{"id":1461,"date":"2009-10-07T15:29:38","date_gmt":"2009-10-07T15:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=1461"},"modified":"2012-09-27T15:30:27","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T15:30:27","slug":"board-of-public-works-approves-easement-purchases-of-2807-acres-of-farmland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2009\/10\/07\/board-of-public-works-approves-easement-purchases-of-2807-acres-of-farmland\/","title":{"rendered":"Board of Public Works Approves Easement Purchases of 2,807 Acres of Farmland"},"content":{"rendered":"

State, Local and Federal Funds Combine for $19.7 Million Investment<\/em><\/p>\n

ANNAPOLIS, MD (October 7, 2009) \u2013 Governor Martin O\u2019Malley today announced that the Board of Public Works approved the purchase of 22 easements protecting 2,807 acres of prime Maryland farmland in 10 counties for nearly $19.7 million in State, local and federal funding.\u00a0 This approval brings the total farmland protected in perpetuity by the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF) in Maryland to 277,475 acres.\u00a0 The Board is comprised of the Governor, Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, and Comptroller Peter Franchot.\u00a0<\/span>

\u201cMaryland has one of the strongest agricultural land preservation records in the nation. Each easement purchase proves our commitment to keep farming a viable and sustainable industry in our state,\u201d said Governor O’Malley. \u201cBy working with our local partners through the MALPF program, we will keep Maryland’s future smart, green and growing by helping farmers stay on their land, preserving open space, protecting our environment, and maintaining the rich agricultural heritage of our State.\u201d<\/span>

Created by the General Assembly in 1977, MALPF purchases agricultural preservation easements that forever restrict development on prime farmland and woodland and has permanently preserved land in each of Maryland\u2019s 23 counties, representing a public investment of over $550 million. With county and other state preservation programs, nearly 535,000 acres of farmland are protected in Maryland. This is the greatest ratio of farmland preserved to total landmass of any state.\u00a0<\/span>

According to a survey conducted by the Schaefer Center for Public Policy last year, public opinion supports this investment.\u00a0 A full 97 percent of respondents believe that it is important that the state preserve farmland for farming.\u00a0 Marylanders believe that farms and the products they produce should remain a part of the State\u2019s culture and economy. Click<\/span>here<\/a>\u00a0for a summary of Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation Easement Purchases by County, Oct. 7, 2009.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State, Local and Federal Funds Combine for $19.7 Million Investment ANNAPOLIS, MD (October 7, 2009) \u2013 Governor Martin O\u2019Malley today announced that the Board of Public Works approved the purchase of 22 easements protecting 2,807 acres of prime Maryland farmland in 10 counties for nearly $19.7 million in State, local and federal funding.\u00a0 This approval  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1461"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1462,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461\/revisions\/1462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}