HARDEE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014\u00a0With more people calling Florida their home comes increased development, but one state program is working to preserve agricultural land as growth continues.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Rural and Family Lands Protection Program<\/a>\u00a0was established in 2001, designed to protect important agricultural lands through land conservation easements Over 500 applications were submitted to the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program statewide in 2025.<\/p>\n In a\u00a0quiet corner of\u00a0Hardee County sits land that\u2019s been in Ned Hancock\u2019s family since 1855.<\/p>\n \u201cOutside of their love of God and their love of their family, nothing meant more to them than this land,\u201d said Hancock.<\/p>\n Though his family didn\u2019t originally farm the property, Hancock knew he wanted to put it to use.<\/p>\n He started in the citrus industry and later expanded into cattle. Today, the family owns over 3,500 acres, known as Charlie Creek Marsh.<\/p>\n Hancock said the land isn\u2019t just part of his history \u2014 it\u2019s his livelihood.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery agricultural endeavor has its challenges and its ups and downs, so we\u2019re hoping that the next 20 years make up for the last 20 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why Hancock applied to the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program about a year ago.<\/p>\n The program protects rural land through permanent agricultural land conservation easements, even as surrounding areas grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n About three miles of Hancock\u2019s family property is now part of the program, a decision he said benefits not just his farm, but the community as well.<\/p>\n \u201cFor generations now, it\u2019s going to be just like this,” he said. “It\u2019s going to be cleaning up our water, clearing up our air, creating wildlife corridors.”<\/p>\n According to the Florida Department of Agriculture, interest in conservation programs has increased by over 90% since 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cOur agricultural landscapes are what\u2019s left of green space in our state. It\u2019s what much of our wildlife is utilizing to continue to thrive in a rapidly growing state,\u201d said Conservation Florida President and CEO Traci Deen.<\/p>\n Since the program started in 2001, officials said over 200,000 acres of working agricultural land have been preserved.<\/p>\n For Hancock, it\u2019s about protecting the future so farmers like him can preserve their way of life for generations to come.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope 150 years from now, some of my descendants are saying, ‘Man, I\u2019m glad they did this,’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARDEE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014\u00a0With more people calling Florida their home comes increased development, but one state program is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3204,68229,274,1563,28,6076,115,139,135,137,136,278,2032,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-140319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-agriculture","9":"tag-app-agriculture","10":"tag-app-top-stories","11":"tag-environment","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-lizbeth-gutierrez","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-orlando","16":"tag-tampa","17":"tag-tampa-headlines","18":"tag-tampa-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-trending-topics","21":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOver 500 applications were submitted to the program in 2025<\/a>
\nFarmer Ned Hancock applied to the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program about a year ago to protect his family’s land for generations to come
\nThe interest in the program has increased by 90% since 2023<\/p>\n