Landowners with lands enrolled in an effective farmland preservation agreement have the option to release all or a portion of their land from the agreement prior to the natural expiration of an agreement. Landowners may choose to release lands if they plan on developing lands to a land use that would be incompatible with the land use restrictions of an agreement.
This option applies to all effective farmland preservation agreement holders.
FP Agreement Release Process
In order to release lands from an effective farmland preservation agreement, the landowner needs to provide the following to the department:
A signed and notarized completed copy of the Application to Remove (Release) Land From a Farmland Preservation Agreement
- Map of the parcel(s) or area to be released from the effective Farmland Preservation Agreement.
- Legal description of the lands to be removed from agreement. This may be submitted as a deed, certified survey map, plat of survey, or other.
- Check for payment of Conversion Fee as calculated above. Make check payable to DATCP and send check and application packet to the following:
DATCP, Attn: Farmland Preservation Agreements, PO Box 8911, Madison, WI 53708-8911
Conversion Fee
Releasing
land from a farmland preservation agreement prior to its natural expiration is
subject to a conversion fee under S.91.66, Wis. Stats. The conversion fee is
equal to three times the per acre value of the highest value category of
tillable cropland in the town in which the land is located in, as specified by
the Wisconsin Department of Revenue under s.73.03(2a), Wis. Stats. for the year
in which the land is released.
For example, if you are releasing two acres of land from the Town of Colby in Clark County in 2024, your release fee would be calculated as follows:
3 x ($295) = $885/ac x 2 ac = $1,770 total release fee.
Visit the DOR for Use-Value Guidelines for Agricultural Assessment to find your information.