Leigh Godchaux wakes up each day among wild irises, alligators, and waterfowl on Louisiana’s southernmost large rice farm, in Vermilion Parish. Becoming a farmer was at first “hilarious” to the former college soccer player, who envisioned a career in sports information but was drawn to help back home by her mother Leslie fifteen years ago. Today she feels that a sense of duty to the land is innate to the Godchauxs, who have owned the farm for more than a hundred years. In spring 2024, Live Oak Farm became the first Agricultural Land Easement (ALE) in the state of Louisiana, which means the land’s longtime identity as a farm is also now legally enforced. 

The easement program, which allows current landowners to protect their land against future nonagricultural uses, is offered by the Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS). “Mostly through Farm Bill funding, NRCS has a lot of opportunities for private landowners to apply easements,” said Cindy Brown, executive director for Land Trust for Louisiana, a conservation non-profit established in 2005, which holds the easement for Live Oak. “They can fund conservation easements and help farms and forest landowners engage in practices that are really good for species of concern or preserving soil.” 

While the ALE program is popular nationally, said Brown, “Louisiana is one of the few states in the country that actually didn’t have any ALE projects in state.” Brown and her cohort at the Land Trust for Louisiana often work with private landowners to establish conservation easements in which the landowner receives a significant tax break. The ALE program relies on a state match for the landowner to get paid, and Louisiana currently has no dedicated funding stream for these easements, “leaving millions in federal dollars on the table,” said Brown.   

In 2022 House Bill 762 established the Louisiana Outdoors Forever fund and program, allocating an initial $10 million, and $1 million more the following year, for a variety of conservation projects including the Abita Springs Conservation Area acquisition and nature center, an addition to Bogue Chitto State Park, the expansion of the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, and various wetlands restorations and enhancements. “We were able to leverage almost $40 million [in public and private matching funds] with that $10 million tranche. It’s been hugely successful,” said Brown.  

Land Trust has worked with the Godchaux family, including Leigh Godchaux’s cousin and farm partner Charles Payne, for close to a decade now in pursuit of the easement, with a coalition of partners including Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry, United States Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, Ducks Unlimited, the Conservation Fund, Partnership for Gulf Coast Land Conservation, and Louisiana State University AgCenter. As an established land protection program that is nationally certified and locally based, Land Trust is the federally designated entity managing the easement.  

“Since this project represented a lot of firsts, there was naturally a steep learning curve for all the partners including The Conservation Fund (who took the lead on helping the family apply for the ALE program and secured most of the additional funding) and NRCS,” said Brown. “We also had a very hard time securing the match for the federal dollars, hence the importance of state matching funds like that provided by Louisiana Outdoors Forever.”   

Live Oak Farm in Vermilion Parish has been an active farm for over a century. Photo courtesy of Land Trust for Louisiana

Awarded $575,000 from Louisiana Outdoors Forever, with $3,767,000 in in matching funds from not only the NRCS ALE grant but also the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, the Godchaux Family, Partnership for Gulf Coast Land Conservation, and the McIlhenny Foundation, the easement protects the property in perpetuity. “What we’re trying to encourage through ALE is to preserve agriculture,” said Brown. “There’s a financial benefit—farmers get paid. We want agriculture on the landscape. It’s important for our economy and our heritage. We’re also trying to get farmers to manage for wildlife as well. Some farms out there … every inch that is tillable is tilled, border to border. It’s done for economic reasons, and we can appreciate that. But with this particular program, we’re wanting farmers to think about wildlife in their management regime.”  

The Godchaux family did not need to be coaxed to consider the environment. “Live Oak has its own climate,” said Godchaux. “Everyone who comes is blown away that fifteen miles outside of Abbeville is this wild place. And it wants to be wild.” The place is natural but not untouchable. There’s resting ground for migratory birds, an increasingly welcome respite as flight time lengthens from coast to eroding coast. A waterway serves citizens in the region. Farmers work the land. Hunters harvest alligators. And tourists from near and far get a taste of Louisiana cultural heritage with a first-hand look at the production of one of our state’s signature crops, on the land where Frank Godchaux and his descendants grew a rice milling consortium into an international trade as Riviana Foods.  

The family sold Riviana to Ebro Foods in 2004 but continues to operate the farm, breeding cattle and alligators as well as growing rice. The daily activities aren’t altered much by the easement, said Godchaux. “I think that’s the point. We can keep doing what we’ve always been doing.” 

Existing practices include the farm’s management for waterfowl, with an estimated 70,000 migratory birds visiting the wetlands of Live Oak when the fields are flooded after the rice harvest. A tailwater recovery system used in the fields also alleviates pollution and improves water quality in Vermilion River. Alligator hunts are sometimes preceded by lectures from wildlife biologist Mark Shirley, imbuing respect for the animal and the importance of species management. 

In the past year Godchaux and her tenant farmer, Allen McClain Jr., have launched L’Terre, an agritourism venture that lets the public into Live Oak in a new way. Experiences are tailored to each visitor’s preferences and can include fishing and crabbing, conservation education, guided walks, birdwatching, stargazing, and overnight stays. “To see it through their eyes makes you realize how special this place really is and the small things we’ve taken for granted,” said Godchaux. 

She observes a particular enthusiasm guests have for connecting their children with the outdoors. Her own son is growing up on the farm, the same way Godchaux did with her brother Gus, among tractors and combines and cattle. At nine years old, his environmental conscience is expanding. “He’s learning the family’s responsibility to the land and why it’s important. He seems proud of himself. He told me recently, ‘My classmates, they don’t understand.’” 

Not many rice farms remain in the area, as the Gulf encroaches. “The future of the farm had become a question,” said Godchaux of the decision to pursue the easement and its financial benefits. “But we also wanted to preserve it and not have it become a commercial thing. We can help the land stay what it is and should always be.”  

Lucie Monk Carter is a writer and photographer in Baton Rouge.