Commissioners designate more funds to farm program

By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MERCER, Pa. -- Recently appointed Mercer County Commissioner Kenneth Seamans is already making his presence felt, persuading his fellow commissioners to designate 12,000 more in 2007 to the Agricultural Land Preservation Program than this year.
Commissioners Brian Beader and Olivia Lazor acknowledged that though in 2006 only 53,000 was given to the program, in 2007 this will rise to 65,000 as a result of Seamans' influence. Lazor said the state matches the county's contribution by up to a seven-to-one ratio.
The program is run by the state Bureau of Farmland Preservation and seeks to stop prime farmland from being developed by giving farmers a one-time 1,000-per-acre payment to buy development rights to the property. The acreage must then stay in agriculture production in perpetuity.
Seamans, a Wilmington Township farmer who was recently appointed to fill the unexpired term of Michele Brooks, said Pennsylvania is losing 100,000 acres of prime farmland annually to development and said he has participated in the program himself. He added that Mercer is one of the largest agricultural counties in Pennsylvania and that agriculture is the largest industry in the county.
Program in county
Don Unangst, a retired farmer who oversees the local program for the Cooperative Extension Service, said about 6,000 acres on about 36 Mercer County farms have become part of the preservation program since it started here in the early 1990s. He said more than 40 farmers are on the waiting list. He said that because of budget constraints, farms are ranked according to several criteria before being accepted for the program.
The main criteria is the quality of soils, and others are considered, among them drainage and the Mercer County Planning Commission's land use plan. Unangst said the program is designed to help farmers keep their farms within their families or help make it possible for them to retire.
The state Bureau of Farmland Preservation Web site states that the program stems from the 1974 Clean and Green Act and, in addition to helping farms be passed on to the next generation, helps farmers reduce debt loads and expand operations.
For more information about the program, call Unangst at (724) 962-1171.