June 18, 2020
Re. Support SB 881: leverage farm preservation funds
No cost to state; large conservation benefit
Dear Senator:
On behalf of the 70 member organizations of the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association and their more than 100,000 Pennsylvania members, I write to request that you support Senator Martin’s Senate Bill 881.
While imposing no new costs on the Commonwealth, SB 881 will increase the volume of farm preservation achieved by the state. It will accomplish this by directing a small portion—up to $3 million annually—of the existing Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Fund to support the purchase of agricultural conservation easements by private, charitable land trusts. The increased quantity of farm preservation will result from the bill’s requirement that land trusts match state funding dollar for dollar.
Land trust involvement in farm preservation delivers further public benefit in the long term by placing the responsibility and costs of managing the purchased agricultural conservation easements on the land trust rather than county and state government. (Land trusts have substantial experience raising philanthropic dollars to provide this management.)
SB 881 also will incentivize agricultural preservation by farmers belonging to plain sect communities, who are often reluctant to work with government.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Andrew M. Loza
Executive Director
cc: member organizations