ORLINDA — Asphalt and buildings will never cover what is today the state's only certified organic grain farm.

Alfred and Carney Farris have given up the development rights on 230 acres of their land, where they grow corn, spelt, wheat and soybeans without the chemicals standard in today's agriculture.The Robertson County couple were helped in the legal process by a state program available to working farmers through the Land Trust for Tennessee.

State lawmakers three years ago approved the program, which entices farmers to agree to conserve their land forever and defrays costs of the detailed appraisals and legal fees to do so, which can cost $4,500 or more.

This is a smaller version of programs in which some other states and communities buy the development rights to slow the amount of farmland eaten by urban sprawl.

The funding for Tennessee's fledgling program is $100,000 a year, with $125,000 set aside so far.

About 5,300 acres were protected from July of last year through December, with several projects pending and about half the money spent.

"We like to see working farms preserved in the state," said Joe Gaines, assistant state agriculture commissioner.

"They're going to continue to produce farm income. And they add so much to the rest of our life — tourism, scenic beauty."

In Tennessee, farms contribute $2.5 billion to the state's economy and about 30 times that in terms of total impact, Gaines said.

The state's fledgling farm conservation effort parallels better-known and older programs to buy and protect natural areas throughout the state, including on the Cumberland Plateau east of Nashville.

Faith influences decision

Planting for next year's crops is still a few weeks away, said Alfred Farris, 77, standing Thursday in one of a series of green fields.

Sheep dotted one pasture. Past another, a line of rooftops could be seen in the distance, evidence of urban life approaching.

A soft tearing sound could be heard as a British White cow ripped a clump of vetch and spelt from the ground near Farris. "Cattle were created and designed to process grass," he said.

He chose his cattle breed because the "genetics haven't been messed with so much that they need to be fed grain," he said.

They are leaner and have a type of fatty acid that is healthier for people.

Water for his animals comes from a well powered by a solar pump, not from a pond. He wants water fresh and clean because his animals aren't vaccinated, nor packed with antibiotics or hormones.

His and his wife's organic bent and desire to conserve land are part of their "radical" following of Jesus, which makes them stewards of what they see as God's land.

While living on a Nashville farm they once owned, something of a Christian community that drew hippies in the 1970s, they began mission work in Uganda and also went organic.

"Those young people challenged us to farm in a way that's more honoring to God," he said.

Eternally protecting the farm they have owned in Robertson County since 1986 has been a natural progression.

One of the land trust's employees "practically lived with us," as they worked out over several months what they could do and how, said Alfred Farris.

"You really have to think it through," he said.

When the Farrises signed on to the conservation plan, their land lost 75 percent of its value, but that amount can be deducted from their federal income taxes over 15 years under a tax law set to expire last December.

Under the Farm Bill being considered for reauthorization by Congress, the incentive could be extended.

The couple, who have three grown children, hope that more farmers will conserve their land.

Tennessee's program is considered a preliminary step, according to the American Farmland Trust.

Across the U.S., North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Kentucky are among about 20 states that have spent about $2.2 billion buying development rights, said Jennifer Dempsey with the Farmland Trust.

Part of the interest in protecting small farms includes a growing movement to put on tables local food that doesn't have to travel great distances.

Trend to continue

Gaines expects that trend to continue and credits the state program and the Land Trust for Tennessee work with the success seen so far here.

Information from the nonprofit says the number of legal protections carried out by its staff jumped from 16 parcels and 6,886 acres in the 2007 accounting year to more than 50 parcels and 14,698 acres in the six months ending in December.

Much of that is farmland, including a cattle and row crop farm along the Natchez Trace Parkway and Buffalo River that will help protect the view there, a working horse farm and breeding facility in Brentwood, and the historic Mayfield Dairy Farm in East Tennessee, which will be used for agri-tourism.