{"id":29133,"date":"2025-08-07T10:00:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T14:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=29133"},"modified":"2025-07-31T11:10:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T15:10:03","slug":"maryland-permanently-preserves-19-additional-working-farms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2025\/08\/07\/maryland-permanently-preserves-19-additional-working-farms\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Permanently Preserves 19 Additional Working Farms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/For-Dec-2023-Press-Release-6.png\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"29134\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2025\/08\/07\/maryland-permanently-preserves-19-additional-working-farms\/attachment\/for-dec-2023-press-release-6\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/For-Dec-2023-Press-Release-6.png?fit=940%2C788&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"940,788\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"For Dec 2023 Press Release (6)\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/For-Dec-2023-Press-Release-6.png?fit=760%2C637&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-29134\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/For-Dec-2023-Press-Release-6.png?resize=300%2C251\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/For-Dec-2023-Press-Release-6.png?resize=300%2C251&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/For-Dec-2023-Press-Release-6.png?resize=768%2C644&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/For-Dec-2023-Press-Release-6.png?w=940&amp;ssl=1 940w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 14pt\">1,674 Acres of Additional Farmland Protected Forever<\/span><\/strong><\/em><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\"><strong>ANNAPOLIS, MD (August 7, 2025)<\/strong> \u2013 In a continued effort to protect Maryland\u2019s agricultural heritage, the <strong>Maryland Board of Public Works<\/strong> has approved <a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/Documents\/8.6.2025%20MALPF%20BPW%20Chart%20.pdf\">19 new easements<\/a> through the<strong> Maryland Agricultural Preservation Foundation<\/strong> adding approximately <strong>1,674 acres<\/strong> of preserved prime farmland across <strong>Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford, Washington, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne, Somerset, Charles, <\/strong>and <strong>Worcester <\/strong>counties.<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">\u201cBy investing in the preservation of our invaluable farmland, we are not only safeguarding our agricultural legacy but also ensuring a sustainable future for our communities,\u201d remarked<strong> Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Kevin Atticks<\/strong>. \u201cThese new easements represent a significant step towards protecting our environment, bolstering local economies, and fostering food security for generations to come.\u201d<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">Established in 1977 as part of the Maryland Department of Agriculture, the Maryland Agricultural Preservation Foundation works to purchase agricultural preservation easements from willing farmers. This commitment helps to protect prime farmland and woodland indefinitely. The newly approved easements will help maintain the state\u2019s agricultural landscape, support local food production, and sustain rural communities and their livelihoods.<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">This new initiative continues Maryland&#8217;s momentum towards conservation, following the achievement of the 30% by 2030 goal as outlined in the Maryland the Beautiful Act, passed in the 2023 Session by the Maryland General Assembly. These easements will also contribute to the next goal of conserving 40% of state land by 2040.<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">For more information, please contact the foundation\u2019s<strong> Executive Director<\/strong>, <strong>Michelle Cable<\/strong>, at (410) 841-5860 or michelle.cable@maryland.gov.\u00a0<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">###\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1,674 Acres of Additional Farmland Protected Forever ANNAPOLIS, MD (August 7, 2025) \u2013 In a continued effort to protect Maryland\u2019s agricultural heritage, the Maryland Board of Public Works has approved 19 new easements through the Maryland Agricultural Preservation Foundation adding approximately 1,674 acres of preserved prime farmland across Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford, Washington, Dorchester, Kent,<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2025\/08\/07\/maryland-permanently-preserves-19-additional-working-farms\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29133","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\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29135,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29133\/revisions\/29135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}