2 Berks farms preserved through the Farmland Preservation Program
Nov. 10—Berks County farms in Bethel and Amity townships were recently preserved through the Farmland Preservation Program.
Permanent conservation easements for the farms were purchased for $350,950 from the state and $132,150 from the county.
Preserved were:
— The Andrew F. Dech farm, a 73-acre crop farm and home of Hopewell Nursery, Trucking and Excavating in Amity Township.
— The Aaron H. and Edna W. Hoover farm, a 103-acre crop and livestock operation in Bethel Township.
Since 1988, the program has purchased permanent conservation easements on 5,949 Pennsylvania farms, covering 603,646 acres, in 58 counties, ensuring they will remain farms in the future.
The Berks farms were approved for the program in October. They were among 21 farms and 1,999 acres safeguarded from future development.
"Farmland preservation provides a secure pathway for future generations to succeed," said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. "It ensures future agriculturalists have land to farm, and in return, consumers will have food on the table. Once farmland goes out of production, it rarely comes back, which is why farmland preservation is so important."
The other farms preserved were in Allegheny, Beaver, Bucks, Chester, Cumberland, Erie, Lebanon, Lehigh, Northampton, Tioga, Union and York counties.
Here are the farms in nearby counties that were preserved:
Chester County (total investment $18,861; state, $497,728 county):
— The Mark A. & Claudia V. Cole farm, a 42-acre crop and livestock operation
— The Leila & Sander Lehrer farm, a 56-acre crop operation
Lebanon County (total investment $233,328; state, $67,223)
— The David P. & Almira D. Kline farm, a 118-acre crop and livestock operation
Lehigh County ( total investment $955,501 state; $3,433 county)
— The Lewis A. Moore farm, a 24-acre crop operation
— The Earl O. & Kelly A. Zellner farm, a 152-acre crop operation
In August, Berks celebrated hitting the 75,000th preserved acre milestone. Berks reached that milestone last year, making it the top county in the state to preserve through the program. Lancaster, which also preserves land through a private trust, has preserved more acres.
Berks has nearly 1,809 farms and more than 224,000 acres, according to the 2017 agriculture census. It is ranked third in the United States for farmland preserved.
A 2020 report from American Farmland Trust ranked Pennsylvania as the 12th most threatened state when it comes to farmland and also one of the top four when to responding to the leading threats to agricultural land: development pressure, weakening agricultural viability, and the transfer of land to a new generation. Funds for farmland preservation come from the cigarette tax, municipal landfill fees, and unconventional gas well impact fees.
