KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — Dairyman Earl Cruze has become the first farmer in Tennessee to use a new federal program to forever ensure the preservation of his farmland.

"Well, see, I grew up on a dairy farm, which is now part of an industrial park," the 61-year-old Cruze said. "It is kind of lonesome to lose where you grew up. It really is."

Cruze's boyhood home was flattened to make way for Knox County's Forks of the River industrial park. To make sure his three children don't suffer a similar loss, Cruze signed over the development rights to his 425-acre farm along the French Broad River.

Funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's new Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program will reimburse Cruze for half of the property's value — about $900,000. Through a land sale, Knox County will provide another $450,000.

The nonprofit Land Trust for Tennessee, which has been able to preserve about 6,000 scenic and historic acres mostly in Middle and West Tennessee since its creation in 1999, will hold the conservation easement on the Cruze farm.

"They will still own their farm. They will still work their farm. They will be able to pass their farm on to their wonderful daughters. They will even be able to sell it if they want," said Byron Trauger, chairman of the Land Trust for Tennessee. "But because of the conservation easement that we celebrate today, they will know that this land forever will look much like it looks today. Forever."

State and local officials say it could be just the beginning.

"We hope this will be a landmark decision where other landowners would take advantage of the program," said state conservationist James Ford.

According to a 1997 National Resources Inventory, Tennessee is losing prime agricultural land to urban development faster than most states. There are about 6 million acres of farmland in Tennessee. About 124,000 acres were lost to urban sprawl from 1992 to 1997.

The Cruze farm and its 6,000 feet of waterfront is on a bend in the middle of a 15-mile French Broad River corridor running from Douglas Dam to the confluence with the Holston River at Knoxville, forming the Tennessee River.

Two upscale residential developments have popped up along the corridor in recent years. But so have a 400-acre Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge and a 600-acre Forks of the River Wildlife Management Area.

"There are some areas where we need to have logical, planned development. Other parts of our community we need to make very certain that they stay in their natural pristine condition," Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale said. "This project moves us a step toward doing that."