Lower Salford Farm Permanently Preserved By County

Montgomery County has taken steps to permanently preserve a Lower Salford farm belonging to Sheldon Derstine. The county now protects 158 farms.

The farm was preserved under the Montgomery County Agricultural Land Preservation Program. The Derstine family has owned the 28-acre Lower Salford
property for nearly 60 years. The Derstine farm is a crop farm with corn, wheat, and hay and is surrounded by several other preserved farms. The preservation of this farm helps to implement the land use vision plan in Montgomery County’s award-winning comprehensive plan, Montco 2040: A Shared Vision.

“We are happy to add this family farm to our expanding list of preserved farms in Montgomery County,” said Jody L. Holton, AICP, Executive Director of the Montgomery County Planning Commission, in a statement. “Preserving farms in our County supports our local farming businesses and ensures prime agricultural land will not be developed.”

The Montgomery County Agricultural Land Preservation Program began in 1990. In the past 26 years, just over 9,250 farmland acres have been preserved in the county, according a press release.

Preserving farmland continues to be a priority statewide. Last month, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture celebrated preserving its 5,000th farm and continues to fund Montgomery County’s preservation program, which the County administers, the county said.

Image courtesy Montgomery County PA.