Township Ag Preservation Easement Statistics
As of 2023 Warriors Mark Township has 880.05 acres of productive agricultural land that have been permanently preserved, while privately owned, for the future of the agricultural industry in Pennsylvania and our township.
The Warriors Mark Township Board of Supervisors continues to work closely with Huntingdon County regarding future productive agricultural land preservation in Warriors Mark Township to provide for future generations.
Pennsylvania leads the nation in the number of farms and acres permanently preserved for agricultural production. In 2021, 14,397 acres were placed under agricultural conservation easements in Pennsylvania. As of 2021 a total of 611,620 acres has been placed under agricultural conservation easements in the commonwealth since the program began under the authority of Act 149 of 1988. See PA Farmland Preservation for more information. All the easements have been purchased to protect the land in perpetuity. At the end of the 2021 reporting period, 5,979 easements have been purchased under the authority of Act 149 of 1988. While other agricultural conservation easements exist in the commonwealth, they have not been purchased under the authority of Act 149 and their existence is not reported to the agriculture department. The reported easements are specifically divided into 1,284 county-owned, 1,968 commonwealth-owned, 2,529 jointly-owned agricultural conservation easements, 135 multi-funded easements and 63 easements funded jointly between a county and non-profit or local municipality.
Why is Ag Land Preservation important? Check out these sites and many others not listed:
- Why Preserve Farmland?
- 10 Reasons Why Agriculture Is Important
- 7 Facts You Should Know about Farmland Development
- Benefits of Preserving Farmland Extend beyond the Farm
- Benefits of Saving our Agricultural Land and Resources
- Agricultural Land Preservation Fact Sheet
- Fertile Land the Most Important Resource for the Future of Food Security
- Why is Farming Important?
- Why Do We Need Sustainable Agriculture?
- Benefits of Land Conservation
- What are the Benefits of Preserving Farmland?
For more information on trends affecting agricultural land, from loss of; what loss of means, to need for preservation and means to preserve, a few informative websites are provided below:
https://www.agriculture.pa.gov/Plants_Land_Water/farmland/Pages/default.aspx
https://extension.psu.edu/understanding-agricultural-preservation-in-pennsylvania
https://modernfarmer.com/2018/05/10-numbers-that-show-how-much-farmland-were-losing-to-development/
https://earthsky.org/earth/us-forests-face-threat-from-development
https://www.landthink.com/loss-of-farmland-what-does-it-mean/