Working Farms & Forestland
Farmland and forests produce the necessities of life and provide essential natural services. In PEC's nine county area, over 180,000 acres of farmland and 140,000 acres of forests are protected through private, voluntary land conservation.
Conservation can help working farmers achieve their goals. Read how a conservation easement was a win-win decision for one local dairy farmer in this article from the Spring 2010 Piedmont View.
The Piedmont Farm and Food Connection helps bring a new vitality to local agriculture. Read more about it in this article from the Summer 2009 Piedmont View.
Two farms in Rappahannock County are growing local food & protecting farmland--by placing land in conservation easements in 2008. Read more about Muskrat Haven Farm & Sunnyside Farm in this article from the Spring 2009 Piedmont View.
Learn where to find and enjoy local foods in our Buy Fresh Buy Local guides --produced by PEC for the Charlottesville area, Loudoun County and Northern Piedmont, with partner guides in the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond area.
Piedmont farmland is some of the richest in the nation, producing essential food and fibers that people need to live.
Forests, which cover about 58% of PEC's nine county region, supply essential products and play a major role in keeping water supplies plentiful and clean.
The University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center study found that farming and forestry had a total economic impact of $79 billion in 2006 and supported more than a half-million jobs in the Commonwealth.
The Virginia Piedmont's rural landscape is integral to three of Virginia's leading economic generators- agriculture, forestry, and tourism.
Many tools are available to preserve rural land, from private land conservation to Purchase of Development Rights programs, land use taxation, zoning provisions and more.
There is currently a quarantine of Emerald Ash Borer, a beetle that attacks and kills ash trees. Without a permit, live ash material, green wood, chips, or compost cannot be moved out of the quarantine area.
Newspaper, TV, and radio reports on issues affecting working farms and forestland in the Piedmont.
