MONROE -- A Snohomish County program to preserve farmland near Monroe seems to have piqued interest among local farmers.

"Many of my neighbors are kind of in a wait-and-see mode, but I know a lot of people have signed up for it," said Jim Werkhoven, who owns a dairy farm in the Tualco Valley just south of Monroe.

The County Council recently accepted about $650,000 in state and federal grants to buy development rights of farmland from two families in the valley, county officials said.

The Purchase of Development Rights Program keeps farmland intact by barring development and nonagricultural activities.

The grants will be matched with the county's money to preserve 39 acres of the Werkhoven farm and 56 acres of the Broers farm, County Councilman Dave Somers said.

"It's a long, slow process, we have to reach agreement with property owners," he said. "And the market value changes."

Those two parcels are adjacent to 30 acres of farmland that the county already has preserved through the program. The county paid Chester Hoberg, a farmer, $542,000 for his right to build houses on the 30 acres.

"We are trying to build a core" Somers said. "(The grants) will allow us to preserve those other properties."

Farmland is an important part of the county's landscape, and it's where food comes from, Werkhoven said.

"I think it's a valuable natural resource," he said. "At the end of day, everybody has to eat."

Several other property owners in the 4,700-acre valley have shown interest in the program. The county has been trying to secure additional grants to expand the program in the valley, Somers said.

"I think the interest is growing," he said. "We have more interest than money at this point."

The county continues to lose farmland to development, Somers said.

About 63,000 acres are designated as farmland in the county. Only about half of the designated farmland is being used for agricultural purposes such as raising cattle and crops, according to a county's study released last year.

The rest isn't being farmed for several reasons. For instance, much of the farmland in floodplains is too wet to farm.

The county started a similar program to preserve farmland near Arlington. The Transfer of Development Rights is for the Stillaguamish Valley west of Arlington. It's driven by housing development. The county lets developers buy the right to develop farmland from farmers and transfer the right to build houses at a different location.