The farmland preservation grant program provides funding to buy development rights on farmlands to ensure they remain available for farming in the future. Grant recipients also may use some of the funding to restore natural functions to improve the land's viability for farming.

The program is part of the larger Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program, which was created in 1990 to buy land for outdoor recreation and wildlife conservation, to keep pace with a growing population. In 2005, the state Legislature expanded the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program to include preservation of significant farmland.