Lancaster Farmland Trust (LFT) has been recognized by Governor Tom Wolf and the PA Department of Environmental Protection for their work promoting significant change within the agricultural community of Salisbury Township and their approach to conservation and clean water.

To reduce nutrient and sediment pollution flowing from farms into local waterways, and eventually, the Chesapeake Bay, LFT worked in partnership with Salisbury Township, TeamAg Inc., and the Environmental Defense Fund to help local farmers write conservation plans and implement best management practices on their farms – 450 farms – 95% which are Plain Sect owned.

Over the course of two years, LFT’s Agricultural Outreach Coordinator, Gordon Hoover, and partners visited over 200 farm operations in Salisbury Township, engaging farmers on conservation planning and implementation. Additionally, the team developed four ‘learning farms’ where farmers attended field days to see before-and-after examples of fully implemented conservation plans as a way to motivate other landowners to implement these practices on their farms.

The outcome – over 110 new conservation plans developed, 135 BMP opportunities identified, and a whole-stream buffer installed. The project also, and perhaps more importantly, created a community-wide change that is spilling over the borders of Salisbury Township, into neighboring municipalities, and down the Pequea Creek Watershed.