Pennsylvania Adds 14 New Farms to Preservation Program

More than 459,000 Acres on 4,243 Farms Saved Since 1988

HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania has added 1,470 additional acres of land to its nationally recognized farmland preservation program under action by the Pennsylvania Agricultural Land Preservation Board at its meeting today in Harrisburg.

The 14 newly preserved farms are located in Beaver, Berks, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Cumberland, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Northampton and Somerset counties.

"We've preserved nearly 15,000 acres of farmland across the state in just the past year alone," said Agriculture Secretary George Greig. "This speaks volumes to the value our farm families place on ensuring the future viability of Pennsylvania agriculture – our state's number-one industry."

Since the program started in 1988, state, county and local governments have invested more than $1.1 billion to safeguard 459,007 acres on 4,243 farms.

"Our producers know the importance of preserving farms so our next generation of agriculturalists can keep Pennsylvania growing far into the future, and I thank them for that foresight," Greig said.

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

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

Editor's Note: The farms preserved on Feb. 16 are listed by county below:

Beaver
The Thomas Brenckle farm, a 102-acre crop and livestock operation

Berks
The Mark, Nancy, David and Cindy Wolfskill farm #1, a 112-acre crop and livestock operation

Bucks
The Kenneth Bowman farm, a 135-acre crop farm

Butler
The Kenneth and Ann Moniot farm, an 88-acre crop farm

Cambria
The David and John Shoemaker farm #2, a 128-acre crop and livestock operation

Cumberland
The James Deitch farm, an 83-acre crop and livestock operation

Juniata
The Richard Rhine farm #1, a 169-acre crop and livestock operation

Lackawanna
The Richard Weise and Rosemary Sachse farm #1, a 42-acre crop farm

Lancaster
The Craig, Cynthia, Joel and Jaclyn Frey and Anthony and Judy Haverstick farm, a 29-acre crop and livestock operation

The Charles and Debra Smithgall farm, a 244-acre crop and dairy operation

Lebanon
The Curtis and Keturah Zimmerman farm, a 111-acre crop and livestock operation

Northampton
The Gerald Brinker farm, a 61-acre crop farm

The George Milander farm, a 40-acre crop farm

Somerset
The Mildred Berkebile farm, a 125-acre crop and livestock operation

Media contact: Will Nichols, 717-787-5085

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture

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