American Farmland Trust (AFT), a national leader in protecting agricultural land that partners with Bluegrass Land Conservancy in Kentucky, will sponsor the 2020 Breeders' Cup, which will be held at Keeneland Nov. 6-7. The sponsorship is hoped to call attention to the need for equine land farm protection.
Nearly 7 million acres of farm land across the nation have been permanently protected by AFT and its partners, with another 300 million acres protected with conservation practices.
“Protecting farmland, which is the factory floor of the horse business, is critical to this nation not just because it is important to horse people, but because we are protecting some of the most productive, versatile, and resilient soils in this country,” said Libby Jones, who co-owns Airdrie Stud with her husband, Brereton, and is an AFT President's Council member. “I hope to see more farms across the nation put their land into conservation easements, preserving it in perpetuity for its highest agricultural purpose.”
According to AFT, 2,000 acres of farmland are converted every day to non-agricultural uses. Nationwide, 11 million acres were lost to non-agricultural uses from 2001-2016.
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