A24-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 28, 1992
VERNON ACHENBACH, JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
HAMBURG (Berks Co.) A
soul-deep love of farmland has
motivated a Berks County farm
owner to donate development
rights valued at more than $77,000
to the Berks County Conservancy,
According to Harold Stoudt 63,
of Hamburg, perserving his
67-acre beef and crop operation by
donating its development rights to
the conservancy is a solution to his
quest to protect something that he
has seen destroyed all his life.
‘This is something I have philo
sophically believed in fora number
of years (preserving farmland).
There’s plenty of land to be deve
loped. TTiere’s no reason to put it
on farmland.”
For 25-years, ’Stoudt’s main
occupation had been working for
road construction contractors. He
helped put in some of the major
highways and intersections in sev
eral counties in the south central
and south eastern part of the state.
Emotionally trapped between
needing to work to provide and hat
ing to destroy something he holds
so dear, he said he laments the
political and greed-driven deve
lopment decisions which have
largely ignored the greater value to
humanity of preserving one-of-a
kind sods.
The clover-leaf at Park City
shopping mall in Lancaster County
is a place Stoudt where said he
worked and he regrets the work
done.
According to Stoudt, 16 inches
of fertile top soil was removed in
order to put in the traffic structure.
“If they would have moved it to
a ridge close by they could have
saved a lot of valuable farmland.
Now what can grow there?”
the farm he owns is modest and
because of the soils, would not
qualify for the state’s PACE prog
ram, which puts priority on going
after the best available farmland
currently in production.
After hearing about American
Farmland Trust’s work in Lancas
ter County, he contacted the orga
nization and was directed to the
Berks County Conservancy.
The main purpose of the conser
vancy is to preserve open areas for
maintaining quality of life.
To achieve this end they have
created several programs which
aren’t necessarily focused on the
same goal, but which result in the
same outcome.
Its ability to act as a recipient for
donated development rights is a
an ? ' erthan 100 acres Of tillable soil make this a modest farm,
•toudt farm is nevertheless perserved for agriculture.
but the
Farmer Loves Land Enough To Give It Away
recent development This is the
fust year of the program and Stoudt
the first to apply.
The benefits of donating his land
are financially not as encouraging
as what might appeal to those seek
ing or needing cash as an incentive,
he said.
However, the Berks County
program does qualify the landow
ner for income tax deductions
under U.S. Internal Revenue Ser
vice regulations. He will also auto
matically qualify for the “Clean
and Green” local tax breaks for
agricultural land.
(Landowners should know that
because some properties in the
state have not been reassessed for
property tax value, a number of
landowners are paying much less
than they would under such a Clean
and Green formula applied to cur
rent land values.)
Under the IRS-allowed prog
ram, Stoudt can deducted 30 per
cent of his adjusted gross income
for federal taxes for a six years or
until the tax deductions equal the
value of the donated development
easements, whichever comes first
The state does not offer any kind
of tax-reduction incentive, but
instead operates by paying a share
of the price for development rights.
Stoudt said that in his case, six
years of 30 percent reductions in
paying federal income tax will nev
er equal the value of the develop
ment rights he donated.
The return to Stoudt, in the form
of tax deferments, is relatively
small, but Stoudt, who has retire
ment benefits from off-farm work
and still works the farm, said his
main concern in making the dona
tion was to find a way in which he
could secure the use of the farm
land for future generations.
“At most, I might recover
$9,000. That’s very preliminary. It
may be less. But the objective was
not for money, it was something I
wanted to do,” he said.
“The Good Lord created only so
much farmland and we can’t create
any more. That’s just the way it is,”
Stoudt said.
Stoudt also helped put in 178,
which had been a heavily traveled
transportation route before more
recently constructed major road
ways were installed.
“Why did they have to put it on
farmland?” Stoudt asked rhetori
cally. “Why not a few miles north
at the foothills of the mountains.
We need better planning,” he said.
Stoudt moved to the farm in
1967 and has always run the farm
From the left, Fred Levering, president of the Berks County Conservancy and farm
owners Kathryn and Harold Stoudt, stand on the first farm to be preserved in Berks
County under an alternative to the state’s PACE program.
as a parttime business, raising his
three children in the northern Berks
County rural area.
