When Congress comes back into session following the Memorial Day Recess, we should finally see passage of the 2008 Farmbill which contains a two year extension of the deductions for landowners on federal income tax. The Farmbill is the proverbial  overstuffed sausage, and we had hoped the Congress would make permanent the Pension Act (August 2006), deductions for conservation easements that expired after 2007 on 1 January, 2008. Unfortunately Congress addded so many costly provisions to the bill that the conservation easement deductions wrere only extended for two years, but the new provision applies retroactively back to 1 January 2008 and runs throuhgh 31 December 2009.

The Conservartion Tax Incentive for Family Farms and Ranches provides for:

* Raising the deduction a donor can take for donating a voluntary conservation easement fom 30% of their adjusted gross income in any year to 50%;

* Allow farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100% of their adjusted gross income for donations of conservation easements;

* Increase the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from 5 to 15 years.

 If you take advantage of this new provision, PLEASE, PLEASE tell us so we can begin building a case for making these deductions permanent nationwide before they expire again in the end of 2009.