Nearly 2,800 Acres, 27 Farms Added To PA's Agricultural Land Preservation Program

The PA Agricultural Land Preservation Program Monday added 2,793 more acres on 27 farms in 15 counties, according to Russell Redding, Secretary of the Department of Agricultural.

“The farms preserved today exemplify our diverse production agriculture industry – each is unique in the products it grows and the people who call it home,” said Redding. “Our work to protect these farms represents targeted investments in the security of our food supply and the quality of our environment. They’re made possible because of the commitment of farmers to preserving their operations, who in turn use the funding to invest in the future of their operations and our economy.”

The 27 farms preserved today are found in Berks, Bucks, Centre, Chester, Erie, Juniata, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Mercer, Northampton, Susquehanna, and York counties.

Since the Commonwealth’s program began in 1988, federal, state, county, and local governments have purchased permanent easements on 5,297 farms totaling 549,728 acres in 59 counties for agricultural production.

Funding for farmland preservation has increased more than 45 percent, or $12.5 million, which means $40 million is available for the program this fiscal year, Redding added. Since taking office, the Wolf administration has preserved 533 farms totaling 44,325 acres of prime farmland across Pennsylvania.

In some cases, federal funding helps to preserve these lands. In 2016, the department signed a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service that allows Pennsylvania’s program to submit farms for consideration by the federal Agricultural Conservation Easement Program.

The department secured more than $1.7 million under its most recent cooperative agreement to preserve eight farms totaling 1,652 acres, with the potential for additional funding in 2018.

The PA Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program, as it is formally known, is dedicated to slowing the loss of prime farmland to non-agricultural uses.

Funding allows state, county, and local governments to purchase conservation easements, from owners of quality farmland. State, county, local, and federal funds committed at Monday’s meeting, and allocated to county programs, will secure the purchase of development rights to preserve farms waiting on the county backlog lists.

For more information, visit the Department of Agriculture’s Farmland Preservation Program webpage.