The farm, though small, is used
for raising hay, com and pasture
for a cow-calf beef operation. But
there are trees and plants on the
property that were planted long ago
that make the land even more spe
cial every year.
Stoudt said his wife, Kathryn,
had gotten upset with him already
because he would come home late
from work and immediately check
on trees that he had planted, or
graftings that he attempted
“1 would have done this even if
there was no recovery from income
tax (deductions). This is what I
wanted to do.”
When Stoudt called the Ameri
can Farmland Trust, he talked to
Ann Orth, a Pennsylvania field
representative. She put him in con
tact with Phoebe Hopkins and John
Symonds, former conservancy
executive director (who is now
with the Lancaster County conser
vancy as executive director and
agricultural land preservation
specialist).
Orth now works fra the Berks
Conservancy, replacing Symonds.
The Stoudt farm is one of many she
said she would like to see be
preserved.
The conservancy has funds
available to assist farmers and
landowners through the agricultur
al conservation easement donation
process, according to Orth.
The appraisal required by the
IRS to demonstrated the before and
after land value of the farm was
paid fra by the conservancy, and it
was his choice of appraiser.
‘The Berks County Conservan
cy would like to see other farmers
in the county follow Stoudt’s lead
in preserving land through ease
ment donations,” Orth said. Stoudt
agreed.
She said that with limited funds
and strong competition among the
county farms already competing
fra the county-state program, many
smaller farms are being over
looked, and other farms which may
have low-ranking soils or are too
close to boroughs and public infra-
Pa. In Stage II
Of Pseudorabies
Control Effort
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
State Agricultural Secretary
Boyd E. Wolff announced Wed
nesday that Pennsylvania is now
in Stage II of its Pseudorabies
eradication effort.
The determination that Pen
nsylvania is in Stage II was made
at a meeting of the National
Pseudorabies Control Board in
Louisville, Kentucky.
“This is another step along the
way to eliminating pseudorabies
in Pennsylvania,” Wolff said. “I
applaud the efforts of the Pennsyl
vania Pseudorabies Advisory
Committee, which was of great
assistance in our reaching Stage
II.”
Pseudorabies is a contagious
disease affecting swine. Progress
in the eradiction of the disease is
measured in five stages: Stage I
(preparation), Stage II (control),
Stage 111 (mandatory herd clea
nup), Stage IV (surveillance), and
Stage V (pseudorabies free).
As a part of Stage II control
efforts, knowledge of infected
swine or herds must be reported to
the Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture. Pseudorabies tests
are required for swine .movement
and sale.
Surveillance to detect pseudo
rabies is required at time of
slaughter. All infected herds must
be quarantined. Tracing of origin
and disposition of animals is
required.
The use of pseudorabies vac-
structure are also difficult if not
impossible for consideration
through the state program. The
conservancy offers an alternative.
The conservancy program is
overseen by a committee of IS,
along with Hopkins and Orth. The
mix of backgrounds, interests and
education are considerable.
Those interested in examining
that conservancy’s plan can con
tact any of the committee mem
bers. They are Bill Angstadt, Roy
Christman, Philip Edwards, Carl
Herbein, Bill Hughes. Warren
Lamm. Jan McClellan-Renner,
Ernest Miller, Clyde Myers (coun
ty extension agent), Richard
Orwig, Bemie Riley, Tom Russ,
David Thun, Carl Wiest, and Siam
Zervanos.
cines is also required, along with
the sanitation of conveyances of
pseudorabies-infectcd swine.
Stage II also requires the proper
disposal of dead animals of
pseudorabies infected herds.
There are 126 quarantined
swine herds in Pennsylvania.
Ongoing work is being done to
detect and control infections in the
7700 swine operations in the state.
To coordinate control efforts,
the Pseudorabies Advisory Com
mittee was established. The com
mittee is made up of pork produc
ers, university scientific and tech
nical advisors, and regulatory
advisors from the Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture and the
United States Department of
Agriculture.
The pseudorabies eradication
program is an initiative of the
swine industry. The committee’s
goal is the eradication of pseudo
rabies in Pennsylvania by 2000.
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THE CLASSIFIED LIVESTOCK SECTION
HAS BEASTLY SELECTIONS!