Mar 4, 2015 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Starting April 15, the Greene County Farmland Preservation board of directors will accept applications for inclusion in the county’s agricultural easement program. To be eligible, landowners must be enrolled in an approved agricultural security area consisting of at least 500 acres; have at least 50 contiguous acres; have at least 50 percent of the soils on the property in soil capability classes I-IV (as defined by the Web Soil Survey) and be available for agricultural production; and contain the greater of 50 percent or 10 acres of harvested cropland, pasture or grazing land.

The application period ends June 15, although applicants are encouraged to apply early enough to allow time for Greene County Conservation District staff to review applications. District staff can also assist with the research and preparation of applications to ensure that all needed information is accurate and complete. Applications meeting program requirements are then ranked and forwarded to the state board for approval after offers have been made.

Currently in Greene County, there are seven townships with approved ASA’s: Center, Cumberland, Greene, Jefferson, Morgan, Washington and Wayne. Franklin Township is the newest municipality that can accept ASA’s within its community.

The Greene County Farmland Preservation Board, a seven-member board composed of local farmers, municipal leaders and residents, has seen growth in ASA activity and Farmland Preservation applications in recent years. During the past nine years, the Greene County Farmland Preservation Program acquired four farms in three townships, preserving 483 acres of farmland.

Currently, the Farmland Preservation Board is preparing to ease a 107-acre farm that was ranked and accepted as the fifth farm to be eased. The final easement should be completed in 2015, and the farm is located in Cumberland Township.

The Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation program was developed in 1988 to help slow the loss of prime farmland to non-agricultural uses through easement purchases. Pennsylvania leads the nation with more than 4,500 farms and 484,000 acres preserved. This program enables state, county and local governments to purchase conservation easements, sometimes called development rights, from owners of quality farmland.

According to the Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation Association, an agricultural conservation easement is an interest in land, which represents the right to prevent development or improvement of a parcel for any purpose other than agricultural production. The agricultural conservation easement may be granted by a farmland owner to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a county agricultural land preservation program, a local government unit or a local land trust. Easements can be sold or donated. After an easement is sold or donated, the conservation easement restrictions are recorded in the recorder of deeds office in the county where the easement is located.

Selling an agricultural conservation easement can permanently protect a family’s farmland from being lost to future nonagricultural development. Landowners can receive cash for some of the equity tied up in their land and still retain ownership of their land. This money can be used to expand or improve a farm operation, pay off debt or be saved for retirement. Conservation easements can also be used as an estate planning tool to help landowners successfully pass farms on to the next generation.

For more information about the Greene County Farmland Preservation Program, or to receive an application, call the Greene County Conservation District at 724-852-5278, or visit www.co.greene.pa.us/gccd and click on “Farmland Preservation Program.”