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Clean and Green is managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Direct questions to the administrator at (717) 705-7796. Clean and Green, established by the Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act, provides for lower property tax assessments of qualified parcels capable of producing agricultural products and timber or providing open space for public use.
Clean and Green is managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Direct questions to the administrator at (717) 705-7796.
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Much of the land in Pennsylvania that is ideal for agricultural production, forestry, and recreation is also well-suited for more profitable use. County assessments of property value to determine real estate taxes generally aim to approximate the market value of land and improvements—not the intensity or profitability of their actual use, or a landowner’s ability to pay. This can create special hardships for farmers and others with large amounts land but relatively low cash-flow generated from that land.
A heavy tax assessment can have a significant impact on a farmer’s bottom line, possibly tempting them to sell their land to take advantage of developers willing to pay top dollar due to the land’s development potential.
To mitigate this problem, the Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act (Act 319), referred to as the Clean and Green Act, was signed into law in 1974. The act provides for land taxation according to its use-value rather than the prevailing market value for eligible parcels. Act 319 applies to all counties in Pennsylvania. Each county assessor’s office is responsible for administering the program within its jurisdiction.
While Clean and Green provides crucial tax relief for Pennsylvania farming (and responsible forestry in some cases), the program offers these substantial tax benefits to large property owners without regard to actual productive farm and forestry use, or financial need. Critics note that the over-inclusive nature of the program effectively shifts property tax burdens onto smaller and often less wealthy landowners, and delivers often dubious public benefits. This issue was the subject of an in-depth investigative series published by The Morning Call in 2018.
Clean and Green delivers a modest disincentive to develop any particular parcel enrolled in the program. However, contrary to common perceptions that it conserves farm and forest, Clean and Green provides minimal protection in the long run. While there are financial penalties for removing land from the program, these penalties are generally insufficient to stop land conversions as development pressures rise. Clean and Green is undoubtedly successful as a preferential tax program aiding farmers; it is not effective as a conservation program.
As of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture program report published in 2024, counties have reported 217,603 parcels enrolled in the Clean and Green program, covering more than 10.9 million acres.
The following three land use types are eligible for preferential assessment under Clean and Green:
Land that has been producing an agricultural commodity or has been devoted to a soil conservation program under an agreement with the federal government for at least three years preceding the application for preferential assessment, and meets one of the following descriptions:
Land comprised of at least 10 contiguous acres, including any farmstead land and woodlot, that is free and open to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis for outdoor recreation or the enjoyment of scenic or natural beauty.
Land comprised of at least 10 contiguous acres, including any farmstead land, that is stocked by forest trees of any size and capable of producing timber or other wood products. Forest reserve land includes land that is rented to another person for the purpose of producing timber or other wood products.
Landowners apply for the Clean and Green program through the assessor’s office of the county where the land is located. If the land is located in multiple counties, the application should be filed in the county to which the landowner pays property taxes. A standardized form is used across the state. Applications must be received by June 1 for the landowner to enroll in the program for the following tax year. A county board for assessment appeals may impose a fee of no more than $50 for processing an application.
Landowners are not required to reside on the land or live in the same county to which they submit their application. The person applying for preferential assessment must own all the land listed in the application; they may include contiguous tracts that would not qualify is considered individually. Where only a portion of land within a tract is eligible for enrollment, preferential assessment will only apply to the eligible land, and the ineligible land will continue to be assessed at its fair market value, and the ineligible land use must not expand beyond the footprint existing at the time of application. Separate portions of a contiguous land area may be eligible under different use categories as long as the acreage identified for each particular land use meets the minimum criteria for that land use category.
Applications must include a statement by the applicant promising to provide 30 days’ notice to the county assessor prior to any subdivision or change in the use of the land or subdivision of the land.
Clean and Green enables eligible land to be assessed at its use value instead of market value. Use value is a property’s value based only on the income the land would typically generate if used for agricultural, woodland, or pastureland purposes; it does not consider all of the property’s potential uses. The Clean and Green law states that the use value must reflect the potential production of the individual parcel, based upon soil capability. Use value will likely result in a lower tax assessment value than valuation on a fair market value basis.
