PERRYSBURG — Five Seneca County farmland owners, working with the Black Swamp Conservancy, have taken steps to ensure that their land will remain in agricultural use for at least the next decade.
The landowners are John and Susan Burks, Owen and Phyllis Burks, John Carrigan, Jon and Dian Ewald and Herbert Ewald Family Farm. The conservancy is a land trust based in Perrysburg, OH, whose mission is the protection of farmland and natural areas in northwest Ohio.

With the help of the conservancy, the landowners filed an application with the Ohio Department of Agriculture, preserving 918 acres of farmland northwest of Tiffin as an Agricultural Security Area.

OAS_AD('ArticleFlex_1'); The ASA is an agreement among the landowners, county commissioners and Liberty and Pleasant Township trustees that prevents non-agricultural development on the land for ten years. The landowners have promised not to build any non-farm structures on their properties during that time. The county and townships have pledged not to approve, initiate or finance any residential, commercial or industrial development.

“We are really pleased to work with these landowners to protect prime Seneca County farmland,” said Kevin Joyce, Black Swamp Conservancy’s executive director. “Ohio loses more than 40,000 acres of farmland every year. Farmland preservation agreements like this ASA are critical to ensuring the future success of Ohio’s $79 billion agriculture and food industry.”

The agricultural security area is the twentieth ASA to be created in Ohio since the program began in 2006. It is only the second ASA in northwest Ohio and the first in Seneca County. At 918 acres, the ASA is the sixth largest in the state. The Department of Agriculture requires an ASA to contain at least 500 contiguous acres of farmland.
Seneca County has 1,140 farms, with annual cash receipts in excess of $89 million.

“The bottom line is agriculture is not going to pick up and move to Mexico,” said Seneca County commissioner Ben Nutter. “Any investment in local agriculture is for the long term benefit of the entire community in general.”

Black Swamp Conservancy is also sponsoring all of the farms located in the ASA for the 2008 Agricultural Easement Purchase Program. AEPP is a competitive program of the Ohio Department of Agriculture that compensates farmland owners for agreeing to restrict their property to agricultural uses only, in perpetuity.

Landowners selected for AEPP funding from the Ohio Department of Agriculture must sign a voluntary land conservation agreement known as an agricultural easement. The restrictions on use of the property – which prohibit non-agriculture use or development – apply not only to the current owner but also to all future owners of the land. The conservancy visits each property annually to ensure compliance with the terms of the conservation agreement.

Black Swamp Conservancy holds land conservation agreements on eleven Seneca County farms covering more than 1,500 acres and is obtaining an additional agreement on a 245-acre farm. Overall, the conservancy has permanently protected over 7,000 acres of farmland and natural areas through 53 land conservation agreements and ownership of 11 wooded parcels. Black Swamp Conservancy serves a 5,700 square mile area covering 16 northwest Ohio counties.
To learn more about Black Swamp Conservancy, visit www.blackswamp.org