attorney General Ashley Moody met for about 20 minutes by phone.

Conservation easements allow farmers and ranchers to continue operations with the promise that their land won’t be developed. The state pays property owners for the easements.

DeSantis and the Cabinet approved three conservation-easement deals, with one under the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program and two under the state’s Florida Forever program.