7 Chesco Farms Get Preservation Status Through State Program

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — Seven Chester County farms have been added to the list of preserved farms across the state, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

On Thursday, Pennsylvania’s Agricultural Land Preservation Board preserved farms from across the state, including an eight-generation dairy and a conservation award-winning beef farm.

Among the 47 farms listed, seven are in Chester County.

They are:

• The Daniel J. Black farm, a 30.11-acre crop and livestock operation
• The I. Glen and Eileen J. Engle farm #4, a 79.76-acre crop farm
• The Nora Gammon farm, a 23.94-acre crop farm
• The Mary Lou King farm #1, a 41.35-acre crop farm
• The Holly Reyburn farm #2, a 42.78-acre crop farm
• The Gerald E. and Cynthia L. Rohrer farm, a 109.92-acre crop farm
• The Jonas E. Jr. and Lizzie S. Stoltzfus farm, an 89.68-acre crop farm

"Preserving farmland is a team effort among diverse groups united in our effort to spare the state’s best agricultural soils from development," said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. "Together we help farmers to take an important step toward securing a future for their operations. This meeting is the culmination of an important chapter in the stories of 47 farm families from all corners of Pennsylvania."

The 47 preserved farms cover 3,561 acres across 21 counties: Berks, Bucks, Chester, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lebanon, Lehigh, Lycoming, Mercer, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Schuylkill, Tioga, Union, and Westmoreland.

Since the program began in 1988, federal, state, county, and local governments have purchased permanent easements on 5,540 farms totaling 569,767 acres in 59 counties for agricultural production.

The Pennsylvania Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program, as it is formally known, is dedicated to slowing the loss of prime farmland to non-agricultural uses. Funding allows state, county and local governments to purchase conservation easements from owners of quality farmland. State, county, local, and federal funds committed at today’s meeting are allocated to county programs to purchase development rights to preserve farms on county waiting lists.

These investments in preserving farmland for future production will be further enhanced by investments Governor Wolf proposed in the PA Farm Bill.