The Lebanon County Agricultural Land Preservation Board, Conservation District and the County Commissioners, along with the Department of Agriculture, celebrated the county's milestone of preserving 10,000 acres of farmland.

Pennsylvania has 7.7 million acres of farmland, representing 27 percent of the state's land base, now permanently preserved.

Pennsylvania's Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program was developed in 1988 to slow the loss of farmland to development. The program enables state, county and local governments to purchase conservation easements from owners of quality farmland.

Pennsylvania currently leads the nation in the number of farms and acres preserved, with a total of 2,783 farms and 318,350 acres removed from development to date.

For more information, visit the State Farmland Preservation Program webpage.

3/31/2006