Utah farmers are turning to conservation easements to keep fertile ground in production as land prices soar and subdivisions press against farm and ranch operations. Nearly 100,000 acres have been placed under permanent protection since 1999, up from fewer than 10,000 acres two decades ago, according to the state-backed LeRay McAllister Working Farm and Ranch Fund. A stretch of U.S. 89 known as the Fruit Way shows how the tool works on the ground. Thayne and Cari Tagge have locked 130 acres of peaches, tomatoes and berries into a legacy trust and conservation easement. “They call this the ‘milliondollar view,’...

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