Pennsylvania’s Farmland Preservation Program added 3,219 acres and 30 farms to the over 2,700 preserved so far through the program last week.

With the additional 30 farms, Pennsylvania has preserved 2,717 farms totaling 311,679 acres.

The latest farms are in 14 counties: Berks, Bucks, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Indiana, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Northampton, Perry, Schuylkill, Tioga and York. Fifty-five of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties are currently enrolled in the program.

The Pennsylvania Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program was developed in 1988 to help delay the loss of prime farmland to non-agricultural uses. The program enables state, county and local governments to purchase conservation easements from owners of quality farmland.

10/28/2005