Pa. Protects 30 Farms, 2,569 Acres from Future Development; Preserves 166 PA Farms Permanently in 2021

Pennsylvania protected 2,569 acres on 30 farms in 18 counties from future development, investing more than $7.2 million in state, county and township dollars. In 2021, Pennsylvania’s Farmland Preservation Program, which leads the nation, approved 166 conservation easements covering 14,397 acres that will permanently remain productive farms.

“Preserving farmland is an investment in feeding all of our families in the future,” Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said. “It is one of the most important investments we make together, at every level of government, to ensure the security of our economy, our jobs, our communities and our environment.”

Since 1988, the program has purchased permanent conservation easements on 5,979 Pennsylvania farms, covering 606,215 acres in 58 counties, and ensuring they will remain farms in the future. By selling their land’s development value, landowners preserve their farms, protecting the land from future residential, commercial or industrial development. Pennsylvania partners with county and sometimes local governments to purchase the development value, ensuring a strong future for farming and food security.

The 30 farms preserved today are in Beaver, Berks, Blair, Cambria, Chester, Dauphin, Erie, Franklin, Lawrence, Lebanon, Lehigh, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry, Schuylkill, Union, Westmoreland, and York counties.

In Blair County a total investment of $103,026 (state) and $55,000 (county) covered the Kevin and Tonya Brubaker farm, an 84-acre crop operation in Martinsburg.