The Farmland Preservation Board set a new record this week by permanently preserving 7,122 acres on 75 farms, the most ever approved in a single meeting. The approved farmland included 14 Berks County farms, which gives the county a statewide high of 50,000 acres preserved.

The 75 farms preserved this week are located in 22 counties: Adams, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Erie, Fayette, Franklin, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Luzerne, Lycoming, Montgomery, Northampton, Northumberland, Schuylkill, Susquehanna and York.

"We are extremely proud to announce the preservation of more than 50,000 acres of Pennsylvania farmland in Berks County," said Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff. "The Commonwealth's longstanding history of leadership in agriculture is evident with our continued success of the farmland preservation program. Today's milestone strengthens that reputation, ensuring that agricultural land will be available for future farmers."

Pennsylvania is the national leader in farmland preservation, with 3,348 farms and 372,676 acres preserved. Under the department's farmland preservation program, Berks County leads the state in the number of acres preserved and ranks second in farms preserved with 52,509 acres and 484 farms. Since 1989, the state has committed more than $60 million to Berks County's farmland preservation efforts, supplementing the county's $61.8 million contribution.

The state's farmland preservation program works through the Pennsylvania Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program, which 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, also called development rights, from owners of quality farmland.

10/19/2007