HARRISBURG, Pa., April 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania's nation-leading farmland preservation program today expanded to safeguard an additional 1,722 acres on 18 farms -- a move that Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding said will help to ensure secure sources of food, a cleaner environment and a more vital economy.

"Preserving farmland secures our food production abilities, protects the environment and our natural resources, and sustains our local economies," said Redding. "As we near the important milestone of preserving 4,000 farms in Pennsylvania, I applaud those farmers who have taken this important step to protect their farm in perpetuity -- meaning it will always remain available for agricultural production."

The latest farms approved today by the Pennsylvania Agricultural Land Preservation Board are located in Allegheny, Berks, Bucks, Clinton, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Montgomery, Perry, and York counties.

In total, Pennsylvania's Farmland Preservation Program has preserved 433,776 acres on 3,982 farms. Both figures are the highest of any state in the nation.

"While all of our citizens benefit from the open space and continued commitment to agriculture that comes with farmland preservation, it is the farmers and families who preserve their farms that take the ultimate step in showing their dedication to agriculture and Pennsylvania's natural resources."

The state's farmland preservation program works through the Pennsylvania Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program, which was developed in 1988 to help curb the loss of prime farmland to non-agricultural uses. The program enables state, county and local governments to purchase conservation easements, also called development rights, from owners of quality farmland.

With this purchase of development rights, farm owners create an agreement whereby the land will forever remain in production agriculture, regardless of who may later own or work the land.

The easement purchases approved today represent a $6.7 million total investment of state, county and township funds.

Since the program's inception, state, county and local governments have invested more than $1 billion to preserve farms.

For more information about Pennsylvania's nation-leading farmland preservation program, visit www.agriculture.state.pa.us and click on "Producers."

Media contact: Nicole L. C. Bucher, 717-787-5085

Editor's Note: A list of farms preserved at today's meeting follows:

Allegheny

• The Robert and Mika Long farm, a 68-acre crop farm
• The John Ripple & Linda Pipp farm, a 132-acre cow/calf beef and row crop operation
• The William & Susan Sray farm, a 56-acre beef and crop operation

Berks

• The Maybelle Bryan farm, a 41-acre crop farm
• The Dean and Brenda Tice farm, a 17-acre equine and hay crop operation

Bucks

• The Jerry and Rebecca Harris farm, a 70-acre dairy and crop operation
• The Jonathan Snipes and Susan Snipes-Wells farm, a 69-acre crop operation

Clinton

The Elam, Priscilla and Elam (Jr.) Stoltzfus farm, a 70-acre dairy farm

Cumberland

The John and Elaine Nolt farm, a 139-acre dairy farm

Dauphin

The Lyle and Marian Landis farm, a 141-acre crop farm

Lackawanna

The Michael, Kenneth and Sue Stacknick farm, a 46-crop and hay operation

Lehigh

• The Ruth Kuntz farm, a 123-acre crop farm
• The David Masters farm, a 64-acre crop farm

Montgomery

The L. Merrill and Martha Yoder farm, a 12-acre pasture on an already preserved farm

Perry

The Gerald Zerance farm, a 314-acre crop farm

York

The John and Nancy Behrmann farm, a 48-acre corn, hay and red deer operation

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture

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RELATED LINKS
http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us