The article looks at how farmland is passed down in Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey under conservation programs. They surveyed 507 owners of preserved farmland and found that many second-generation owners bought or inherited land with existing conservation easements. These owners are compared to first-generation owners who sold their land's development rights. The study shows that a good amount of protected land is still being actively farmed, many owners were young farmers when they got the land, and a high percentage have plans to pass the land to a farmer for agricultural use. This suggests that preserved farmland is staying in agricultural production through ownership changes.