“Recent data from the 2022 Ag Census shows that Kent County is home to over a thousand farms covering 144,000 acres.”
Haley Stichman is Kent County’s Community Development Coordinator who works with the Purchase Development Rights Program, or PDR, which compensates farmers for accepting a permanent deed restriction on their land that limits future development for non-agricultural purposes.
“While the number of farms has slightly increased, we’ve lost about 9% of our farmland in just five years.”
Underscoring the importance of farmland preservation efforts in Kent County, with agriculture generating more than $400 million in market value, providing jobs, produce and agricultural commodities, placing it among the top-producing counties in the state.
“We closed on 77.5 acres in Algoma Township, three additional projects totaling approximately 325 acres are currently under contracts, and we are expected to close next year.”
Stichman says 19 out of 21 townships participate in the PDR program and the county will continue its preservation efforts through community outreach and farmer education.
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