This year, Schuylkill County received federal funds to purchase development rights to owners of land deemed eligible to be enrolled in the Farmland Preservation program.

Pennsylvania leads the nation in the number of farms and acres permanently preserved for agricultural production, according to the state Department of Agriculture.

County Agricultural Program Coordinator Brittany Moore explained the funding.

“The federal Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, or the Kittatinny Ridge Regional Coalition Partnership Program, will provide up to 50 percent reimbursement to counties for easement purchases,” she said.

“The total funds contributed by the county this year were $262,963, which includes the county contribution as well as a portion of the rollback taxes from the Clean & Green Program. The state then provided a match of $616,866, bringing the grand total of funds to $879,829,” she said.

“This year, the Schuylkill County Agricultural Land Preservation Board prioritized easement purchases to landowners willing to participate in ACEP/RCPP in order to make use of these federal dollars and to extend program funding as much as possible. The program’s board has selected six farms for easement purchase this year, and earmarked approximately 450 acres that will be participating in ACEP/RCPP programs. In doing so, the program will receive a reimbursement that will allow 225 additional acres to be preserved the following year,” Moore said.

“With 76 farms on the waiting list for preservation, there is still a lot of work to do for agricultural land preservation within Schuylkill County. Every one of these farms on the waiting list deserves to be preserved, and there are many other eligible farms within the county that should be protected,” she said.

Landowners interested in preserving their farm can find an application on the Schuylkill Conservation District’s website. There is no fee to apply. Applications are due by Dec. 31.

Currently, 115 farms, or 11,838 acres, are preserved in Schuylkill County.

The amount paid for the development rights, or “easements” is determined by an independent licensed real estate appraiser.

The appraiser decides the market and agricultural values of the land being considered for the program.

The difference between the two is the value of the perpetual conservation easement.

Schuylkill is currently offering a maximum purchase price of $2,000.

The county Farmland Preservation board is composed of Chairman Keith Masser, Vice Chairman Kent Heffner, Stanley Fidler, Dr. Ronald Dietz, James Hepler, Glenn Hetherington, Bill Wehry, Russell Schnoke and John Halabura.

Pennsylvania’s total is 6,076 farms and 613,884 acres in 58 counties now forever protected from commercial, industrial or residential development. Pennsylvania continues to lead the nation in the number of preserved farms, investing more than $1.6 billion since 1988 to protect the state’s valuable farmland. according to the state Department of Agriculture.

In June, the state invested nearly $8.2 million in state, county and local dollars to forever preserve farms in Schuylkill, Berks, Bucks, Centre, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Lycoming, Mifflin, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Perry, Washington and York counties.