In the nationally recognized program's 21-year history, 425,376 acres on 3,897 farms have been safeguarded from development.

"Pennsylvania's more than 63,000 farms produce food and fiber for our citizens, and the impact of our state's number one industry reaches well beyond the dinner plate," said Redding. "The agriculture industry supports jobs and drives local economies. Every measure must be taken to keep Pennsylvania growing by protecting our productive farmland."

The latest farms to be preserved are in Adams, Berks, Blair, Bucks, Cambria, Carbon, Centre, Chester, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Erie, Fayette, Indiana, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Lycoming, Mercer, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Perry, Potter, Schuylkill, Union, Warren and York counties.

The state's farmland preservation program works through the Pennsylvania Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program, which was developed in 1988 to help slow the loss of prime farmland to non-agricultural uses. The program enables state, county and local governments to purchase conservation easements, also called development rights, from owners of quality farmland.

Since the program's inception, state, county and local governments have invested more than $1 billion to preserve farms.

For more information about Pennsylvania's nation-leading farmland preservation program, visit www.agriculture.state.pa.us and click on "Producers."

Media contact: Nicole L. C. Bucher, 717-787-5085

Editor's Note: The farms preserved at today's meeting are as follows:
 
  Adams
  --  The Vincent & Dean Lobaugh farm, a 96-acre orchard
 
  --  The Pauline Spangler farm, a 162-acre crop farm
 
  Berks
  --  The Brian and Dawn Blouch farm, a 50-acre crop farm
  --  The Eric Bomberger farm, a 151-acre crop farm
  --  The Jack and Ethel Bond farm, a 40-acre crop farm
  --  The David Deppen and Susan Redcay farm, a 16-acre crop farm
  --  The Harry, Paul and Melvin Hartranft farm, a 23-acre crop farm
  --  The Glenn and Cheryl Lesher farm, a 26-acre crop farm
  --  The Richard and Constance Yoder farm, a 89-acre crop farm
 
  --  The Moses and Wilma Zimmerman farm, a 52-acre crop, feeder cattle and
      pullet operation
 
  Blair
 
  --  Penn England Family Partnership, a 139-acre crop farm
 
  Bucks
  --  The Kenneth Horne farm, a 63-acre crop farm
 
  --  The Gerald and Linda Tumolo farm, a 27-acre nursery
 
  Cambria
 
  --  The James and Eileen McMullen farm, a 254-acre beef and goat operation
 
  Carbon
 
  --  The Matthew George farm, a 40-acre crop farm
 
  Centre
 
  --  The Rogers Family Farm, a 198-acre crop and beef operation
 
  Chester
  --  The Justine and Edward Theurkauf farm, a 63-acre crop and equine
      operation
  --  The David and Rebecca Blank farm, a 72-acre crop and livestock
      operation
 
  --  Breck-A-De Farms, the Breckbill family, a 72-acre crop and livestock
      operation
 
  Columbia
 
  --  The John and Jamie Marks farm, a 36-acre crop farm
 
  Cumberland
  --  The Galen Byers farm, a 95-acre crop and beef operation
 
  --  The James and Delores Hertzler farm, a 95-acre crop and beef operation
 
  Dauphin
  --  The Jeremy and Jennifer Dobbin farm, a 52-acre crop and livestock
      operation
  --  The Ralph and Verna Gamber farm, a 72-acre crop and pasture land
      operation
  --  The Murray and Rhonda Laudenslager farm, a 128-acre crop farm
 
  --  The William and Arlene Reider farm, a 60-acre crop and pasture land
      operation
 
  Erie
 
  --  The David and Elaine Klie farm, a 415-acre dairy, crop and pasture
      land operation
 
  Fayette
 
  --  The Thomas and Brenda Rudolph farm, a 83-acre pasture land operation
 
  Indiana
  --  The Bradley and Kimberly Overdorff farm, an 82-acre grain and forage
      operation
 
  --  The Daniel Yarnick farm, a 54-acre vegetable and fruit farm
 
  Lancaster
  --  The Daniel and Gayle Hershberger farm, a 146-acre crop and livestock
      operation
  --  The Clifford and Nancy Charles farm, a 102-acre dairy operation
  --  The J. Clayton Charles Jr. farm, a 68-acre crop and pasture land
      operation
  --  The Steven and Patricia Hershey farm, a 105-acre beef and poultry
      operation
  --  The Gerald Martin farm, a 43-acre crop and livestock operation
  --  The Robert Sensenig farm, a 149-acre dairy and broiler operation
  --  The Calvin and Valerie Keene farm, a 124-acre crop and livestock
      operation
 
  --  The Glenn and Amy Martin farm, a 45-acre crop and livestock operation
 
  Lebanon
  --  The Glenn, Jean, Steven & Bonnie Wenger farm, a 25-acre crop farm
  --  The Steven and Bonnie Wenger farm, a 40-acre crop farm
 
  --  The Gary and Lisa Krall farm, a 96-acre crop and livestock operation
 
  Lehigh
 
  --  The John and Tereza Scully farm, a 111-acre crop and livestock
      operation
 
  Lycoming
  --  The Michael Sherman farm, an 80-acre crop and beef operation
 
  --  The Wayne Welshans farm, a 142-acre crop farm
 
  Mercer
  --  The Charles and Carolyn Alexander farm, a 76-acre beef and crop
      operation
 
  --  The Genevieve Wittenauer farm, a 195-acre crop and cattle operation
 
  Monroe
  --  The Timothy and Barbara Mansfield farm, a 30-acre crop and hay farm
  --  The Robert G. Stewart Estate, an 83-acre crop and hay farm
  --  The Charles Kuhenbeaker farm, a 24-acre crop farm
 
 
  --  The Wesley Kuhenbeaker Estate, a 29-acre crop farm
  Montgomery
  --  The Michael and Ellen Kostrubiak farm, a 39-acre feed crop farm
  --  The Landis Storage, LLC, farm, a 36-acre feed crop farm
  --  The Dorothy McGrane farm, a 16-acre horse farm
 
  --  The Roger and Angela Notz farm, a 37-acre feed crop farm
 
  Northampton
  --  The Arling Kiefer Jr. farm, a 210-acre crop operation
 
  --  The Layne and Beth Klein farm, a 44-acre crop and livestock operation
 
  Perry
 
  --  The Richard Smith farm, a 117-acre crop farm
 
  Potter
 
  --  The John and Karlene Pete farm, a 200-acre crop farm
 
  Schuylkill
 
  --  The Diane Wolfgang farm, a 67-acre crop farm
 
  Union
 
  --  The Kore and Miriam Yoder farm, a 125-acre mixed row crop and dairy
      operation
 
  Warren
 
  --  The Kevin Long farm, a 158-acre dairy and crop operation
 
  York
  --  The Kevin and Allison Mummert farm, a 182-acre crop and livestock
      operation
  --  The Jason and Heather Sweitzer farm, a 69-acre crop and livestock
      operation
  --  Claude Grim Sons Farm, a 348-acre cash grain operation
  --  The Gerald and Joyce Busser farm, a 44-acre crop and livestock
      operation
  --  The Jessica George and David Blacker farm, a 123-acre crop farm
  --  The Shirley Harrison farm, a 44-acre crop farm
  --  The Dean and Annie Hess farm, a 50-acre crop farm
 
  --  The Daniel and Beth Innerst farm, a 73-acre crop and livestock
      operation
Source: Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture