{"id":217209,"date":"2026-06-12T06:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T06:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/217209\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T06:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T06:18:20","slug":"pennsylvania-invests-in-protecting-midstate-farms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/217209\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania invests in protecting Midstate farms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">(WHTM)\u2013 Pennsylvania invested more than $8 million into protecting 1,775 acres of farmland, including some in the Midstate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Department of Agriculture announced Thursday that the state is investing nearly $8.8 million to purchase development rights for 1,775 acres across 22 farms in 16 counties. The move will protect the land from future residential or commercial development.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a data-ylk=\"slk:Close;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"#sailthru-signup-widget\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Close<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Watch for us in your inbox.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Subscribe Now<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">SIGN UP NOW<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The department said the move was made possible through <a data-ylk=\"slk:Pennsylvania&#039;s Farmland Preservation Program;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flink.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com%2Fls%2Fclick%3Fupn%3Du001.EpE68xvdiHi-2F3uU9U1WHufoC8MUJjHKQ-2Fpyy6lB8brpGQc8mYiYYeYyNBG-2FMqywumXzAMXBSw1Ea5hhpAQrSvE-2FzpzpWq6OX-2BQu-2BxsSY95h-2BGqQE7ocpnRCxCMOpwgCviyfz_sq-2BlObBZTal7XxWb37cPgVhZzKCYhF4GDlnx85K9e6RwIF-2BdbleYcXry3llY75STZLYorjzH61FE6-2FJHu9lTpxTk-2FOXo5Yww8Z-2FqMm4sdJxK2PW3zviLKygKdYhUC-2FvAkJMOKOu6-2BO2Pg1NTvOZIiKPdIAmYgtt3JlSEI644iGwIY74EPqMdlugLA2hLfRqLuvEXU1iicGA2sbOqdyvwz2s-2FL-2BCOPnFK4iuf-2BbF0Hrv-2B9TIUN2bqrNzjKgFOwjiQVctwmDhUpja0fOr4ovk-2BVjbAEq9iacfjiozipoquD-2FJmWvJDvgC7YnWuQNScmFLSO0WXvPO0Yvgd-2FYVaObMyfkePf1kxsnIceynNwlPqdjYLOUBLVm84574b5NK4oVCn&amp;data=05%7C02%7CBDoran%40abc27.com%7Ca33d266cafcf4eb39e2708dec7db0f6b%7C9e5488e2e83844f6886cc7608242767e%7C0%7C0%7C639167940839279850%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=b%2Bf%2BgsUE4g50Rsau6rT9WUQ6bdVVBkzT1QJ7SsF9H4k%3D&amp;reserved=0\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Pennsylvania&#8217;s Farmland Preservation Program<\/a>, where the state partners with local governments and nonprofits to purchase and preserve farmland across the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">One of the farms included in the latest investment is the Ickes family&#8217;s farm in Penn Township. According to the Shapiro Administration, the farm received a $1,228,970 investment from the state and county for the 134-acre beef farm and 173-acre dairy farm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Multiple Franklin County farms also received investments. The Shapiro Administration announced that J. Andrew and Sandra Lee Gingrich&#8217;s 118-acre crop farm in Peters Township, Steven and Lynn Hykes&#8217; 141-acre crop and livestock farm in Antrim Township, and Paul and Pamela Witter&#8217;s 79-acre crop farm in Southampton Township received a total investment of $830,798.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Additionally, Mark and Sarah Hill received a $140,602 investment for their 94-acre crop farm in Granville Township.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">These are just a few of the 22 farms included on the list.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The\u00a0farm families\u00a0we are\u00a0investing in today\u00a0have remained resilient and committed to the noble work of growing the food that helps feed their neighbors\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and we are proud to help ensure\u00a0that their family legacies are imbedded into our agriculture heritage for generations to come,&#8221;\u00a0Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding\u00a0said. &#8220;The Shapiro Administration is grateful for their dedication to Pennsylvania&#8217;s agriculture, and we will continue to honor them by doubling down on our leadership in farmland preservation and investing in innovation and infrastructure that will help grow our agriculture industry.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Pennsylvania has protected 6,726 farms and 667,360 acres in 58 counties, investing more than $1.84 billion in state, county, and local funds, according to the administration. The state leads the nation in the number of preserved farms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.abc27.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(WHTM)\u2013 Pennsylvania invested more than $8 million into protecting 1,775 acres of farmland, including some in the Midstate.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[94982,30052,1718,28,30,29,94981,8991,6651],"class_list":["post-217209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-commercial-development","tag-department-of-agriculture","tag-investment","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-purchase-development-rights","tag-shapiro-administration","tag-whtm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}