Preserving Pennsylvania’s Farmland

I am excited to announce that I will be reintroducing legislation from last session (SB 288) aimed at expanding Pennsylvania’s successful Agriculture Conservation Easement Purchase Program.

The preservation of agricultural land is essential not only for maintaining food security but also for protecting against supply chain instability both in our commonwealth and across the nation.

As highlighted by the PA Department of Agriculture, our vital agricultural industry contributes an impressive $132.5 billion annually to the economy and contributed $1 in every $16 of Pennsylvania’s gross state product. It also supports approximately 593,600 jobs with combined wages reaching $32.8 billion. Along with that, the agriculture industry supports about 1 in 10 jobs in the Commonwealth.

Moreover, Pennsylvania’s agricultural landscapes offer scenic views of rural life, accentuated by fertile valleys and surrounding hills and mountains. These open spaces not only enhance our natural beauty but also attract countless visitors, boosting our state’s growing agritourism sector.

However, it is concerning that we are witnessing a significant loss of prime farmland due to development. According to research from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, between 2012 and 2017, the Commonwealth experienced a 6% decrease in the number of acres of farmland (representing 7.3 million acres), alongside a 10% decline in the number of farms (53,157).

Fortunately, Pennsylvania’s Agriculture Conservation Easement Purchase Program has emerged as a national model for farmland preservation. This program enables 58 participating county programs to receive state funds in support of purchasing agricultural conservation easements. These easements legally restrict property use to agricultural purposes while compensating landowners for their sale.

Since its inception in 1988, the program has successfully purchased permanent conservation easements on 6,400 + farms, encompassing over 645,000 acres in 58 counties throughout Pennsylvania.

The program’s popularity has led to annual applications significantly outnumbering the available funding. My bill seeks to address this by increasing dedicated annual funding by earmarking 10% of the existing realty transfer tax to support the easement program. This adjustment could lead to an estimated additional annual influx of over $80 million for farmland preservation efforts. Currently, parts of the realty transfer fee are allocated to the Keystone Fund and the Pennsylvania Housing and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) program, and I am confident that the easement purchase program deserves a similar commitment.

Additionally, my legislation will expand the eligibility criteria for farms by reducing the minimum subdivision size for preserved farmland from 50 acres to 25 acres. It will also allow parcels of less than 10 acres that are adjacent to preserved land or used for the production of area-specific crops to qualify for the easement program.

I have previously partnered with Senators GEBHARD, STEFANO, and J. WARD on this initiative, and I am enthusiastic about the potential impacts of this bill.

I would greatly appreciate your support as a co-sponsor on this bill which will allow a greater preservation of our farmland here in the Commonwealth.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss the details of this legislation further, please feel free to contact Donald Beishl in my office at dbeishl@pasen.gov.