Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Since 1985, Georgia has lost at least one and a half million acres of working and wild lands to development — and that pressure isn't slowing down. For farming families who have worked the same ground for generations, the threat of losing that land permanently is very real. Reporting from Hawkinsville, John Holcomb sits down with Katherine Moore, President of the Georgia Conservancy, to break down a groundbreaking new program designed to stop that loss in its tracks.
Moore puts the stakes in stark terms. Georgia's predominant landscape is working lands — more than 22 million acres in forestry and roughly 10 million acres in working farms. These lands are the factory floor of Georgia's economy, and without protecting them and keeping them in the hands of good stewards, the products and jobs they generate simply won't be there.
In 2023, the Georgia General Assembly responded with the Georgia Farmland Conservation Program — the first initiative of its kind in the state dedicated solely to keeping farmland in farming. At its core is a legal tool called a conservation easement, a permanent agreement that allows landowners to retain ownership, use, and enjoyment of their property while giving up certain development rights — forever. That commitment travels with the deed, binding every future owner to the same protection.
And the program doesn't just ask landowners to sacrifice. It compensates them. Participating landowners receive a one-time payment for the development rights they permanently surrender, making it both a legacy decision and a meaningful financial one.
For farming families thinking about what happens to their land in the next generation — and the one after that — Moore says this program offers something invaluable: peace of mind.
For more information, visit the Georgia Department of Agriculture's website.
Since 1985, Georgia has lost at least one and a half million acres of working and wild lands to development — and that pressure isn't slowing down. For farming families who have worked the same ground for generations, the threat of losing that land permanently is very real. Reporting from Hawkinsville, John Holcomb sits down with Katherine Moore, President of the Georgia Conservancy, to break down a groundbreaking new program designed to stop that loss in its tracks.
Moore puts the stakes in stark terms. Georgia's predominant landscape is working lands — more than 22 million acres in forestry and roughly 10 million acres in working farms. These lands are the factory floor of Georgia's economy, and without protecting them and keeping them in the hands of good stewards, the products and jobs they generate simply won't be there.
In 2023, the Georgia General Assembly responded with the Georgia Farmland Conservation Program — the first initiative of its kind in the state dedicated solely to keeping farmland in farming. At its core is a legal tool called a conservation easement, a permanent agreement that allows landowners to retain ownership, use, and enjoyment of their property while giving up certain development rights — forever. That commitment travels with the deed, binding every future owner to the same protection.
And the program doesn't just ask landowners to sacrifice. It compensates them. Participating landowners receive a one-time payment for the development rights they permanently surrender, making it both a legacy decision and a meaningful financial one.
For farming families thinking about what happens to their land in the next generation — and the one after that — Moore says this program offers something invaluable: peace of mind.
For more information, visit the Georgia Department of Agriculture's website.
