The city of Phoenix has allocated more money this year to protect urban farmland from development.

In June 2021, the Phoenix City Council approved $1 million for the Farmland Preservation Program, part of its Phoenix Resilient Food System Program.

The Central AZ Land Trust administers the program.

Since then, the council approved $2 million more for the program, meaning more farmland owners can be paid to sell their development rights while maintaining their farms "for the benefit of all,” city officials stated in a release.

For example, through a partnership with the Central AZ Land Trust, Maya’s Farm already has been permanently protected from development via a conservation easement.

Now, more money is available for conservation easements, according to the city.

"We are very excited that this program will receive double the funding this year to conserve more vital urban farms within Phoenix," said Rosanne Albright, the city environmental programs coordinator.

Becky Ruffner, president of the CALT board said: “We are grateful that the city of Phoenix continues to recognize the importance of maintaining working lands and prioritizes conserving our local farms and food supply.”

Having conserved Maya’s Farm, CALT “will continue to engage other farmland owners to participate in this program,” the city release stated.

 Interested farmland owners in Phoenix can contact Sharma Torrens at agconserveconsulting@gmail.com.

Conservation easements are voluntary contractual relationships between a land trust and a landowner whereby the landowner sells or donates their development rights while still owning the land, according to the city.

A landowner can get paid 60%-80% of the full sale value of the property (based on a qualified appraisal). Because the conservation easement binds all future owners of the property, the farm will remain in agricultural production and open space in perpetuity, city officials said.