Can Lancaster County's farmers help clean up the Chesapeake Bay's watershed without damaging the agricultural economy?State Sen. Mike Brubaker asked nearly 100 people attending the county's first agricultural summit how many think that dual goal is impossible.No hands we......

Lancaster County commissioners today are expected to vote to protect two farms under the county's farmland preservation program.But if the state budget impasse, which enters its 57th day today, isn't settled soon, the owners of those two farms could join four other county farmers w......

Lancaster County Commissioners on Wednesday voted to preserve four farms, totaling about 360 acres.The county's Agricultural Preserve Board had recommended the commissioners buy perpetual conservation easements on the farms.The preserved farms are:• ......

Only three townships in Lancaster County besides East Lampeter do not have agricultural security areas. Farmers are petitioning for the designation in all three: Paradise, Leacock and Upper Leacock townships. The biggest fight could come in Paradise Township, where 10 farmers have asked......

Buying a first city home just got a little easier for low- to moderate-income residents. First-time homebuyers in the city will now have access to a pool of $350,000 in assistance for down payment and closing costs through the Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership. Previously the aid, ......

Lancaster County is getting less state money this year to help preserve local farms, so officials here are hoping to stretch those dollars further. For 2009, the county will receive $2.4 million from the state Bureau of Farmland Preservation, down from $3.1 million in 2008, Matt Knepper, direct......

Correction — United Way of Lancaster County saw a 30 percent increase in the number of volunteers and a 23 percent increase in the number of people donating items for holiday programs. A story posted on LancasterOnline Thursday didn't no......

Lancaster County Commissioners today approved spending $444,458 to help preserve two farms in Warwick Township and one in Rapho Township. A fourth farm in Conoy Township will be preserved with $379,285 in state money. Through its Agricultural Preserve Board, the county buys preservation ea......

The county's 2009 budget plan had its coming out party today. This morning, county administrator Charlie Douts formally proposed the budget plan or, using the county's budgetspeak, "put it on the table." But for many county departments, the spending plan for next year is no cause for celeb......

Lancaster County commissioners are considering a 2009 budget that would keep the millage rate at 3.416.At a work session Tuesday, the commissioners discussed the $272.68 million spending plan they will vote on next month.The commissioners will formally propose the budget at its......

Lancaster County Commissioners this morning added a 25-acre Manor Township farm to the county's preservation tally, bringing the number of preserved agricultural acres here to 79,771. At their meeting this morning, commissioners authorized spending $43,984 to preserve the Daniel and Amy Yocom f......

In the early 1980s, nine people sat around a table with no funding, plenty of criticism and a skeptical public — but also a common dream. The county-appointed Agricultural Preserve Board wanted to somehow ensure the rapid building of new homes and businesses didn't swallow up too m......

Twenty years ago, Ryan Meck's father gave his son a couple packs of vegetable seeds, a section of the family farm and the chance to get his hands dirty.Meck managed to coax a few radishes and zucchinis from the soil, but they weren't pretty."It didn't start out too ......

A historic milestone is fast approaching.When the Lancaster County commissioners meet this morning, they are expected to authorize the preservation of a 124-acre crop-and-dairy farm in Bart and Colerain townships owned by Bart Township supervisors chairman Calvin Keene and his wife, Valeri......

Taxpayers for two decades have paid millions of dollars to preserve farms — nowhere more than in Lancaster County, the nation's leader in farmland saved from development. The rich farmland is preserved forever. In perpetuity. Or is it? Most don't know that farmers &mdash......

With an economic crunch being felt across the spectrum of government programs in Pennsylvania, agricultural preservation is not immune from the dangers of dwindling resources.The Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation Board on Thursday approved $33 million for farm easements across the state i......

Agricultural preservation issues are cropping up again in Salisbury Township.In June, a proposal to amend Salisbury's zoning ordinance drew a standing-room-only crowd, including many Plain-sect farmers. Supervisor Lester Houck told the audience then that Agricultural Preserve Board off......

After approving the third tax hike in four years, the county commissioners voted to set aside $9.3 million for farmland preservation.•••Lancaster County commissioners Wednesday approved a 7.1 percent tax hike for 2008.That means ......

Just as they have for the past 25 years, people are flocking to Elizabeth Farms to cut their own Christmas trees. On Wednesday, the Lancaster County commissioners made sure a large part of this popular Elizabeth Township destination — which is one of the largest Christmas-tree farms in th......

When Caroline Novak started consulting for the Lancaster Farmland Trust in 2004, she made some bold statements. The nonprofit farmland preservation group and the county's Agricultural Preserve Board could double the number of acres they save from development each year, she predicted. M......

The veto of a proposal for a 788-acre agricultural security area in East Lampeter Township will be appealed in Commonwealth Court in the upcoming weeks, said an attorney for the Conestoga Valley Coalition preservation group. "There's a statutory provision in the ag security act that provides fo......

A rare coalition of Amish and English farmers has vowed to keep pursuing a proposal for an ag security area axed last week by East Lampeter Township. In a near-replay of a 2004 scenerio, the township supervisors turned down the farmers' petition to establish a 788-acre zone encompassing 13 ......

Amos Funk always planned to sell the family farm for development. "We never put a deed restriction on the farm because I didn't think it should be preserved," he says. Funk, now 96, pioneered the farmland preservation movement in Lancaster County. So some observers ar......

Lancaster County now has preserved more acres of farmland than any other county in the nation. After years of finishing second behind Maryland's Montgomery County in acres permanently saved from development, Lancaster has vaulted to the No. 1 spot, according to a report published Friday in ......

Lancaster County commissioners Wednesday approved the hiring of a new deputy administrator for human services.Frank W. Koerber, 45, of East Hempfield Township, will start work July 23 at an annual salary of $86,000.He fills a position that has been occupied by James Laughman on an i......

In Penn Township, three is a magic number.Two farms in the township were permanently preserved from development Friday, thanks to a partnership of three entities — Lancaster Farmland Trust, Lancaster County Agricultural Preserve Board and Penn Township.Each member of the partn......

fA Clay Township farm considered a prime location for development sold for more than $8.7 million Friday, breaking the $100,000-per-acre barrier.The price may be a Lancaster County record for a large parcel of farmland, a real estate official said.Lincoln Developers of Ephrata purch......