Farming program aims to help farmers produce more affordable crops
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- High grocery prices are straining family budgets, but a local program aims to help families afford fresh and healthy food. It starts by protecting thousands of acres of local farmland.
"If there are less farms, that means the food has to travel more," said Montgomery County senior farmland preservation planner, Stephen Zbyszinski.
So, to shorten that trip, Montgomery County planning commission officials got on board "the farmland preservation tour" Wednesday morning.
Zbyszinski said the tour helps keep food prices down.
"The less farms we have, the less food is being produced on those farms, meaning the price is going to go up," Zbyszinski said.
On the tour, officials looked at farms where owners applied to sell development rights to the county.
John Corkum, the owner of Corkum Tree Farm in Skippack, successfully sold his rights in 1999.
"It drives down our taxes a bit, because now it's farmed as undevelopable land, which is important to farmers," he said.
Corkum said this makes it easier to grow shade trees for his neighbors while passing the farm to his son.
The program can also help a part of the state's economy that many never see, planning commission executive director, Scott France, said.
"[It] keeps intact our agricultural history and the economic value, as well is important and sometimes overlooked," France said.
The owners have to wait a little while longer to see if they have been accepted into the program and we will have to wait a little while longer to see how many farms are being accepted into the program. That will be determined by the budget set by the county.
