USDA, Pa., reach agreement that will free up money for farmland preservation

An agreement between the federal Agricultural Conservation Easement Program and Pennsylvania's nation-leading farmland preservation program will give the state access to millions of federal dollars to preserve the best and most threatened farmland. Pennsylvania has been without a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service since 2014, when the last Farm Bill became law, changing the terms of the federal program.  Each change in federal program regulations requires a new agreement, as some aspects of the federal and state programs are otherwise incompatible. Conflicts with ACEP included differing subdivision requirements, permitted oil and gas activities, building envelope requirements, deed of merger language, and baseline documentation reports."So many aspects of the ACEP program were in direct conflict with what Pennsylvania carefully and deliberately developed in our regulations that many were doubtful that a solution could ever be found," said Redding. "There were a number of people involved in this process, and thanks to their collective efforts, the agreement was signed and more of our most productive and at-risk farms will remain in agricultural production."