Pennsylvania leads the nation in farmland preservation, with 2,979 farms and 337,611 acres preserved, and York County has reached a milestone of 30,000 acres, according to the Department of Agriculture.

The state's Farmland Preservation Board met at the Glenn and Grace Julius Farm in York County this week, one of the 54 farms and 5,591 acres the board approved for preservation.

With 174 farms and 30,312 acres preserved, York County ranks third in the state for acres preserved and fifth in number of farms preserved. Since 1989, the state has committed $41 million to York's farmland preservation efforts, supplementing the county's $10.7 million contribution.

The latest preserved farms are located in Adams, Berks, Blair, Bucks, Bradford, Chester, Clinton, Cumberland, Columbia, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Mercer, Monroe, Northampton, Tioga, Washington, Westmoreland and York counties.

The Pennsylvania Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program was developed 18 years ago to help slow 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.

Pennsylvania has 7.7 million acres of farmland, representing 27 percent of the state's land base. Agriculture is a $45 billion industry and the state's largest.

For more information, visit the PA Farmland Preservation webpage.

10/13/2006