Bill > A4379

Introduced Session

This bill establishes a farmland preservation program under which the State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC) would purchase and acquire, in the name of the State, fee simple titles to, or development easements on, agricultural or horticultural land, i.e., farmland, that is in danger of development for warehouse purposes or any other high-density development project. The bill would require a landowner who wishes to sell, for warehouse development or for any other high-density development project, agricultural or horticultural land, or if such land has been sold for such development but construction has not commenced on the land as of the effective date of the bill, to provide written notice, by certified mail, to the SADC that a purchase offer for the land has been made or a contract of sale has been executed. The SADC would be required, within time periods specified in the bill, to: 1) determine if the land is suitable for preservation and in need of protection from development; and 2) if so determined, offer to the landowner to match the landowner's terms or make a counter-offer, based on the committee's valuation of the land and its development rights, whichever is greater. Factors to be considered by the SADC when making the determination and valuation are specified in section 4 of the bill and include the regional significance of the land as agricultural or horticultural land, the impact that the loss of the land as agricultural or horticultural land would have on the quality of life of nearby residents and the State's agricultural industry, and the value of avoiding the negative impacts of the proposed development on the agricultural community and residents of the municipality and county in which the land is located, and that of adjacent municipalities. The bill provides that any land acquired by the SADC would be held in the name of the State and offered for sale by the SADC with agricultural deed restrictions for farmland preservation purposes. When the development rights on the land have been acquired by the SADC, the bill provides that a development easement would be recorded with the title for the land establishing the agricultural deed restrictions for farmland preservation purposes, a permanent restriction from nonagricultural development, a restriction that any subdivision of the land would result in parcels not lesser in size than the minimum size required for qualification for farmland assessment. In either case, the land could be sold in the future, provided that the terms of the sale and use of the land are consistent with the development easement or any agricultural deed restrictions placed on the land. All agricultural deed restrictions for farmland preservation purposes and development easements would be filed and recorded with the county clerk of the county in which the land is located in the same manner as a deed. The bill appropriates $50 million from moneys in the "Global Warming Solutions Fund," established pursuant to section 6 of P.L. 2007, c.340 (C.26:2C-50), for the program established by the bill. These moneys would be deposited into a new fund, created by the bill, called the "Protection of Farmland from Development Fund."

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Alex Sauickie (R)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee (on 02/19/2026)

Official Document