Does Conservation Ethic Include Intergenerational Bequest? A Random Utility Model Analysis of Conservation Easements and Agricultural Landowners*

As the average age of agricultural producers continues to rise, farm succession planning and the large number of anticipated land transfers are expected to transform rural American agricultural production and landscapes. Policy tools like conservation easements (CEs) can facilitate agricultural land preservation through "dead hand control" by restricting the development through binding legal contracts that can be transferred across generations. We examine whether agricultural landowners seek CE agreements to keep the land in agriculture for intergenerational bequest, rather than selling the land for financial gains that could be enjoyed immediately or passed to heirs. We assess whether this may be influenced by landowner conservation ethic or perceived threat to sense of place. We analyze the survey data collected from 2,270 agricultural landowners in Colorado and Wyoming utilizing a random utility model estimation. We find that landowners are less likely to reject a CE agreement when there is a desire to bequest agricultural land to the next generation or a perceived threat to sense of place; however, conservation ethic mitigates intergenerational bequest effects. This indicates that conservation ethic encompasses a desire to pass land to the next generation. Our findings contribute to the conservation literature by advocating for the regenerative approach to land conservation rather than the theory of planned behavior.