The Department of Agriculture supplies county assessment offices with annual county-specific use values. The county has the option of implementing these values or establishing its own values. If the county-established values are lower, the county may apply the lower use values. The Department of Agriculture uses the following system to determine use-values:
Landowners may voluntarily remove land from Clean and Green—and often do so when the profitability of an ineligible land use surpasses the costs triggered by withdrawal. Generally, the landowner will be subject to 7 years of rollback taxes at 6% interest per year. The rollback tax is the difference between what was paid under Clean and Green versus what would have been paid had the property not been enrolled, plus 6% simple interest per year. Land that is removed from the program in this manner is not eligible to be subsequently re-enrolled by the same landowner.
Land may also be involuntarily removed from the program upon a change in use, transfer, or other action by the landowner that eliminates eligibility.
Changing land from one Clean and Green land use classification to another does not trigger rollback taxes.
Clean and Green allows for two types of divisions or conveyances: “split-offs” and “separations.”
Split-offs are the division, by conveyance or other action of the owner, of land into two or more tracts, where one or more of the resulting tracts does not qualify for Clean and Green. When a split-off tract meets the following criteria, rollback taxes and interest are only due on the split-off tract, and are not due with respect to the remainder:
Separations are the division, by conveyance or other action of the owner, of land into two or more tracts of land that continue to be in agricultural, agricultural reserve, or forest reserve use. The tracts must generally be 10 acres in size and continue to meet the requirements for Clean and Green eligibility. No rollback taxes are due, unless one of the tracts is converted so that it no longer meets program requirements. If the use of a separated tract changes to an ineligible use within seven years of the separation, the owner of that tract is liable for rollback taxes plus interest for the entire original parcel.
An owner of enrolled land may apply up to 2 acres of enrolled land toward direct commercial sales of agriculturally related products and activities, or toward a rural enterprise incidental to the operational unit. These acres include land used for access roads and parking for the enterprise. Only the acres used for this enterprise would be subject to rollback taxes and interest if both of the following apply:
Landowners may use ½ acre or less for direct commercial sales of agriculturally related products without roll-back taxes or change to preferential assessment so long as at least 50% of products sold are produced on the enrolled land, and the sales do not require new buildings or utility service.
Up to ½ of an acre may be leased for wireless or cellular communication installations without losing preferential assessment on the unleased portion of enrolled land, though the leased land will be subject to roll-back taxes and assessed at its fair market value.
Recreational activities or agritainment activities are allowed on forest reserve and agricultural land. Agritainment is farm-related tourism or farm-related entertainment activities for recreation or educational purposes. These activities are authorized by the landowner in return for a fee. Agritainment includes (but is not limited to) corn mazes, hay mazes, farm tours, and hayrides. Recreational activity includes (but is not limited to):
Land enrolled as agricultural reserve must remain open to the public and free of charge for passive recreational uses on a nondiscriminatory basis. However, a landowner may place reasonable restrictions on this. For example, a landowner need not allow access after dark, the carrying of firearms, or the use of motorized vehicles. County assessors have discretion to consider the reasonableness of landowner restrictions on public access.
The Clean and Green regulations do not require landowners to affirmatively invite members of the public onto the enrolled property, nor is actual use by the public required. A landowner may prohibit access to areas of the property to prevent damage to the property or where a hazardous condition exists. The Clean and Green regulations require that members of the public must, whenever possible, notify the landowner before entering the property.
Farmstead land is any curtilage (the immediate, enclosed area surrounding a house or dwelling) and land situated under a residence, farm building, or other building that supports a residence, including a residential garage or workshop. Farmstead land is counted in each use category for purposes of calculating the minimum acreage requirement but is not necessarily entitled to preferential assessment.
Farmstead land located within an area enrolled as agricultural use qualifies for preferential assessment.
Farmstead land located within an area enrolled as agricultural reserve or forest reserve will be assessed at agricultural use value if either:
County commissioners may adopt an ordinance to allow the preferential assessment of a farmstead on land that is enrolled as agricultural or forest reserve.
If enrolled land is granted or donated to one of the following entities, the taxing body in which the land is located may accept or forgive rollback taxes:
The taxing body may not forgive the interest on rollback taxes.
