A thirty-five acre farm in Albuquerque’s South Valley required a sale structured so that its water rights would remain permanently attached to the land.
Luchetti Farm
Client
National Audubon Society
Service
Conservation Brokerage
State
New Mexico
Status
Sold
The National Audubon Society owned approximately 35 acres of irrigated farmland in Albuquerque’s South Valley. It wanted to sell the property while supporting its continued agricultural use and preventing the associated water rights from being separated from the land.
Because water rights may be transferred separately from property, a conventional sale would not necessarily have achieved that objective. Terra Alta incorporated the seller’s conservation goals into the marketing, negotiations, and final transaction terms.
Positioned the property as a working farm
Terra Alta marketed the property based on its agricultural use, irrigation resources, and potential as a working farm—not simply as undeveloped acreage.
Maps and marketing materials clearly explained the land and the resources supporting its continued agricultural use.
Selling a farm while keeping its water with the land
Reached buyers interested in farming
The seller’s agricultural and conservation objectives informed the buyer strategy from the beginning.
Terra Alta directed the marketing toward prospective buyers who valued the property as a farm and understood the importance of keeping its land and water together.
Evaluated competing offers
The property received multiple offers, allowing the seller to consider more than price alone.
Terra Alta helped evaluate the proposed terms, buyer intentions, and ability of each offer to meet both the organization’s financial and conservation objectives.
Incorporated the water protection into the sale
The final transaction included deed restrictions, agreed to by the buyer and seller, requiring the associated water rights to remain with the property.
The sale produced a private ownership transition while protecting the water resource necessary for the land’s continued irrigation and agricultural use.
A conservation objective does not always require a conservation easement. In some transactions, a carefully drafted deed restriction can protect a specific attribute—such as keeping water rights with the land—with less cost and complexity.
Property size alone does not determine conservation importance. On a small irrigated farm, the water needed for continued agriculture may be the defining resource, making the connection between the land and its water the central focus of the transaction.
35
Acres sold
In perpetuity
Water rights tied to the land by deed restriction
Local
Sold to a local farming family
2017
Sale Closed
Other Terra Alta Projects
Prevost Conservation Ranch
A 2,760-acre ranch under a permanent conservation easement needed a buyer who wanted it that way.
Terra Alta marketed the property and its restrictions together and closed the sale with the conservation protections intact.
San Gabriel Valley Community Land Trust Study
A regional coalition wanted to know whether a land trust would work and where it should start.
Terra Alta led the geographic analysis across 18 municipalities that identified where land acquisition would have the greatest effect.
Dethlefsen Conservation Sale
A conservation nonprofit needed to sell 380 protected acres without weakening the protection.
Terra Alta priced and marketed the property and its easement together, closing the sale to a private buyer with the restrictions in place.
Start with the property and the questions
Tell us what you own or manage and what you are trying to decide. The first step is working out what the property can realistically support, what each available path would require, and whether any of them are worth pursuing.