MOORE TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WLVT) - Fields of cornstalks off Bushkill Drive are now officially safe. The 78-acre parcel of land won’t be used for housing or other development.
It’s staying as farmland, thanks to Northampton County’s mission to promote agriculture.
"It's the number one industry in Pennsylvania," said Maria Bentzoni, the county's farmland preservation administrator. "People don't realize that one in seven jobs are related to agriculture in some way, so we have to keep this land available for production."
The county has now preserved 200 farms since it started farmland preservation 30 years ago. Moore Township bought the property from Joseph Schiavone for $825,000 in 2017. Bentzoni said the process takes time.
"There are steps that have to be taken like an appraisal and a survey and title work that has to be done," she said. "So, from the time a landowner applies to the time they get cash in hand, and we close the easement, it can take up to two years."
The county has now preserved 16,690 acres of farmland. Officials say it helps the environment and the local economy.
"It's a $405 million stimulus to the Lehigh Valley economy," said Lamont McClure, county executive of Northampton Count. "When I say 'it,' I mean agriculture."
"No farms, no food," added Bob Romano, chairman of the Moore Township Land and Environmental Protection Board. "We do need the local farms, and that's another very important aspect. Part of this property is wooded, and so one of the reasons we like that is that's where clean water and clean air comes from. We do have a stream running through this property that will be protected."
"We're talking about climate change all the time now," McClure said. "This sequesters carbon on preserved farm, so we're really happy about all of that."
Romano said the township will set aside about 20 acres of the newest preserved farm as a public park. The rest will be used to grow crops like corn and soybeans.
"I get asked a lot by our residents, 'What can we do to fight warehouse proliferation?' I tell them the only thing we can do at the county level is buy farms preserve open space and environmentally sensitive land," McClure said.
"Once this farmland is converted to another use, it can never be brought back," Bentzoni said, "and people have to understand the importance that this land can never be returned."