Farming really is the good life.  Anyone that has had a hand in it knows this.  It has taught me money management, time management, long days, hard work, respect for both humans and animals alike, and where things really come from; along with realities of life and death as animals are born or animals pass away as time marches on, to learning how to survive off the land if I really had to.  There is no better place to raise a child.  They come out as respectful, hard workers.  Most bosses love to hire people that have come from a farm.​

​An excerpt from a previous article by Amy Kneller, previous Farmland Preservation coordinator, BCCD
Open enrollment for Farmland Preservation in Bradford County is each January (now).  This is the reason for this article to be printed now.  If you are interested, please get ahold of us ASAP.
Farmland Preservation requires municipalities, landowners, and funding.
To be eligible for the county Farmland Preservation program, farms must:
1) be part of an Agricultural Security Area (ASA)
2) contain at least 50% class I through IV soils, as defined by USDA-NRCS.
3) contain at least 50% harvested cropland, pasture or grazing lands
4) contain at least 50 contiguous acres OR over 10 acres and utilized for a crop unique to the area or contiguous to a property that already has a permanent conservation easement.
 
Ag Security Areas (ASAs) are created by local municipalities to preserve the viability of local farms.  Participating farms are protected from some “nuisance” challenges and local ordinances that would unreasonably restrict farm structures or farm practices.  The ASA designation does not restrict the use of the property by the landowner.  They may develop, sell, or subdivide the property in any manner authorized by local regulations.

By: Dan Rhodes, Education Coordinator, BCCD
The Ernest Manchester family, along with the Bradford County Conservation District, and the Bradford Sullivan Forest Landowners’ Association, would like to congratulate their 2022 college scholarship recipient, Bradley Tessier, in receiving both the Ernest Manchester Scholarship and BSFLA scholarship awards this year. Tessier, a New Albany resident, is a senior studying forestry at Paul Smith’s College and hopes to work for the PA Game Commission as a forester after graduation.  Representing the Manchester family are Rich Manchester, along with his wife Stephanie. Congratulations to Bradley and many thanks for your hard work!

By: Kevin Brown
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Also, Happy Holidays to others who celebrate in other ways (Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and others).  It is a blessed time of year and I personally like to remind people that, for the most part, we actually have things pretty good.  Typically, everything that we hear in the news is bad.  Bad news makes better news stories.  Yes, I know there are some of us out there that may be experiencing difficult times.  However, most of us have it better than 90% of the people that live in the entire world.  (I heard a quote from the guy on TV this morning that “we have it better than 99% of the people that have ever lived”.)  Think about that for a minute.  Longer life span, better medicines to get you through that longer life, not having to literally hunt for your next meal, having clean water, etc.  If you go back in time far enough, the average lifespan was like 35 or 40 years.  At that rate, 80% of the people reading this would no longer even be alive.  That hurts, LOL.