Lancaster County once again hauled in more state money for farmland preservation than any other county in Pennsylvania.

The state Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Farmland Preservation has allocated $2.3 million to Lancaster County for 2011.

That's nearly $400,000 more than the county received last year.

"We're very pleased with that number," Matt Knepper, director of the county's Agricultural Preserve Board, said. "We were concerned about a reduction, given the state of the state budget."

Besides a boost in the dollar amount allocated to the county, the state also increased Lancaster's take of the entire pool of funding from 9.8 percent last year to 10.5 percent this year.

"As a nationwide leader in ag preservation, we continue to leverage other money in addition to the money we invest," county Commissioner Dennis Stuckey said. "That's a positive thing for Lancaster County."

Trailing Lancaster in 2011 state allocations were Bucks County, which was awarded $1.9 million, and Northampton County, which will receive $1.85 million.

The statewide funding pool comes from a state tax on cigarette sales.

This year's pool of $22 million is up from the $20 million the state doled out last year.

According to Knepper, there were rumors last year in Harrisburg about a possible attempt to amend the state law that sets aside the cigarette tax money for farmland preservation to divert at least some of the funding for other budget purposes.

State and county farmland preservation officials felt uneasy about the state allocation until the state budget finally was passed and the funding was intact.

This year, Knepper said, he's heard no talk of a move to take the preservation funds.

"In Gov. Corbett's budget proposal, the funding's all there, and nobody has talked about trying to take it," he said.

Allocations to individual counties are calculated based on a number of criteria. How much of its own money a county dedicates to farmland preservation is arguably the most important factor considered, according to Knepper.

This year, Lancaster County commissioners committed a total of $4.06 million to the program — down slightly from the $4.1 million earmarked last year.

The money Lancaster County has committed to farmland preservation includes about $3 million in borrowed money, plus farmland preservation funds provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, some interest earnings and money contributed toward the purchase of conservation easements by local municipalities in 2010.

While Lancaster County only slightly decreased the amount of money set aside for farmland preservation this year, other counties made big cuts.

Lehigh County, which dedicated the third-highest amount among all counties to farmland preservation last year — $2 million — whacked its budget this year to just $9,729. As a result, its state allocation dropped from $1.4 million in 2010 to $598,367 this year.

Chester County cut its appropriation from $1.65 million in 2010 to $659,443 this year.

Meanwhile, a few counties put a lot more money into the program this year than they did in 2010.

No county increased spending on farmland preservation more than Northampton, which committed $3.7 million in 2011 — up from $1 million last year.

"My interpretation of that is it seems some counties pump up their allocations every few years and drop back down," Stuckey said. "In Lancaster County, we prefer to maintain a steady pace from year to year."

With its state and local funding in 2010, Lancaster County preserved 34 farms covering just over 3,100 acres, according to Knepper.

preilly@lnpnews.com