An expansive farm bill signed into law Monday by Gov. Ron DeSantis includes a provision allowing the state to declare certain conservation land as “surplus” and sell it to be used for agricultural production.
The provision in Senate Bill 290, dubbed the “Florida Farm Bill,” applies to state-owned conservation land acquired after 2023. Certain conservation lands are exempt, like state parks and land within the boundaries of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan or CERP.
For the applicable land deemed to be “surplus,” the state can now sell it for agricultural use.
“So if you are a young farmer saying, ‘How can we afford to buy land in this state?’ — watch for this program,” Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said at a press conference in Sebring on Monday. “This land is much more affordable than, obviously, land that's going to be closer to your normal cities.”
Lands reclassified as ‘surplus’ will be protected from future development but allowed to be used for farming under the terms of an easement: a voluntary, legally-binding agreement that protects a piece of land’s natural resources by restricting how the land is used.
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Funds from the sale of the “surplused” lands will go to the state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, or FDACS, to be used for protecting more agricultural land with easements via the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program.
The RFLPP is one of the state’s two main avenues for protecting land from future development; the other, Florida Forever, is how the state expands public access to parks and outdoor recreational opportunities, usually by buying conservation land outright. The state’s Acquisition and Restoration Council chooses the areas to be protected by Florida Forever.
For land deemed “surplus” by a local government, the farm bill directs Florida’s ARC council to determine whether or not that surplused land is suitable for agricultural purposes. For state-owned conservation land deemed to be “surplus,” FDACS and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will make that call.
In a shared written statement, Sierra Club Florida called the farm bill’s surplus provision “a dangerous precedent.”
“If conservation lands can be undone after acquisition, no public land is truly protected,” wrote Sierra Club Florida Political and Legislative Director Javier Estevez. “Florida taxpayers invest billions of dollars through programs like Florida Forever to secure land for water protection, wildlife habitat and resilience – not to create a revolving door for future sale.”
A 2023 law promises $100 million in recurring funds for the Florida Forever program, but last year’s final state budget included just $18 million for it. Meanwhile, the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program received $250 million.
“Both programs are important. Both programs are worthy,” said Audubon Florida Executive Director Julie Wraithmell.
But “given how much Floridians care deeply about their parks and preserves, and what an economic benefit they are to communities,” Wraithmell said. “Florida needs more parks, and the only program that provides those is Florida Forever.”
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Wraithmell said both state programs should be working “hand in hand,” to protect parks and preserves as well as agricultural land. All face the same threat of being paved over by future development.
The farm bill’s surplus provision was presented as an attempt to mitigate that shared threat. How it works in practice still remains to be seen.
“Florida does not acquire conservation land lightly, nor does it dispose of it lightly. And that’s where this is a bit of a transition,” Wraithmell said. “While presumably, we will continue to be very thoughtful and rigorous in the way that we acquire lands, the determination of whether they become surplused for agriculture — it's not yet well understood how that process will work.”
The farm bill takes effect on July 1.
“The devil will be in the details, and in the process that is undertaken,” Wraithmell said.
Although state lawmakers have yet to finalize a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the latest proposal shortchanges Florida Forever’s promised $100 million, allocating just $35 million to the program — and not for buying lands outright, but for acquiring development rights through mechanisms like “permanent conservation easements.”
Lawmakers will return to the Capitol for a special legislative session to finalize a budget April 20 to 24.
