Conservancy Director Speaks to Swanton Rotary
Perrysburg, OH – Ohio loses farmland at a dramatic rate. Something must be done about it before we lose our ability to feed a growing population in our nation and the world.
That’s according to Kevin Joyce, executive director of Black Swamp Conservancy. Mr. Joyce spoke about agricultural land preservation at the Swanton Rotary Club meeting on December 1st.
“It’s scary how much farmland we’re losing to development in Ohio,” said Mr. Joyce. “Every eight years we lose enough agricultural land to cover Fulton County.”
According to Mr. Joyce, the loss of rural land isn’t the result of population growth. The U.S. Census Bureau states that from 2000 to 2010, Ohio saw just a 1.6% increase in population.
Black Swamp Conservancy is addressing the issue of farmland loss in northwest Ohio with an agricultural land preservation plan it launched in 2011.
To date, the conservancy has protected more than 10,000 acres of land from development every year with permanent land conservation agreements. Such an agreement between the conservancy and a farm operator will ensure that the farmland is used only for agriculture, forever.
Black Swamp expects to be able to protect even more agricultural land with its new plan in place.
Black Swamp Conservancy is a land trust dedicated to the preservation of family farms, woods, wetlands and other open space in northwest Ohio. Since its founding in 1993, the conservancy has permanently protected nearly 11,000 acres of open space in twelve northwest Ohio counties with land conservation agreements.
Notes from the Field:
The first census of land trusts in five years found 10 million new acres conserved nationwide since 2005, including 113,000 new acres here in Ohio.
