Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s administration announced that Pennsylvania is investing more than $9.1 million to purchase development rights for 2,565 acres on 34 farms in 16 counties. The investment will protect prime farmland from future residential or commercial development and help ensure that farm families have the fertile land they need to produce food, fiber, and fuel to feed our economy in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cPennsylvania leads the nation in farmland preservation because farm families, communities, and the Commonwealth are working together to protect the land that feeds us,\u201d\u00a0Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding\u00a0said. \u201cThe families who committed to preserving their farms today show what that commitment looks like \u2014 strengthening agricultural communities while protecting prime soil as a resource for farming. The\u00a0Shapiro Administration\u00a0is proud to stand with Pennsylvania\u2019s farm families, investing in the land together and building a stronger future for agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania\u2019s Farmland Preservation Program\u00a0is a state partnership\u00a0with local and county governments and sometimes nonprofits to purchase development rights to protect prime farmland permanently, ensuring a strong future for farming and food security.<\/p>\n
Conservation easements, commonly known as development rights, become part of the property\u2019s deed and stay with the land even if the farm changes owners. By selling development rights, farm owners ensure that their farms remain in agricultural production and are never sold to developers.<\/p>\n
Several farms approved for easement purchases build on the state\u2019s commitment to protecting farmland from future development.<\/p>\n
In Schuylkill County, preserving the Musser family farm \u2014\u00a0 a123-acre crop and livestock farm in South Manheim Township, and the family\u2019s second preserved parcel \u2014 creates a five-farm, 434-acre block of protected farmland, further saving the region from development.<\/p>\n
Preserving the 190-acre John and Cynthia Clouse Farm in Cumberland County will create a nearly 800-acre cluster of federally preserved farmland in a high-priority area of the Kittatinny Ridge Conservation Landscape.<\/p>\n
Preserving a second Lehigh County-owned farm increases the protected portion of a farm given to the county as a gift to the county, to 406 acres, or 90% of the donated land.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania leads the nation in preserved farms. Since 1988, when voters statewide overwhelmingly supported creating the state\u2019s Farmland Preservation Program, Pennsylvania has protected 6,759 farms and 669,854 acres in 58 counties from future development, investing more than $1.82 billion in state, county, and local funds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s administration announced that Pennsylvania is investing more than $9.1 million to purchase development rights for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1131,182,139,28,30,29,50,231],"class_list":["post-270731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-environment","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-politics","tag-schuylkill-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270731","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=270731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}