Montco Farm Among Those In 18 Counties To Be Saved From Development

UPPER HANOVER, PA — A local crop and beef farm in this Montgomery County community has been saved from any future development after receiving state, county and local dollars as part of a program to protect 2,264 acres on 32 farms across 18 Pennsylvania counties.

The New Goshenhoppen United Church of Christ Farm #2 in Upper Hanover Township is the only farm from Montgomery County that was named in this week's announcement.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture this week said that the farms across the commonwealth would be receiving a total of $8.2 million in state, county and local dollars to ensure that prime farmland is not lost to development.

Officials said that this would bring Pennsylvania's total amount of protected farmland to 6,076 farms and 613,884 acres across 58 out of the state's 67 counties.

The land would be protected from future commercial, industrial or residential development.

The Agriculture Department said that Pennsylvania leads the nation in the number of preserved farms, investing more than $1.6 billion since 1988 to protect the state's farmland.

"Saving farmland protects the beauty and productivity of our state, the health of our environment, the vitality of our economy, and our ability to feed a growing population," Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said in a statement. "It is not only one of the most important investments in our state, federal and local governments make together, it is a priority we all agree on."

State agriculture officials say that when selling their land's development rights, landowners act to protect their farms from any future residential, commercial or industrial developments.

Farming families often sell their land at below market value to ensure that it will remain farmland forever, the Agriculture Department stated.

The department said that the state often partners with county and even local governments at times, as well as nonprofit organizations, to purchase development rights from farms, thus ensuring a "strong future for farming and food security," reads an Agriculture Department news release.

In addition to the farm from Montgomery County, other preserved farms announced this week are located in Berks, Bucks, Centre, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Lycoming, Mifflin, Monroe, Northampton, Perry, Schuylkill, Washington and York Counties.

One of the notable farms included in this week's announcement is the W. Darren and Suzanne K. Marsteller's farm in Hopewell Township, York County.

State officials said that the farm is located in an area that is under intense development pressure, as it is a bedroom community for Baltimore.

York County sits on the line with Maryland in south-central Pennsylvania.