HAGERSTOWN, Md. – Washington County has surpassed 43,000 acres of permanently preserved farmland with the protection of a 69.3-acre farm near Rohrersville through a program designed to help first-time farmers purchase agricultural land.
The easement preserves a crop farm on Park Hall Road and marks the latest addition to the county’s long-running effort to protect working farmland from future development.
Unlike many recent preservation projects, the easement was completed through the Maryland Agricultural Resource-Based Industries Corporation’s Next Generation Farmland Acquisition Program, which assists beginning farmers with purchasing their first farms while requiring them to place the property under a permanent conservation easement.
The county announced the preservation Monday, saying the farm also strengthens an existing block of protected agricultural land and could encourage neighboring landowners to pursue permanent easements.
The Next Generation program was established in Washington County in 2019 to help farmers overcome one of the biggest barriers to entering agriculture: the high cost of purchasing land.
“I think the hardest part for somebody who wants to get into farming is actually procuring the land because land values are so high right now,” Rural Preservation Administrator Chris Boggs told LocalNews1 in a recent interview. “If your bank requests 20 percent down and farms are selling for a million bucks apiece, how do you come up with $200,000 on the spot?”
Under the program, eligible applicants who have not previously owned more than 20 contiguous acres may receive financial assistance toward purchasing a qualifying farm. In exchange, the buyer agrees to pursue a permanent conservation easement that removes future development rights from the property.
Boggs said conservation easements do not transfer ownership of the land to the government.
“We’re purchasing the right to ensure the property is not developed in the future,” he said. “The farm stays a farm. The owner keeps the property. The family can pass it down to the next generation or sell it. But the development rights are gone.”
Washington County has made farmland preservation a cornerstone of its long-term planning, with a goal of protecting 50,000 acres through a combination of state, federal and local preservation programs. The newly preserved Rohrersville farm adds to more than 43,000 acres already protected across the county.
For more information about Washington County’s land preservation programs, contact the Washington County Division of Planning & Zoning Land Preservation Office at 240-313-2447.
