Harrisburg, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s Agricultural Land Preservation Board has added 2,512 acres, spread across 33 farms and 16 counties, to the nation’s leading farmland preservation program to ensure that the farms will remain in production. The addition comes with a $9.4 million investment, which purchases development rights to the properties.
“Pennsylvania farmers sacrifice to put food on our tables in good times and bad,” Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding said. “Pennsylvania’s Farmland Preservation program is a covenant between farmers and government to protect our priceless land resources. It is the foundation of food security and a joint investment in feeding our future.”
The $9,429,743 total investment includes nearly $8.9 million in state money, more than $540,000 in county dollars, and $15,000 invested by townships. Since the program began in 1988, federal, state, county and local governments have purchased permanent easements on 5,756 Pennsylvania farms totaling 586,884 acres in 59 counties, investing more than $1.6 billion to ensure that Pennsylvania will continue agricultural production into the future.
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