Just this year, Queen Anne’s County has permanently preserved another 1,581 acres of farmland.
Donna Landis-Smith, of the county’s Soil Conservation District, said every application she submitted to the state was approved for preservation funding through Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF) Program.
“For the past 38 years, Queen Anne’s County has participated by submitting applications to MALPF,” said Lanis-Smith “Over this period, the county has been able to permanently preserve nearly 31,000 acres of farmland. I’m thrilled to have this many farms funded and preserved as farms forever, it’s a huge success.”
Landowners submit a bid to the state to preserve their farms and the County Commissioners participate in the Matching Funds Program which commits county funds in order to receive additional state funding.
“In 2019 the Queen Anne’s County Commissioners committed $750,000 of county monies which had a return of $6,327,792 to preserve 1,581 acres of prime farmland. That’s an 844% return on county funds, most of which will be spent within the county for agricultural purposes,” Landis-Smith said.
Over the past 15 years, Donna Landis-Smith has been able to secure $40,554,171.10 in MALPF funding to protect and conserve farmland in Maryland’s largest agricultural producing county.