Act 88 of 2010 protects landowners who participate in Pennsylvania's Clean and Green program from rollback taxes due to the development of a gas well or pipeline on their property. Under Act 88, land subject to preferential assessment may be used for exploration for, and removal of, gas and oil. This includes the development of appurtenant facilities, including new roads and bridges, pipelines, and other buildings or structures related to those activities. Rollback taxes will be imposed upon only those portions of land actually devoted to these activities, excluding land devoted to subsurface transmission or gathering lines. A rollback tax may only be levied on the portion of the land which is incapable of being immediately used for agricultural use, agricultural reserve, or forest reserve, as determined either by reference to a legally required well production report, or, where no such report is mandated, as determined by the county assessor.
No rollback tax will be imposed upon a landowner for activities related to the exploration for or removal of oil or gas, including the extraction of coal bed methane, when conducted by a party other than the landowner that holds the rights to conduct such activities. This applies if the transfer of rights occurred before the land was enrolled in Clean and Green before December 26, 2010 (the effective date of Act 88).
Act 88 also allows for the development and use of Tier I alternative energy on any land use category to remain under preferential assessment as long as more than half of the energy annually generated is used on the tract of land. Examples of Tier I energy include solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind power, low impact hydropower, geothermal energy, biologically derived methane gas, fuel cells, biomass energy, and coal mine methane.
Landowners may use land enrolled in Clean and Green for commercial wind production (where a majority of the energy produced is sold rather than used on site) without losing preferential assessment on the entire property, though those portions of the land used for wind production are subject to roll-back taxes and will be taxed at their fair market value.
Act 319 requires that all the interest received on rollback taxes must be combined with other local money appropriated by an eligible county for the purchase of agricultural conservation easements. If the county does not participate in the easement program, the interest must be forwarded to the state agricultural conservation easement purchase program fund.
Clean and Green delivers a modest disincentive to develop any particular parcel enrolled in the program. However, contrary to common perceptions that it conserves farms and forests, Clean and Green provides minimal protection in the long run. While there are financial penalties for removing land from the program, these penalties are generally insufficient to stop land conversions as development pressures rise. Landowners pay millions of dollars in rollback taxes each year as they move to develop their land and remove it from the program.
By forestalling some landowners from selling for development, Clean and Green increases the window of opportunity for a conservation organization to work with a landowner to permanently protect the land. If land enrolled in the program is put up for sale, a conservation organization could theoretically have a modest advantage over a developer, since development of the land would result in a financial penalty to the landowner and a sale to a conservation organization likely would not.
Clean and Green allows those not engaged in farming to qualify for preferential assessment under agricultural reserve and forest reserve designations, which can incentivize the sprawling development of 10-acre mini-estates. The law partially addresses this by disallowing preferential assessment of farmsteads (often referred to as base acres) within agricultural and forest reserve land, but landowners still can receive preferential assessment on the rest of their property. While some might view 10-acre mini-estates as beneficial open space, many others do not due to, among other factors, the resulting habitat fragmentation, absence of agricultural production or good forestry, and sprawling infrastructure necessary to support these mini-estates. Additional controversy results from the fact that other landowners must share the tax burden of which landowners enrolled in Clean and Green.
Since it was first passed, Clean and Green has been amended at various times, including significant amendments in 1998, 2004, 2010, and 2016. Act 156 of 1998 amended the law to help bring about uniform interpretation throughout Pennsylvania. The law was amended again in 2004 through Act 235, which provides for the market value assessments of farmstead lands enrolled in the Agricultural Reserve and Forest Reserve categories. Counties retain the ability to adopt an ordinance to continue assessing agricultural reserve and forest reserve farmstead lands at use value. This change occurred because Act 156 apparently caused a significant reduction in the property tax bases in many rural taxing jurisdictions and resulted in an increase of mini-estates. Act 235 also provides for the recreational leasing of enrolled land. In 2010, Act 88 modified the law to allow land enrolled in the program to be used for exploration and removal of gas and oil. Act 88 also allows land with renewable energy development to remain in preferential assessment as long as more than half the energy produced is used on the tract. Act 89 of 2016 provides additional options and procedures for county assessors when calculating use values and allows for the inclusion of land burdened by roads or access easements for purposes of calculating Clean and Green acreage requirements.
