Pennsylvania has preserved 10 farms totaling more than 560 acres in the Lehigh Valley, making that land won’t ever be developed.
The state’s Agriculture Department announced Friday that 40 farms comprising more than 2,700 acres across Pennsylvania are in the latest round of preservation. The news came a day after the state’s Agricultural Land Preservation Board approved the designations.
“Our diversity as a state extends far beyond our people to our geography, our products, our production styles, and the options that our land can be used for,” Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said in a news release. “It’s important to take pause and consider the implications of transforming farmland into developed land.”
The Pennsylvania Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program identifies quality farmland for state, county and local governments to buy development rights.
Since the program began in 1988, federal, state, county and local governments have bought such permanent easements on 5,580 farms totaling more than 572,000 acres. The purchases have happened in 59 of the state’s 67 counties.
Here are the latest farms being preserved in Lehigh County:
Frances L. and Wayne G. Heussman farm No. 1, 116 acres, and a second Heussman family farm with 84 acres
Dale L. and Ellen L. Koplin farm, 30 acres
Pamela D. Krause farm, 31 acres
Kenneth and Leslie J. Mattos farm, 11 acres
Sterling D. and Doreen B. Reinert farm, 38 acres
The Stettler farm, 45 acres
Northampton County farms are:
Sarah L. Pagotto Revocable Living Trust farm, 92 acres
Clayton III and Stacey Stine farm, 11.06 acres
Weinhofer Farms LLC, 108 acres
Other farms preserved are in Berks, Bucks and Montgomery counties. To see the latest list and learn more about the state’s farmland preservation program, go to agriculture.pa.gov.