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Additional 1,722 Acres of Prime Farmland Preserved
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Pennsylvania's nation-leading farmland preservation program expanded to safeguard an additional 1,722 acres on 18 farms-a move that Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding said will help to ensure secure sources of food, a cleaner environment and a more vital economy.
"Preserving farmland secures our food production abilities, protects the environment and our natural resources, and sustains our local economies," said Secretary Redding. "As we near the important milestone of preserving 4,000 farms in Pennsylvania, I applaud those farmers who have taken this important step to protect their farm in perpetuity - meaning it will always remain available for agricultural production."
The latest farms approved by the Pennsylvania Agricultural Land Preservation Board are located in Allegheny, Berks, Bucks, Clinton, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Montgomery, Perry, and York counties.
In total, Pennsylvania's Farmland Preservation Program has preserved 433,776 acres on 3,982 farms. Both figures are the highest of any state in the nation.
"While all of our citizens benefit from the open space and continued commitment to agriculture that comes with farmland preservation, it is the farmers and families who preserve their farms that take the ultimate step in showing their dedication to agriculture and Pennsylvania's natural resources."
The state's farmland preservation program works through the Pennsylvania Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program, which was developed in 1988 to help curb 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.
With this purchase of development rights, farm owners create an agreement whereby the land will forever remain in production agriculture, regardless of who may later own or work the land.
The easement purchases approved today represent a $6.7 million total investment of state, county and township funds.
Since the program's inception, state, county and local governments have invested more than $1 billion to preserve farms.
For more information, visit Agriculture's Farmland Preservation webpage.
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4/12/2010 |
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