HARRISBURG, Pa. — Five Lehigh Valley farms have been preserved as part of a $8.7 million statewide effort to ward off development and protect open spaces.
"Without prime farmland, we simply don't have the resources to grow food and supply the $132.5 billion our industry feeds into our economy every year," said Russell Redding, secretary of the state Department of Agriculture, in a news release. "Pennsylvania farm families who sell their land development rights are leaving a legacy that ensures Pennsylvania families will have green spaces and healthy farmland available to produce food, income and jobs.
“The Shapiro Administration is proud to support that legacy."
The farms, four in Lehigh County and one Northampton County, were the latest to be included in the commonwealth’s Farmland Preservation Program, along with about two dozen others across the state. It was at least the third time Valley farms were marked preserved last year. In 2023, officials invested nearly $46.3 million to purchase land development rights for 13,663 acres on 166 farms across the state.
In Lehigh County, the total investment was just over $1.47 million, divided between state, county and township funds, according to the news release.
Farms preserved included: Russell E. and Susan L. Foster, a 130-acre crop farm, Weisenberg Township; Stanley A. and Carol A. George, a 64-acre crop farm, also in Weisenberg Township; Donald A. Haas, a 55-acre crop farm, Lowhill Township; and Leslie H. Nonnemacher, a 21-acre crop farm in Upper Milford Township.
Stacey and Clayton Stine III, a 42-acre crop farm in Upper Mount Bethel Township, was the only Northampton County farm to be included in this round of preservation, costing the state $317,682.
The nearly 6.4% overall increase in the Agriculture Department's budget for 2023-24 is multiplying farmers' efforts to conserve land, soil and water resources by investing in land preservation, equipment purchases, business planning and farm management tools they need to innovate and grow.Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
“Preserving prime farmland is one of the critical investments Gov. Josh Shapiro has made in supporting Pennsylvania's 52,700 farm families,” officials said in the release. “The nearly 6.4% overall increase in the Agriculture Department's budget for 2023-24 is multiplying farmers' efforts to conserve land, soil and water resources by investing in land preservation, equipment purchases, business planning and farm management tools they need to innovate and grow.”
In October, state officials announced two farms in Lynn Township, Lehigh County, were preserved. Less than two months before that, more than 100 acres, across both counties, were preserved.
Since 1988, when the state’s Farmland Preservation Program was approved by voters, the commonwealth has protected 6,314 farms and 632,856 acres in 58 counties from future development, investing more than $1.69 billion in state, county and local funds.
