Glenn Bell, Ag Resource Specialist BCCD
Did you know that our state leads the nation in the number of farms and acres permanently preserved for agricultural production?  The Pennsylvania Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program was created to add resilience to Pennsylvania’s agricultural economy by protecting prime farmland. Through this program, state and county governments (sometimes federal) can purchase conservation easements on farmland which prevents the land from ever being developed. Since its start in 1988, Pennsylvania has preserved roughly 6,400 farms totaling 645,000 acres. 

Kevin Brown, Ag Resource Specialist, BCCD
The last two articles on this subject where about “what we do” and “how we do it”.  I have ran into a couple instances in just the last couple weeks where it has come up that the process we must go through apparently needs to be explained also.  I say all the time, “we work at the speed of government”.  For anyone who may be confused by what that means, it is painfully slow.  Nothing happens quickly.  We have people stop down on a regular basis and are like, “I need a facility for my animals, and I need it built in “x” timeframe”.  Um, that is not the way it works through this office.  First off, you need to have an environmental issue.  You need to be in a position of potentially polluting the Waters of the Commonwealth.  We can debate whether this is the way it should be done or not, but the fact is, this is the way the programs work.  The higher the chances are that it is polluting something, the better your chances of getting help.

Kevin Brown, Ag Resource Specialist, BCCD
The article I wrote the other day talked a little bit about what we do here.  To expand on this, here is a little bit more information.  (Disclaimer- This is how I understand it.  It is very close to correct, but may not be exactly right with some government agency out there somewhere.)  In 1985, it was determined that the Chesapeake Bay was in trouble.  The issues were dead zones created by excess algal blooms.  The algal blooms themselves are not the cause of the dead zones.  What is, is the fact that when all those algae die, it sucks all the oxygen out of the water as it decomposes.  Just like us, most living organisms need oxygen.  No oxygen, no life (dead zone).  What is the reason for the bigger and bigger algal blooms?  Excess nutrients and sediment in the water.  Those nutrients and sediment are coming from upstream (us).