Preservation Board Protects 40 More Farms From Development, 30,200 Acres This Year

An additional 4,236 acres of Pennsylvania farmland will remain viable for agricultural production now that the state has preserved another 40 farms this week, Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff said.

In all, Secretary Wolff said the state's nationally recognized Farmland Preservation Program preserved 30,230 acres on 308 farms in 2008.

 

"Pennsylvania is committed to securing our production agriculture industry for future generations," said Secretary Wolff. "It is critical that we continue working to safeguard our productive farmland so that Pennsylvania's citizens may continue to benefit from locally produced food and fiber."

 

The latest preserved farms are in Adams, Berks, Blair, Bucks, Chester, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lawrence, Lebanon, Lancaster, Lehigh, Mercer, Monroe, Montour, Northampton, Perry, Potter, Snyder, Washington, Wayne and York counties.

 

In April, Pennsylvania celebrated the 3,500th farm preserved at the Long Farm in Westmoreland County. The state's 400,000-acre milestone was recognized in August at the Graver Farm in Northampton County.

 

Seven counties reached significant milestones. Bedford County preserved 1,000 acres; Chester County reached 20,000 acres preserved; Lancaster County celebrated the preservation of 1,000 farms; Northampton County reached their 10,000-acre milestone; Westmoreland County preserved a total of 9,000 acres; and Greene and Warren counties preserved their first farms.

 

Pennsylvania leads the nation in the number of farms and acres preserved. In the program's 20-year history, 3,701 farms and 407, 647 acres have been preserved.

 

Pennsylvania allocated $33 million this year for the preservation program. County programs contributed $41.2 million in matching funds to protect quality farmland from development and non-agricultural uses. Since 1988, state, county, township and federal governments have invested more than $1 billion in farmland preservation funds.

 

However, in 2010 farmland preservation funding from the Growing Greener II bond issue will come to an end.

The state's farmland preservation program works through the Pennsylvania Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program, which was developed in 1988 to help slow the loss of prime farmland to non-agricultural uses. The program enables state, county and local governments to purchase conservation easements, also called development rights, from owners of quality farmland.

 

For more information, click on the Farmland Preservation links at the Department of Agriculture website.