By MARIEKE ANDRONACHE

Special to The Press

Lehigh County officials braved the stifling heat on June 18 to attend an outdoor celebration marking the preservation of the 400th farm in the county.

The festivities took place in Lower Milford, site of the first preserved farm, as well as the site of Hogan’s Heroes, an animal rescue.

In 1991, the Graber Farm became the first farm to qualify under the Farmland Preservation program.

There are now 403 farms and more than 28,000 acres protected across Lehigh County, with another 40 farms in the queue.

“Without No. 1, there would be no 403, so, I want to thank the Baringer family, who have since become the owners of the property for allowing us our festivities today, and our celebration of an excess of 400 farms,” General Services Director Rick Molchany said in opening remarks.

“We did a long-term strategic plan called Livable Landscapes.

“During Livable Landscapes, 90% of everyone we surveyed said land preservation and open space is extremely important to them. That’s a huge number.”

Lehigh Commissioner Ron Beitler praised the Baringers for taking on the challenge of the untested program.

“For them to be the first family to have done this, I mean, the leap of faith they took when they did that.

“This program at the time was an unknown.”

Beitler recognized the other participants in this program.

“The majority of these families participating in this program, they are taking the money they get from local municipalities, Lehigh County and the state, and they are reinvesting it in their family farms,” he said.

County Executive Phillips Armstrong also addressed the gathering.

“Farming is one of the most difficult positions and jobs that you can do,” he said. “There is no vacation. The cows have to be milked every day.”

Lehigh County Commissioner Chairman Geoff Brace built on that point.

“Every dollar we put into farmland preservation goes a long way,” Brace said. “Not only preserving the spaces we hold dear but also to ensuring our communities are responsibly developed, responsibly managed, and that the resources we do have to invest in our families and our kids are used in a responsible and appropriate fashion.”

Lehigh County has allocated $1 million per year, 2023 through 2026, earmarked for the purchase of development rights, and has received an additional $2.7 million by the state for 2024.