TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson is backing legislation that calls for selling state conservation land that can be used for agriculture.
Details: A Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services bill would direct the Department of Environmental Protection to review state conservation land for possible surplus. The land could be sold after being placed under a conservation easement to keep it in agriculture and prevent future development.
The law change would not apply to state forests, parks or wildlife management areas. That apparently would leave water management district lands and other undesignated conservation properties eligible to be sold. The bill section is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2024.
In a news release Monday, Simpson highlighted different aspects of the bill, including a prohibition on local leaf blower bans, but did not mention the section dealing with conservation lands.
