On January 3, staff from Lancaster Farmland Trust met with the Stoltzfoos family to sign paperwork and add the family’s two farms—42 acres and 22 acres—to the growing list of preserved farms in Lancaster County.
The Stoltzfoos homestead is found on the smaller property, bordered by their 42-acre farm to the north. The house and barns are home to the family, their small herd of heifers, and a few riding horses. Most of their land is rented to a local farmer who grows corn and rye.
A small tributary to the Mill Creek runs along the southern edge of the larger farm and bisects the two properties. Managing the land to protect this waterway is important to the Stoltzfoos. The local farmer who rents the Stoltzfoos land employs a variety of conservation practices, including no-till farming, cover cropping, strip cropping, secure manure storage, and streambank fencing.
Two farms directly adjacent to the Stoltzfoos farms are preserved. Within a two-mile radius of the Stoltzfoos farms, there are 29 other preserved farms totaling more than 1,310 acres of preserved land nearby. The Stoltzfoos family is happy to join their many neighbors who have already preserved, creating viable future for agriculture in Lancaster County.
