By ANITA HIRSCH

Special to The Press

South Whitehall Township has a Comprehensive Plan that “sets the vision for how the township will grow, change, preserve, and prosper over the next 10 to 15 years.”

The plan was adopted by commissioners this spring.

Four public meetings took place in August to explain the direction the township is going.

The topic of the Aug. 15 presentation was on Agricultural Resources and Open Space, Historic, Agricultural and Natural Resources were discussed.

The discussions were led by Christopher Strohler, South Whitehall Long Range Planner, who introduced the four panelists.

The first panelist was Joel Newhard from Newhard Farms.

A fifth generation farmer in South Whitehall, he is looking forward to the sixth generation of Newhards taking charge of the farm.

Newhard Farm produces grains and corn and in the summer they operate a sweet corn and vegetable business.

When Newhard was growing up, his father was concerned that there would not be enough land to farm because the land was disappearing.

The Newhards farm more than 3,000 acres but his family does not own all that land, they rent nearby farmland.

They deal with more than 50 landlords who own properties in a 50-mile radius.

On these properties, they grow corn and soybeans and are constantly looking for crops to grow and sell.

Newhard said the reason the land he farms is so spread out is that farmland is disappearing so fast.

To keep his farm going he needs a certain amount of land to farm and that is a challenge every year as the landowners get older and want to retire and sell their land or they get passed to the next generation and then the next generation.

More money needs to be generated for farmland preservation, not just land sales to a developer.

He explained that until the farmland preservation values become high enough, developers could pay $10,000 an acre and the owner would probably sell because the farmer can’t pay that.

“I would love to purchase a farm for my kids to inherit,” Newhard said. “We are lucky to have so many people living around our farm that we can have a local corn business.”

The second speaker was Chad Butters, owner of Eight Oaks Farm Distillery, New Tripoli.

He buys corn and grains from Newhard Farms to prepare his liquor products.

He moved to the Lehigh Valley and was surprised that South Whitehall still has dairy farms where one can drive to a dairy in the middle of the night and get fresh milk and just drop the money in a box and leave.

The third speaker was Kegan Hilaire who has a small farm, Blackbird Farms, in Vera Cruz.

He sells vegetables at his farm stand and also operates his farm as a Community Supported Agriculture business.

Kegan works at the Rodale Institute as part of a consulting team formed to provide technical assistance to farmers.

The fourth speaker was Madeline Squarcia, coordinator of Local Foods and Environmental Initiatives for the Lehigh Valley version of Buy Fresh Buy Local.

Buy Fresh Buy Local became part of the Nurture Nature Center in 2010.

She met Lynn Pryor who was really passionate about bringing together local food systems and helping to promote and connect consumers to those resources.

As part of the Lehigh Valley Chapter they have a website and the core is a partnership base which is a network of local food professionals in the Lehigh Valley which includes farmers markets, restaurants, and specialty food stores.

They produce food guides, newsletters and just try to help the partners to connect with consumers and educate them to the importance of eating fresh and local foods. Strohler said there are incredible soils in South Whitehall.

People are interested in living here because of the quality of the soils and the farming.

“We all started as farmers at one point just to feed ourselves,” he said. “Saturday farm markets are more popular and everyone seems to be interested in where their food is grown.

The next meeting to discuss South Whitehall Landscapes and the “How and When of Resource Preservation” is 6-8 p.m. Oct. 10 at the South Whitehall Township Municipal Building, Walbert Avenue.

The group will discuss recommendations and short term goals.