Farmland preservation continues in Delaware
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More than 30 farms statewide have benefited from the latest round of preservation funding through the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Program.
In this round, farmers leveraged more than $4 million in state, local and federal funding for permanent easements that will protect more than 3,000 acres statewide. Of those acres, 1,150 were preserved in Sussex County at an estimated cost of nearly $1.5 million.
Department of Agriculture Secretary Michael Scuse said the 21st round of farmland preservation marks the largest conservation effort the program has seen in recent years.
The initiative leverages state money with matching funds from federal and local sources, including the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, New Castle County government and Kent County Levy Court.
Farmers can voluntarily preserve land through preservation districts, which require land to be used only for agricultural purposes for 10 years, or through conservation easements, under which the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation purchases landowners' development rights in order to preserve the land. Farmland must be enrolled in a preservation district before farmers can sell an easement to the foundation.
Since the program began in 1996, more than 124,000 acres statewide have been permanently preserved, and more than 53,000 acres are now in preservation districts.
Sussex County government did not contribute any funding this round, so the preservation efforts in Sussex relied on state and federal funding; New Castle County contributed nearly $195,000 toward the purchase of development rights on one farm, and Kent County contributed about $100,000 toward the purchase of development rights on 10 properties.
In recent years, though, the farmland preservation program has seen serious budget cuts. Since 2012, funding for the program has been reduced by 75 percent, from $10 million in fiscal year 2012 to $2.5 million in fiscal year 2017.
No funding for the program has been proposed in the upcoming fiscal year 2018 budget, said Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Stacey Hofmann. Hofmann said in an email she is hopeful the General Assembly will revise the proposed budget and set aside funding for next year's program.
For more about the program, go to dda.delaware.gov/aglands/lndpres_prog.shtml.
