Item 7. DRAFT Recommendation_ City of Austin_ RCPP Easements - August 2025 — original pdf

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BOARD/COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION Austin-Travis County Food Policy Board Recommendation Number: xxxxxxx: Support for engaging in USDA-NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program to preserve farmland in Austin and Travis County WHEREAS, the 2022 City of Austin State of the Food System Report indicates that less than 0.6% of the food consumed in Travis County is produced locally, and that approximately 16.8 acres of farmland are lost daily to development pressures, underscoring the critical need for dedicated agricultural land preservation efforts; and WHEREAS, land in Austin-Travis County is continuing to increase in value and decrease in quantity, the opportunity to invest in preserving a meaningful amount farmland will disappear as development spreads and land is permanently converted to other uses; and WHEREAS, agricultural lands are vital to local food security, environmental sustainability, emergency preparedness, and climate resilience; and WHEREAS, the Austin/Travis County Food Plan, approved by the Austin City Council in October 2024, includes strategic, measurable, and time-bound goals and strategies to strengthen food security, promote environmental sustainability, and address climate change; and WHEREAS, the Austin/Travis County Food Plan’s Goal 1 prioritizes expanding community food production, preserving agricultural lands, and increasing the amount of farmland dedicated to regenerative food production long-term in Austin and Travis County; and WHEREAS, Strategy 1.1 of the Food Plan calls for the preservation of land for food production in Central Texas through conservation easements, fee-simple purchases, and land-banking, ensuring that farmland remains dedicated to agricultural use; and WHEREAS, Strategy 1.2 directs the City of Austin and Travis County to pursue capital funding sources to finance the conservation of land for agricultural use through conservation easements or direct purchases; and WHEREAS, preserving agricultural land also supports the goals of the Austin Climate Equity Plan by promoting sustainable land use, strengthening local food systems, and reducing carbon footprints through localized food production; and WHEREAS, Natural Systems Goal 2 of the Austin Climate Equity Plan aims to protect 500,000 acres of farmland across the five-county region through legal conservation or regenerative agriculture programs by 2030; and WHEREAS, Link to the previous recommendation WHEREAS, farmland preservation supports multiple City priorities, including improving water quality, wildlife habitat preservation, ecosystem biodiversity, stormwater management, recreation, carbon sequestration, and food production. WHEREAS, the United States Department of Agriculture-Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) invests in conservation easements through regional partnerships between municipal, county, and nonprofits, and land trusts using the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). WHEREAS, The Texas NRCS RCPP program has ten active agreements in effect in Texas including the Hill Country Headwaters Conservation Initiative, for which the City of Austin Watershed Protection Department and Travis County are partners; WHEREAS, RCPP Easements program will match up to 50% of the cost of placing conservation easements on property; WHEREAS, the RCPP Easements program allows for the effective bundling of applications for easements on smaller properties helping place conservation easements on properties especially suited to urban agriculture but traditionally challenging to place conservation easements on because of scale issues NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Austin-Travis County Food Policy Board recommends that Austin City Council direct city staff to work with regional partners including Travis Count and ,land trusts such as the Hill Country Conservancy and Texas Agricultural Land Trust to secure a Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) agreement with the USDA-NRCS for the purpose of preserving agricultural land through conservation easements to safeguard production of locally grown food over the long-term. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Austin-Travis County Food Policy Board recommends that Austin City Council earmark $10 Million in the 2026 General Obligation Bond to be used as match for funds obligated through the USDA-NRCS RCPP program to place conservation easements on farmland in eastern Travis County with a high agricultural production potential. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Austin-Travis County Food Policy Board recommends that Austin City Council direct city staff to create an interlocal partnership with Travis County to jointly fund the match required to access funds through the USDA-NRCS RCPP and to designate Travis’s County’s Conservation Easement Program as the administrator of easements acquired through the RCPP agreement. Date of Approval: Record of the vote: Vote in Favor: Vote Against: Abstaining: Absent: Attest: