By Rick Dandes
The Daily Item
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McEWENSVILLE — Desperate to avoid having her 169-year-old family farms fall into the hands of land developers after the death of her husband, Ileen Ranck and her four children did what more than 4,000 other Pennsylvania farmland owners have done: They sold permanent development rights to a county Farm Preservation Association to keep their land abundant and thriving.
The program accepted one of their farms in August; the other two farms are pending.
“It was the end of a long bureaucratic process,” she said with a sigh. “I’m very happy. I got the idea for it last December.”
Hers was the only Valley farm to enter the program in 2010, according to the state Department of Agriculture.
The Rancks’ decision will permanently protect the family farm from being lost to nonagricultural development.
She had been aware of the preservation association for some time.
“My husband, Glen, had actually worked for the Farm Service Agency,” Ranck said. “So I was aware of the program. It’s been very successful since beginning in 1989. A lot of farmlands have been saved.”
Ranck lives on a 350-acre soybean and alfalfa farm in the McEwensville area — one of three farms she inherited from her husband. Until 1996, they raised cattle on the farm, originally called E&G Acres.
The three farms can be traced back several generations, “to at least 1841,” Ranck said. “If I had done a little more digging in the county courthouse, I’m sure that I could have found proof that my family’s ancestors owned the farm for more than 200 years.”
Ranck said she is alarmed by the rate of development on former farmland.
“I have a daughter who lives near Reading. Five years ago, there was open space and farmland near her home. Now, developers have moved in and you can barely recognize the area,” Ranck said. “I didn’t want that to happen here. I wanted to protect my own farm. I wanted it to be a monument to my husband and his family, which owned the land for generations.”
Ranck married into the family in 1969 and immediately recognized how important their land, and this kind of life, was to all of them.
Ranck’s father-in-law died in 1996 and her husband in 2007. After that, she continued working with her mother-in-law, Lois Ranck, on the farm.
“It was the only way of life they’ve known,” Ranck said. “They all both loved the farm so much, we had to save it.”
Her mother-in-law worked the farm until she was 80, Ranck said, “and then she just couldn’t do it anymore.”
Besides, she said, “the way things are going today, we’re losing farms. But we need to have farms. You have to have food.”
So Ranck, with the help of her children, tried to go it alone.
“Right now, I’m on a tractor,” she said, speaking on her cell phone. “But all this work, I don’t know what I’d do without the kids.”
Her fondest memories are of her husband working the land.
“Everything I do here reminds me of him,” she said.
The statewide program was approved in 1988, and the first development rights were purchased in 1989.
Pennsylvania is now a national leader in preserving farmland, with more than 4,000 farms preserved in perpetuity.
Here’s how it works: the association buys the development rights from the land owners. Their farms are appraised, and the difference between the market value and farmland value is paid per acre. Farmers have been paid between $1,300 to $2,000 an acre to give up their development rights.
The program funds are allocated through the county’s budget each year, and that county expenditures are matched by the state.
Applications open every January.
Each farm submitting applications are ranked according to specific criteria and the rights are purchased according to that ranking, said Douglas Wolfgang, director of the Bureau of Farmland Preservation.
Among the benefits derived from preserving farm land, he said, is that local farm businesses support farm and farm-related jobs.
Agriculture is considered Pennsylvania’s top industry.
One job of every five jobs in Pennsylvania is agriculturally related, he said. Productive farms employ managers, farm laborers, accountants, feed and fertilizer consultants, veterinarians and agricultural equipment suppliers.
Farms also provide the raw materials for food processing plants, restaurants and grocery stores. Local farms provide fresh food at a reasonable cost.
“Locally produced food is more nutritious and less costly,” he said.
Transportation and environmental costs are high for foods that are imported from distant regions and other countries. The average distance that food travels from farm to plate is 1,500 miles.
“Protecting local farmland keeps property taxes down,” he noted.
According to the American Farmland Trust, for every dollar a farm family pays in property taxes, it uses use 33 cents in public services. Residential property owners use more than a dollar’s worth of services for every dollar in property taxes paid.
Single family residential developments are a net drain on a community’s fiscal resources, because residential developments require costly school, road, utility, police and fire protection services.
Preserved farmland protects local scenery and promotes local tourism.
“Seeing open farmland soothes the mind and soul,” he said. “At least it does mine. Local scenic landscapes are important for attracting visitors and for keeping the quality of life high for local citizens.”
Protected farms benefit the environment. Preserved farm properties, Wolfgang said, are run by private landowners using sound soil and water conservation practices that protect soil from erosion and also protect local surface waters from contamination. Open farm and forest lands are important for the recharge of ground water in our communities.
Farms also provide critical habitat for wildlife populations.
“Pennsylvania is an agrarian state,” Wolfgang said. “It’s part of who we are. In a way, the program is preserving our heritage.”
