Conversion of farmland poses a major challenge to the health of Puget Sound and its communities. The loss of these important lands can undermine local and regional food security, reduce resilience to climate change, and disrupt wildlife habitats. Conservation easements – agreements which restrict the allowed uses on land and support landowners financially – play a critical role in protecting land from conversion. Agricultural easements and other types of conservation easements offer environmental, ecological, or scenic protections, which can benefit farming, habitat biodiversity, and the long-term viability of agricultural lands.

Agriculture in Puget Sound contributes markedly to the local economy and to food supply around the nation. Whatcom County grows more than 65 percent of the nation’s frozen red raspberry supply, while Skagit County contributes roughly 90 percent of all red potatoes grown in Washington state[1]. Counties with smaller agriculture footprints still contribute valuable meats, fruits, and vegetables to local markets. While the Puget Sound region boasts a vibrant local food scene, farmers are facing challenges that impact the sustainability and viability of agriculture ventures.

The Farmland Protection Progress Indicator combines federal, state, and local data sources on protected lands to measure the amount and rate of farmland protection through conservation easements in the Puget Sound region. Conservation easements are considered the most permanent form of protection afforded to a parcel of land. The indicator does not capture other types of protection offered through mechanisms like zoning, agricultural buffers, right-to-farm ordinances, local or state farmland mitigation requirements, and cluster or conservation development regulations. These additional mechanisms offer some protection but are often inconsistently enforced and less protective than easements.

Conservation easements are not a silver bullet for protecting farmland. Farmland protection through conservation easements does not increase the land available for crop production, it maintains it. Once farmland is developed, it often cannot be regained, and farmland conversion is outpacing farmland protection. Easements also do not ensure that managing farmers will always have the interest and work force required to farm the land. Climate change, water availability, crop disease, and access to labor and food processing infrastructure are just a few factors that impact a farmer’s ability to maintain their land and business sustainably. While land may be protected with easements, additional strategies must be enacted across Puget Sound to support the viability of agriculture businesses.

Despite these caveats, this indicator offers one way that local jurisdictions and the Puget Sound recovery community can evaluate progress towards permanently protecting its critical agricultural land. This indicator can help illuminate drivers of and challenges to protecting farmland for our communities and future generations. Complementary economic and social analyses would offer additional insights into trends in farmland protection and conversion in Puget Sound.

A substantial acreage of farmland was permanently protected through easements prior to 2013. In 2022 and 2023, the region protected 811 fewer acres of farmland than during the previous reporting period (2020-2021). The region is thus not making progress increasing the rate of farmland protected and this indicator is “getting worse”. 

As of 2023, 55,364 total acres of farmland have been protected through easements across all years in Puget Sound. 

Total acres of farmland protected vary markedly by county and two-year reporting period between 2014 through 2023. The majority of protected farmland was enrolled in easements in 2013 and prior (40,902 acres). 

• The highest number of acres enrolled in conservation easements occurred between 2014 and 2015 (3,996 acres protected), though the 2020-2021 period also saw substantial protection (3,173 acres protected).
• King and Skagit counties had the highest totals of farmland protection between 2014-2023, with a total of 16,447 acres protected in King County and 16,182 acres protected in Skagit County. Mason and Kitsap counties saw the smallest totals of farmland protection over time (134 and 235 acres each, respectively).
• 40,902 acres (74 percent of total protected acres) were enrolled in easements in 2013 or prior, or through undated agreements. 14,462 acres (26 percent of total protected acres) were enrolled in easements between 2014 and 2024. 

Between 2022-2023, 2,362 acres of farmland were protected. This is a decline from the previous period (2020-2021), in which 3,173 acres of farmland were protected. We conclude that performance in this indicator is "Getting Worse." 

Between 2014 through 2023, farmland protection varies significantly by county (Figure 2). 

• King and Skagit counties have the most farmland enrolled in conservation easements (2,691 acres protected in King and 5,226 acres protected in Skagit between 2014-2023). Across all years (2013 and prior, and 2014 through 2023), King and Skagit counties have the most farmland enrolled in conservation easements (Figure 3). 
• Clallam and Kitsap counties have the fewest acres of farmland enrolled in conservation easements (273 acres protected in Clallam and 132 acres protected in Kitsap between 2014-2023). Mason County had zero confirmed acres protected between 2014-2023, though all of Mason County's 134 protected acres were missing dates of enrollment (i.e., they may have been established between 2014-2023). 
• The amount of farmland a county protected does not necessarily relate to the total amount of farmland present. Per the USDA 2022 census[1], Whatcom County had the most acres of land in farming across Puget Sound counties[2] but has a relatively low number of acres enrolled in conservation easements (2,725 acres across all years). Meanwhile, King County has the highest acres of farmland enrolled in conservation easements (16,447 acres across all years) yet the amount of King County’s land in farming in 2022[3] was close to the median across Puget Sound counties. The different totals of protected farmlands are likely affected by differing capacities of county agricultural and land protection programs. 

Figure 2. Acres of farmland permanently protected through conservation easements between 2014 through 2023 by county. Note: Mason County's 134 acres are protected through undated conservation easements, so they are not depicted in this figure. 

Figure 3. Acres of farmland permanently protected through conservation easements in all years (2013 and prior, 2014-2023) by county. 

Most of the protected parcels were smaller than 10 acres. 

• 188 parcels of farmland were enrolled in conservation easements between 2014-2023. Of these, 201 parcels (54 percent of all protected farmland) were smaller than 10 acres. 
• While smaller parcels represent the most parcels enrolled, larger parcels contribute a significant amount of acreage to the total of protected farmland. Only 10 parcels were larger than 499 acres, yet these 10 parcels represent 6,985 acres of protected farmland, or 48 percent of all protected farmland. 

Figure 4. Count of farmland parcels permanently protected between 2014 through 2023 through conservation easements by the size of each protected parcel. 

Figure 5. Acres of farmland permanently protected between 2014 through 2023 through conservation easements by the size of each protected parcel. 

Most acres of protected farmland were in active agricultural zones, though a substantial proportion of protected farmland were in residential or mixed-use zones.

• Most protected farmland are in zones planned for farming uses. 11,317 acres of protected farmland are in active agricultural zones (representing 78 percent of all protected farmland). 613 acres of protected farmland are in open space or other natural resource production zones. 
• A sizable proportion of protected farmland is in zones planned for non-farming uses (e.g., development, transportation). 2,434 acres (16 percent) of protected farmland are in residential or mixed-use zones where development is encouraged. 
• These results are somewhat expected, as many easement programs focus on land in agricultural zones. 

Figure 6. Acres of farmland permanently protected through conservation easements between 2014 through 2023 by zoning categories. 

Most protected acres were located outside of Urban Growth Areas (UGAs) across Puget Sound. 

• 330 acres of protected farmland are within UGAs, while 14,130 protected acres lie outside of UGAs.
• 323 of these acres within UGAs are located in Island County. The remaining protected acres in UGAs are located in Thurston County (5 acres), King County (1 acre), and Whatcom County (1 acre). 

Figure 7. Percentage of farmland acres permanently protected through conservation easements between 2014 through 2023 in urban growth areas (UGAs) or outside of UGAs, by county. 

• Farmland Indicator Selection Process, 2025
• Conservation Easements, Washington Association of Land Trusts
• Agricultural Easements, Office of Farmland Preservation, Washington State Conservation Commission
• Agriculture Viability, Washington State Conservation Commission
• Agriculture Viability in Puget Sound, American Farmland Trust