Published June 20. 2018 12:00AM
The Lehigh County Agricultural Land Preservation Program and the Pennsylvania Bureau of Farmland Preservation celebrated 30 years of permanently preserving farms for agricultural production during a ceremony June 7 at Heidel Hollow Farm, Germansville.
David and Sonia Fink, owners of Heidel Hollow, were recognized as having a Bicentennial Farm for 200 years of family farming.
More than 5,270 farm owners, through state and county programs, have preserved more than 550,000 acres.
This number has Pennsylvania leading the nation in the number of farms and acres preserved.
Lehigh County has more than 300 farms and over 23,000 acres preserved.
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding, Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong, Lehigh County Board of Commissioners Chairman and Sterling Raber Agricultural Land Preservation Board Chairman Marty Nothstein and Lehigh County Commissioner Percy Dougherty gave presentations at the event.
PRESS PHOTOS BY DEBRA PALMIERIDoug Wolfgang, director of the Bureau of Farmland Preservation for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, addresses the gathering June 7 at Heidel Hollow Farm, owned by the David Fink family of Germansville. The celebration honored 30 years of farmland preservation in the commonwealth and in Lehigh County.
