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We work with local families to protect their farms so that they can remain a valuable part of our beautiful landscape forever.
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The Centre County Farmland Trust was founded in 1994 as a public, non-profit land trust dedicated to protecting farmland and open space in Central Pennsylvania.
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Thank you for supporting the Gift of Good Land!
Help conserve valuable farmland in Centre County!​
Let's Connect!
Two years ago, an owner of the preserved Hodge Farm in Spring Mills approached the Centre County Farmland Trust with a dilemma: He had a huge, historic barn in need of costly repairs and a good offer from a reclaimed barn wood company to demolish it. The reclaimer said he intended to sell the wood to build a luxury home in Colorado.
CCFT’s Board of Trustees decided to help in this special case. While the Trust preserves farmland and not barns, the Hodge conservation easement — in 2004 the Trust’s first — is the only one that includes a barn. The late Hugh and Barbara Hodge (pictured above) were teachers who loved the land and donated a conservation easement on 150 acres and their historic barn.
The barn is an architectural gem. It's pictured above (top, right) showing its double banks and need for repair in September 2021, and (above, left) in May 2023 during roof repairs. Often photographed and represented in art, it was awarded a 2004 Historic Preservation award by the Centre County Historical Society.
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“There’s no other barn like it in Centre County and probably in the state of Pennsylvania,” says Trustee Catherine Smith, who championed the project to help Samuel and Esther Stolzfus, current owners, to save the barn and avoid selling it off as reclaimed barn wood.
Read the story in the CCFT summer 2023 newsletter.
Farmland Preservation Artists' Show at Kish Bank
Thirteen members of the Farmland Preservation Artists of Central Pennsylvania are showing paintings and photography capturing landscapes, wild places and rural life now through Aug. 28 at Kish Bank on South Allen Street in downtown State College.
Pictured here: FPA member Cinda Kostyak's "Along the Lane" oil painting on birch, 19X27, $725.
FPA work will also be on exhibit at the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg during most of October.
Enjoy some gorgeous artwork — and support farmland preservation!
FPA is our partner organization. A portion of proceeds from some sales benefit farmland preservation through CCFT.
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2022 in Review
CCFT President Dan Guss (left) presented 2022 highlights and a look ahead to 2023 at our annual meeting in November.
Read Dan's letter.
Lynn Miller Bequeaths Major Gift for Farmland Preservation
Lynn Miller, the late, distinguished landscape architect, professor and co-founder of the Centre County Farmland Trust, bequeathed a generous gift of $128,700 to the Trust to advance its land preservation mission. Read the story.
Donor Preserves 55 Acres
Easement Marks Trust’s 17th
David Litke, 75, is donating a conservation easement on the land to the Centre County Farmland Trust. The easement will stay with the land, so that the land will remain open and undeveloped in perpetuity. This kind of easement reduces the commercial sales value of the land and represents a landowner’s valuable donation to the public through the Trust.
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The property off Blanchard Street is on track to become the 17th property preserved through a donated farmland conservation easement with the Trust. The Trust pays the costs of securing the easement, and then will hold, steward and enforce the easement into the future. Read more.
Farm Routes are HERE!
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In 2020, our local farmers, farmers markets and entire local food and drink system adapted quickly to the new realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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So did the Centre County Farmland Trust, as hosts of the annual Centre County Farm Tour, when a dozen farms are open to big groups of people for tours on a single day. The Farmland Trust postponed the Farm Tour in 2020 and 2021.
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Instead, we created paper and digital Farm Routes map-guides linking local food & drink and preserved land along country corridors. Explore our farmers markets, wineries, farm stores, cideries and preserved farms. Use our guides anytime to plan your own tours. Have a delicious day, getting to know the hands and lands that feed us!
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Learn more about
FARM ROUTES!
Twelve people who signed up for our E-News this fall won this cool, 2022 Farm Routes T-shirt! Even though our T-shirt giveaway has ended for 2022, you can still signup for our E-mail list to stay on top of farmland preservation news in Centre County!
Signup HERE
