$281K Awarded To Western Montgomery County Farm For Preservation

DOUGLASS TOWNSHIP, PA — A farm in this western Montgomery County municipality was one of 24 across 10 Pennsylvania counties to be saved from development with the issuance of preservation grant dollars.

The state's agriculture secretary announced late last week that Pennsylvania recently protected 2,046 acres on 24 Keystone State farms from future development by investing close to $7.5 million in state, county, local and nonprofit dollars to ensure the farmland stays preserved.

The Gregory H. Moser Farm in Douglass Township — a community in western Montgomery County that sits on the border with Berks County — was the only farm to receive funding in Montgomery County.

The other newly preserved farms are in Berks, Bucks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lehigh, Northampton, Wyoming and York Counties.

The farms that received funding agreed to sell their land's development rights, thus ensuring that their farms would never be sold to developers for residential, commercial or industrial development.

State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding stated that farm families typically sell their land at below market value, donate additional land or agree to some conservation practices in order to leverage additional federal and state dollars to help preserve more family farms.

"Every dollar spent protecting prime farmland from development is an investment in our economy, our environment, our quality of life, and our ability to feed Pennsylvania's families and economy," Redding said in a statement. "Preserving land resources is one of the most important investments we make together, across every level of government, hand in hand with farm families investing to guard their legacy of daily hard work and sacrifice to feed us all."

Pennsylvania, which partners with county and local governments, and sometimes nonprofits, to buy development rights from farmland owners, says it has invested more than $1.6 billion to protect open spaces, green space and food production for the future since 1988.

In Bucks County, one of the notable farms that was highlighted for preservation is the John M. and Kathryn A. Hunsberger farm, located in a scenic area visible from a nearby roadway.

State officials called the site of the farm a "prime location ... coveted by residential developers who will pay top dollar for the land.

The state says that the Hunsberger's easement purchase will ensure that the 62-plus-acre parcel will remain green space and productive farmland in perpetuity.

Other farms that were highlighted in this round of preservation are the Robert and Laura Faux Wyoming County crop and cattle farm, which has been in their family for generations and whose barn dates back to the Civil War; and John W. Marsteller Jr.'s York County crop farm, which is the third farm belonging to that family that has been preserved through state efforts.

The state says that southern York County is currently in the midst of an intense residential development boom since it's considered to be a bedroom community for commuters in Baltimore, Maryland.

More information about Pennsylvania's farmland preservation program can be found here.