An additional 20 acres of the Charles R. and Susan M. Zimmerman farm in Jackson Township will be preserved this year, thanks in part due to state funding awarded in December 2023.
The farm is one of 30 farms in 21 counties that will see additional land preserved through an $8.7 million investment, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office announced in late December. The 30 farms contain some 2,553 acres of land that will now stay permanently agricultural.
The $8.7 million was the final expenditure for farmland preservation in Pennsylvania in 2023. According to the governor’s office, it brings the total spent for farmland preservation to nearly $46.3 million last year, purchasing land development rights for 13,663 acres on 166 farms.
“By selling their land’s development rights, farm owners ensure that their farms will remain farms and never be sold to developers,” the release explains.
Read More: Saving the land forever: Lebanon County farmland preservation program explained
The investment, the release says, will help “ensure that Pennsylvania farmers will have prime farmland to feed our families and economy in the future.”
“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,” Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said in the 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 Jackson Township farm is the only land in Lebanon County affected in this round of preservation. According to the release, the 20 additional acres will be preserved with a total investment of approximately $51,000 – $26,498 from the state and $24,929 in local funds.
The farm spans the northern and western edges of ELCO’s campus in Jackson Township.
Craig Zemitis, ag preservation specialist with the Lebanon County Conservation District, said that once funding is received from the state, the 20 additional acres of the farm will be preserved just as the other 117 acres of the 137-acre parcel were previously. (The Zimmerman farm is highlighted with a blue border in the below provided graphic.)
The preservation should be official sometime this spring, Zemitis said.
“Pennsylvania leads the nation in preserved farmland,” the release from Harrisburg states. “Since the creation of the Farmland Preservation Program in 1988, Pennsylvania 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.”
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