Thanks to donors who want to protect our farmland and all it provides to our quality of life in Centre County, we just preserved 75 more acres!
Read about the newly preserved Smith Farm here.
As we ring in 2026, we look forward to completing legal protections on two more properties that will preserve 325 acres.
You can help the Farmland Trust finalize these protections and be ready for the next opportunity to preserve land with your end-of-year donation. Let’s preserve and protect our valuable farmland in Centre County.
Centre County Farmland Trust.
Holiday Greetings to you and yours!
Last year, I wrote asking for your help to preserve more than 400 acres of beautiful land, as we’ve been working with owners of three properties who were willing to donate their development rights and preserve their land with a conservation easement held by the Centre County Farmland Trust.
Thanks to your contributions, in December we closed on a conservation easement to preserve the 75-acre Smith Farm in Spring Township. Read about that here.
The Farmland Trust expects to soon close on two more easements We’ve been working to complete the necessary surveys, reports and legal documents. Each easement costs $12,000 to $15,000 to establish.
Features of these new easements include historic homes, important groundwater and stream areas, forest resources and working farmland. In 2026, we expect to close on a third farm of 180 acres that also has significant agricultural and natural features.
I can hardly wait for the final closings so that we can fill you in on the details of these beautiful properties!
These acres and properties add up. These easements will add three more farms to the 100 Centre County farms now preserved through either ClearWater Conservancy, Centre County’s Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement program or the Centre County Farmland Trust. That’s about 10 percent of Centre County’s farms!
When we work together, we absolutely can protect and preserve the lands we love.
This lengthy process starts when land owners are willing to sacrifice their development rights — and typically a significant portion of the market value of their property — and donate a conservation easement so that their land will be preserved forever.
While closing an easement is a big milestone worthy of celebration, it’s just the beginning. Each easement requires future funds for annual stewardship visits that help to safeguard the easement.
This is the “boots on the ground” work of preserving land.
Once again, we ask for your support before the end of 2025 to complete new easements, continue our land stewardship and help us to be ready for the next land preservation opportunity that comes along.
Our work is possible thanks to landowners who love their land and want to see it preserved — and donors like you whose contributions make that possible. We know you love the land as much as we do and we all want to be ready when a landowner is willing to donate their development rights
I know we can count on our supporters to provide the financial resources we need to continue this work.
Thank you for your continuing support of land conservation through your contributions to the Centre County Farmland Trust! Together, we are making sure that despite the daunting challenges of these times, the land is sustained and preserved for future generations!
On average, every $100 you donate enables us to protect about two acres of land.
If you can, please consider donating $250 to protect five acres of land.
Please help preserve the land in whatever way you can! We are a nonprofit run by volunteers, and your donations are our life-blood!
Make your end-of-year, secure online donation here.
Dan Guss,
President, Centre County Farmland Trust