PRESERVING FARMS FOR OUR FUTURE

According to the American Farmland Trust, the United States is losing two acres of farmland every minute. In Cambria county we have a program established in order to slow that loss. The District has been participating in the Farmland Preservation Program for nearly two decades, which helps farmers protect their agricultural lands. The basics of the program is to protect viable agricultural lands by acquiring agricultural conservation easements which prevent the development or improvement of the land for any purpose other than agricultural production. There is a variety of requirements and system rankings that determine the eligibility of land to be accepted into the program. More information about the program is available on our website.

One of the farmers the District was able to work with is Cambria County native, Richard Davis, who runs the RJD Farm in Clearfield Township, with 104.6 acres. His farm was preserved in 2002 and remains a beef farm to this day. He chose to participate in the program in order to keep his farmland remaining farmland forever. The desire to keep farmland preserved and able to be cherished by future Pennsylvanians was a driving factor that led Davis to participate. Some of the most important reasons he believes others should be interested in the program is  to allow future generations to enjoy the land that has provided resources for past generations, to continue a farming legacy, and to ensure the farm will be a farm forever. Davis recommends the program to other local farmers, and hopes the program to be further understood by the public.