PA Ag Department announces farm preservation that includes Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties

Susan Miers Smith, Reading Eagle, Pa.
·1 min read

Dec. 16—The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture announced Thursday that 30 more farms in the state, encompassing 2,478 acres in 18 counties, were protected from future development during its State Agricultural Land Preservation Board meeting.

More than $8.9 million in state, county, local and nonprofit money was used to purchased the land's development rights said a statement from the Ag Department, bringing the 2022 total to 13,069 acres protected on 170 farms.

The most recently preserved farms are in Adams, Beaver, Berks, Blair, Bucks, Cambria, Chester, Cumberland, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Perry, Tioga, Union, Westmoreland and York counties.

They include the following Berks farms where a total investment of $465,060 in state and county funds were made:

— The Robert C. Berger Farm 26-acre crop and livestock farm in Upper Bern Township

— The Shirley K. and Paul B. Levan Jr. 59-acre crop and livestock farm in Tilden Township

— The Mark A. and Tracey L. Snyder 35-acre crop farm in Penn Township

— The Jeffrey A. and Kathleen A. Updegrove 40-acre crop farm in Oley Township.

Also included is the Daniel B. and Rachel B. King 50-acre crop and livestock farm in Lower Oxford Township, Chester County, where a total of $197,008 of county and state funds were invested.

In Montgomery County, a total investment of $934,674 of county, township and state funds was made to preserve the Donald F. Hemsley 30-acre crop farm in Lower Salford Township and the John A. and Barbara J. Tim Farm #1, a 30-acre crop farm in New Hanover Township.