Farmland Preservation

The report provides updated information on the status, condition, and trends of land, soil, water, and related resources on America's farmland. The 2012 NRI provides nationally consistent data for the 30-year period 1982–2012.

The Census of Agriculture is a census conducted every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service that provides the only source of uniform, comprehensive agricultural data for every county in the United States. Files below for entire report and Pennsylvania data. In Pennsylvania, agriculture is a $7.7 billion industry.

Legislative Budget and Finance Committe audit of the Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program

This act established Pennsylvania's agricultural conservation easement program. It amended the act of June 30, 1981 (P. L. 128, No. 43), known as the "Agricultural Area Security Law," to further provide for agricultural areas, public hearings, evaluation criteria, decisions and reviews of proposed areas, appeals, limitation on local agencies, policy of Commonwealth agencies, limitations on exercise of eminent domain and purchases of development easements in agricultural areas; authorizing the issuance of bonds for the purchase of agricultural conservation easements; making an appropriation; and making editorial changes. (As legislation, the act was known as House Bill No. 442.)

This is a copy of Act 43, which created the Agricultural Security Area program. The document reflects all revisions to this statute, through Act 19 of 2013.

<p>The Pennsylvania Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program empowers county governments, in partnership with state government, to protect productive farmland from non-agricultural development. Easements have been purchased on hundreds of thousands of acres from farmers using state funds, county tax receipts, and other funds. WeConservePA guide. 4 pages.</p>

A Guide to Farmland Preservation will help guide local Pennsylvania organizations through the process of preparing agricultural conservation easement purchase applications for consideration by the State Board. Page 29 describes the installment purchase of agricultural conservation easements by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture through bonds issued by the New Garden General Authority.

A primer on the benefits of farmland preservation, this 20 page publication discusses the significance of farmlands relative to the health of the Chesapeake and includes tools for preserving farmland. It also includes a comprehensive list of information sources for federal, state, local and private programs and assistance.

The annual reports provide an overview of farmland preservation tools in Pennsylvania and their track record. They include data on the participation in the Clean and Green program and a list of all agricultural security areas in the state by county and township.

Fifty-eight Pennsylvania counties have agricultural land preservation boards that purchase agricultural conservation easements. Sixty-eight private, charitable land trusts accept donations of conservation easements or, less commonly, purchase them. These two paths to farmland preservation differ in many ways. WeConservePA guide. 4 pages.

In the United States, momentum for purchase of development rights (PDRs) programs is accelerating and they now exist in 20 of the 50 states. Their primary constituents are agricultural interests, and conservation and open space advocates. The 20 states’ statutes were reviewed and telephone interviews conducted with officials in each of the states who were responsible for implementing the legislation.

Chapter 138e of the Pennsylvania Code addresses the state's Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program. It includes the rules for the Land Trust Reimbursement Grant Program.

Provides basic information on the purchase program as well additional resources, including a list of farmland preservation county administrators.

This report discusses the various zoning and preservation practices being used by municipalities in York County. It includes Agricultural Protection Zoning (APZ), Agricultural Security Areas, Conservation Easement Programs, and Clean & Green. It also provides an overview of legal challenges related to APZ.

Farms feed us and provide a host of other public benefits. However, every day, the amount of fertile farmland diminishes as development spreads. When farmers think that the farms around them will be sold for development, which would result in the enterprises that support farming leaving and the loss of their support network, this can set off a downward spiral in a farming community: farmers leave farming or stop reinvesting in their farms because they fear the consequences of being one of the last farmers in an area. Farmland preservation programs can provide assurance to farmers that there will always be a critical mass of farms in an area, bringing stability to the local farm community and economy. WeConservePA guide. 5 pages.