The Chester County Agricultural Land Preservation Board is accepting applications for the Commonwealth/County Program from qualifying Chester County farm owners who are interested in preserving their farm.
Donor Name: Chester County
State: Pennsylvania
County: Chester County (PA)
Type of Grant: Program
Deadline: 08/05/2022
Details:
The Commonwealth/County Farmland Preservation Program (Program) is administered under the authorization of and pursuant to Pennsylvania Act 43, P.L.128, No. 43, the Agricultural Area Security Law, as amended. This program lets the County purchase agricultural conservation easements in partnership with the state, municipal governments, and qualified non-profit organizations from farmland owners. Other than selling development rights as specified in the Deed of Easement, the landowner retains all other rights and responsibilities of private land ownership including the right to farm the ground.
Purpose
The purpose of this Program is to protect viable agricultural lands by acquiring agricultural conservation easements. This Program is designed to accomplish the purpose by:
- Encouraging landowners to make a long-term commitment to agriculture by offering them financial incentives and security of land use;
- Protecting normal farming operations in agricultural areas from incompatible non-farming uses that may render farming impracticable;
- Assuring conservation of viable agricultural lands in order to protect the agricultural economy and resources of this Commonwealth;
- Maximizing agricultural easement purchase funds through diligence and partnerships to protect the investment of taxpayers in agricultural conservation easements.
Eligibility Criteria
The County Program shall consider the quality of the farmland tract, using the USDA-NRCS Soil classifications.
- All parcels of the farmland tract application must be properly recorded in an Agricultural Security area consisting of at least 500 acres.
- The farmland tract shall encompass:
- Contiguous acreage of at least 35 acres or more in size, or
- at least 10 acres producing a crop unique to the area, or
- at least 10 acres contiguous to a property which has a perpetual conservation easement in place which is held by a “qualified conservation organization”, as defined in Section 170(h)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
- A minimum weighted vale of 20% shall be required when prioritizing applications for agricultural easement purchase when implementing the provisions of 914.1(d)(ii.1) for easements 35 to 49.9 acres in size.
- Only 50% of State funds shall be utilized to purchase agricultural conservation easements 35 to 49.9 acres in size.
- In the farmland tract, at least 50% of the soils shall be available for agricultural production and in capability classes I through IV.
- The farmland tract shall contain the greater of 50% or 10 acres of harvested cropland, pasture or grazing land.
- Act 14 of 2001, Act 138 of 1998 and Act 46 of 2006 are incorporated into the minimum criteria and can be found in these Program Regulations.
For more information, visit Chester County.
