South Charleston, Ohio — Brian and Jennifer Harbage may seem like throwbacks from another era when the countryside was more green than concrete and farmers preserved the land to pass down to their own.

Brian Harbage, 35, is a seventh generation farmer who not only has no intention of giving up his legacy, he and his wife, Jennifer, 33, went a step further to preserve their 62-acre, corn, soybean and cattle-producing farm for their two sons.

The couple secured a place in the state's Agricultural Easement Purchase Program (AEPP) through Tecumseh Land Trust — and their land is now included in the 43 farms and 7,790 acres of permanently protected land in Clark County.

Through the statewide program, farmers are either paid or can donate the development rights for their land in return for an agreement to preserve the land as farmland, giving it significant protection from eminent domain and ensuring its agricultural use.

"When you see houses going up on every corner...I just don't like it," Brian Harbage said. "I don't want my farm to be houses. This is one way to keep it from growing houses."

Clark County leads the state in the amount of acres of farmland protected in the program, with more than $6.7 million paid to landowners since 1999, said Krista Magaw, Tecumseh Land Trust executive director.

The land trust is beginning a campaign to find out how many residents of Clark County are interested in generating local funding for land preservation, Magaw said, and will soon start a telephone survey.

Initial feedback has been positive, she said.

Because agriculture is an important part of Clark County's industry and rising food costs make it even more important to be able to grow food locally, AEPP is a good fit, Magaw said.

For the Harbages — Clark County's youngest couple in the AEPP — the reason for their participation is simple.

"It's our way of life," Jennifer Harbage said.