Agricultural Land Preservation: Can Pennsylvania Save the Family Farm
![handle is hein.journals/dlr87 and id is 605 raw text is: Agricultural Land Preservation: Can
Pennsylvania Save the Family Farm?
I. Introduction
While the farmer holds title to the land, actually, it belongs to all
the people because civilization itself rests on the soil.'
Thomas Jefferson
This simple statement presents an appropriate point of depar-
ture for an examination of measures currently employed to curb the
rampant conversion of productive agricultural land in Pennsylvania2
and throughout the United States.' Annually, the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania loses over 125,000 acres4 of farmland to urban5 and
other nonagricultural uses.6 Productive farmland is a finite resource.
Thus, if the current rate of conversion continues, Pennsylvania will
deplete one-quarter of the Commonwealth's available supply of pro-
ductive farmland by the year 2000.'
Legislators at all levels of government' have proposed and en-
acted measures designed to preserve the continually shrinking sup-
ply of productive agricultural land.9 Unfortunately, two
fundamental conflicts complicate effective farmland preservation.
1. Quoted in York County Planning Commission, Agricultural Land Preservation Study
72 (1975) [hereinafter cited as York County Planning Commission].
2. The rate of farmland conversion is highest in the northeastern United States (Maine,
Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Penn-
sylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware). The high rate in this region is caused by
urban pressure emanating from the Boston to Washington, D.C. megalopolis. NATIONAL AG-
RICULTURAL LANDS STUDY, THE PROTECTION OF FARMLAND: A REFERENCE GUIDEBOOK
FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 32 (1981) [hereinafter cited as PROTECTION OF
FARMLAND].
3. Nationally, in the eight year period 1967-1975, 23.4 million acres of agricultural land
were converted to nonagricultural use. SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE, U.S. DEP'T OF AGiU-
CULTURE, STATISTICAL BULLETIN No. 578, POTENTIAL CROPLAND STUDY 16 (1977).
4. SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE, U.S. DEP'T OF AGRICULTURE, PENNSYLVANIA NA-
TIONAL RESOURCES INVENTORY 2 (1980) [hereinafter cited as RESOURCES INVENTORY].
5. The flat topography of most agricultural land makes farmland ideal for residential
construction. During the 1970s, 40% of the housing construction nationwide occurred on rural
land. NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL LANDS STUDY, FINAL REPORT 10 (1981) [hereinafter cited
as FINAL REPORT].
6. Other nonagricultural uses of farmland include highway easements, water storage
reservoirs and commercial shopping centers:
7. RESOURCES INVENTORY, supra note 4, at 2.
8. Federal legislators have enacted several tax measures designed to encourage agricul-
tural production. See infra notes 123-30 and accompanying text.
9. This comment will focus on farmland conservation measures currently used in Penn-
sylvania. See infra notes 76-192 and accompanying text.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/dlr87&div=29&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Agricultural Land Preservation: Can Pennsylvania Save the Family Farm
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