The Bucks County Commissioners recently heard about a new municipal participation program to complement the county’s existing farmland preservation efforts.
The initiative is set to begin this year and will work with municipalities to preserve more farmland within their borders through purchasing agricultural conservation easements. It compliments the county and state’s existing farmland preservation efforts, according to John Ives, the director of agricultural land preservation for the Bucks County Planning Commission.
“The program seeks to work with municipalities to preserve farmland within their borders through the purchasing of agricultural conservation easements,” Ives said. “One of the main incentives for municipalities to participate in the program includes them getting a portion of state matching funds that the county receives.”
Currently, the county has a backlog of about 40 farms on its preservation list, which totals approximately 1,300 acres. Some applicants have been waiting since 2001 to have their land preserved.
Under the existing program, Bucks County typically preserves the top five farms on its official ranking list each year, Ives said.
The new initiative will allow the county to preserve farms lower on the rankings list and increase the total acreage protected annually.
“Through our current state county program, we typically average preserving about 250 to 300 acres,” Ives stated. “Being excited about this, we hope to increase that acreage in these upcoming years.”
A key benefit of the new program is the ability to leverage municipal funds alongside county allocations. The combination allows the county to receive larger state grants and matching funds, potentially preserving more land each year.
Ives clarified a common misconception about the preservation program.
“The farms that are preserved in the county are still privately owned. We work with farm owners, property owners, to preserve the farms through an agricultural conservation easement. They’re not owned by the county,” he said.
The county serves as a co-grantee or grantee on the easement, but the land remains under private ownership by the local farmer who voluntarily chose to preserve it.
The new municipal participation program aligns with goals outlined in the Bucks County 2040 comprehensive plan, which emphasizes the importance of preserving more land within the county, officials said.
Ives announced that one township is already participating in the program this year. The county plans to reach out to other municipalities to encourage their participation in the coming years.
Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat, emphasized the program’s long-standing support from county residents.
“For anybody who’s new to the county or new to county government, I guess it’s been over 30 years that I believe it was Commissioner Mike Fitzpatrick at the time led the referendum that started this,” Harvie said. “The voters actually approved this from the very beginning.”
Commissioner Chairperson Bob Harvie, a Democrat, noted that Bedminster Township is the first community to join the new initiative.
“Another reason addition to sort of adding funds is quite frankly believing that if your community, your township, your borough is going to be preserving land, you should have some skin in the game, quite frankly, to put some money forward,” Harvie said.
Since 1989, the county, state, and local governments have been able to preserve conservation easements on productive farmland at 247 properties, which totals nearly 19,000 acres. The majority of the preserved farms are in central and upper Bucks County.
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