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.
If you’ve ever thought about starting a farming operation or have land you’d like someone else to farm, learn more and connect with others at one of PEC’s Small Farm Dream course.
Interest in local food is booming, with direct marketing sales up 74% nationwide and the number of farmers markets in Virginia up 94% over the last five years. PEC's Buy Fresh Buy Local guides help producers to capitalize on these trends.
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 throughout the state.
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.
Alumni of PEC's Exploring the Small Farm Dream courses are breaking ground this growing season--with a new vegetable farm in Rapidan, innovative partnerships with landowners, fields growing local grains and more.
Newspaper, TV, and radio reports on issues affecting working farms and forestland in the Piedmont.
