Farmland
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
MOUNT JOY (Lancaster Co.)
Thomas D. Stouffer has
become the new executive director
of the Lancaster Farmland Trust, it
was announced this week.
A 1962 graduate of Elizabeth
town High School and a 1966 gra
duate of the United States Naval
Academy, Stouffer spoke to Lan
caster Farming on Wednesday
about his appointment by the
Trust’s board of directors.
Stouffer replaces Karen Weiss,
acting director, who will resume
her position as director of land pre
servation. Weiss had assumed
duties of acting director after the
resignation of Alan Musselman,
previous director.
Raised in West Donegal Town
ship, Lancaster County, Stouffer
said that serving as director of the
Trust provided him an opportunity
for service and stewardship of
farmland preservation in the
county.
“The idea of stewardship is
extremely important,” he said.
Stouffer admitted he has a passion
for the preservation of farmland.
He said that while the county has
suffered increasing development
pressure and has expanded through
the years since he was a boy, “the
inherent beauty of farmland is still
there.”
Stouffer was graduated from the
U.S. Naval Academy in 1966.
After graduation, he was a student
m the Fulbright program at the
University of Vienna in Vienna,
Austria. He received his master of
arts degree in international rela
uons from Salve Regina Universi-
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ty, Newport, R.I. in 1988.
In 1995, Stouffer retired as a
colonel from the U.S. Marine
Corps after more than 29 years of
military service. Upon his retire
ment, he was awarded the Defense
Superior Service Medal.
As a colonel in the Marine
Corps, Stouffer served as the bar
racks commander at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba. He learned that people
are a vital resource to any organi
zation. Like farmland, people are
“special and come first,” he said,
looking at his new position as a
“leadership opportunity and
more- as a stewardship
opportunity.”
Stouffer worked as regional
director in the department of bank
ing and finance in West Palm
Beach, Fla., with the office of the
comptroller. He was responsible
for managing, directing, and pro
viding media contact for depart
ment activities and operations in a
12-county region.
According to Lancaster Farm
land Trust, Stouffer brings this
experience as well as his extensive
background in resource manage
ment to the position of executive
director. He said he was interested
in working for a private organiza
tion such as the Trust, which is
nonprofit and is entirely member
supported.
Stouffer was bom in Dauphin
County and moved to Rheems in
the fifth grade. While living in
West Donegal Township as a
child, Stouffer said he lived near
the Garber Farm. Through the
years, he saw how much the coun
ty was expanding as a bedroom
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community but wanted to preserve
the rich farming heritage unique to
the area.
Stouffer recently returned to
Mount Joy, from where his wife,
Deanna, was raised. They have
raised three children, Dean, 23,
Craig, 21, and Charissa, 20.
As regional director for the Flor
ida Office of Comptroller, Stouffer
said he enjoyed the transition,
working with the military (which
is vertically integrated) to his posi
tion as regional director, which
was more horizontally integrated.
He indicated that he agrees with
whoever quoted President Dwight
Eisenhower, who said he had more
control and power over a few men
as platoon commander than as
president of the United States.
As regional director, what was
required was more diplomacy,
more cooperation, more of those
skills necessary to work with the
resources of a horizontally inte
grated agency.
Near Miami, there was farmland
preservation continuing mostly
orchards who wanted to preserve
the farmland.
Stouffer showed Lancaster
Farming a newspaper clipping
from Sept. 1,1966, a story by Sam
Christensen with a headline,
“Farms Threatened By Urban
Growth.” Even at that time, the
trust board of directors com
posed of attorneys, agribusiness
people, corporate leaders, educa
tors, farm managers, former legi
slators, and other professionals
recognized the need to preserve
farms. Now there are 25 members
on the board.
Stouffer’s goals are to continue
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Fans and Controls
Thomas D. Stouffer has become the new executive direc
tor of the Lancaster Farmland Trust, It was announced this
week.
to work to preserve farmland,
offering the services of the Trust as
an additional method to the state’s
ag preservation board. While there
is a waiting list for the statewide
program, which provides payment
for signing away development
rights, there is no list for the Lan
caster Farmland Trust.
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Slouffer intends to meet with the
board to review their long-range
objectives. He intends to work to
preserve farmland in contiguous
plots. Stouffer said he will con
tinue in his education efforts to
foster appreciation of and cultivate
interest and support in farmland
preservation.
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