Fearing a tight-fisted future, farmland preservationists are preparing to tell county officials that a retreat on funding "would have devastating consequences to the future of Lancaster County."

And they are putting their plea for county money in writing before the next budget is written and a new board of commissioners is elected in November.

County commissioners borrowed $20 million to spend on saving farms permanently from development in 2006 and 2007.

The Agricultural Preserve Board and Lancaster Farmland Trust want the commissioners to borrow the same amount for 2008 and 2009, but it is unclear so far if that will happen.

Citing the county's budget crunch, some commissioner candidates have said they are concerned about continuing to borrow money to preserve farms.

The preserve board and trust are planning to present a jointly-approved resolution to commissioners July 25 and they hope candidates for all three seats on the Board of Commissioners pay attention.

Current commissioners Dick Shellenberger, Molly Henderson and Sharron Nelson will be responsible for approving the 2008 budget by the end of the year.

But any borrowing of funds would likely occur after the first of the year, so the next board would be responsible for that move. And, of course, the next board could reopen the budget and reconsider borrowing money for farmland preservation.

So preservationists want to make sure all the candidates know the importance of continuing the funding stream.

"It's not just (about) saving the farmer and the farmland," member Ed Goodhart said at Thursday's preserve board meeting. "It snowballs."

The county's farmland and the industry it supports provide more than 51,000 jobs and contribute more than $4 billion to the local economy each year, according to the resolution.

The county's "most-productive, non-irrigated soils" help feed the nation.

The farmland protects watersheds, recharges groundwater, helps control flooding, improves air quality and provides food and cover for wildlife, the resolution states.

"A lot of people take it for granted and don't realize the total impact," said Matt Knepper, the preserve board's executive director.

The resolution describes farmland as "our cultural heritage and an irreplaceable natural resource that defines the county as a unique place."

Three hundred farm families in the county are on a waiting list to preserve their 21,000 acres of farmland.

Goodhart said if preservation funding dries up here, Lancaster will go the way of Berks, Chester and some other counties to the east that lost much of their agricultural industries.

"They have higher taxes. Their cost of living is higher. They have more traffic," Goodhart said. "I don't think the people in this county want that."

Preserve board Chairman Gene Garber said it is important to remember the county, despite preservation efforts, still loses 1,100 acres of farmland to development every year.

Combining mostly county and state dollars, the preserve board has saved 679 farms totaling nearly 57,429 acres.

The non-profit trust, using donated funds, has preserved 262 farms totaling 16,441 acres.

But together, that's less than 20 percent of the county's 407,000 acres of farmland that has been saved.

"Twenty percent isn't going to do it," Garber said. "It's not going to save agriculture in Lancaster County. The job isn't finished yet."

Ag preserve board members unanimously approved the resolution on Thursday. The trust did the same June 21.

Goodhart said preservationists must urge future commissioners to continue to find funding for farmland preservation.

If support were to fall off, "it would never get started again," he said.

Goodhart said he is "not real comfortable" with what he's heard so far from county commissioner candidates with regard to their positions on funding farmland preservation.

Republican nominee Dennis Stuckey, the incumbent county controller, has said he is a "strong supporter" of continuing farmland preservation at its current pace, but he'd like to try to secure new state and federal funding to lessen the amount borrowed to save farms.

Fellow endorsed Republican Scott Martin has said he supports current efforts to secure agricultural easements for farms, but he remains concerned about the county's growing debt.

Henderson, a Democrat seeking re-election, has stressed the need for continued bond money for farmland preservation. She's warned that land prices, in about a decade, will likely skyrocket beyond a point where preservation would be affordable.

Fellow Democratic nominee and Lancaster City Controller Craig Lehman has said he wants to have voters decide if the county should take out further loans and continue preserving farmland at the current rate.

Probable Independent commissioner candidate Jere Swarr's Web site says he is a "pioneer farmland preservationist." He has said he advocates curbing the rate at which the county borrows money, however, for both capital projects and farmland preservation.

CONTACT US: rrobinson@LNPnews.com or 481-6032