wfrank@altoonamirror.com
Mirror photo by Walt Frank
Anthony Rice, shown with his steer, Isaiah, recently became part owner of Clover Creek Cheese Cellar LLC near
Williamsburg.
Property owners in Pennsylvania have a new financial incentive to help beginning farmers access the tools they need to get their start in agriculture.
The Beginning Farmer Tax Credit provides an income tax credit for selling or leasing agricultural assets such as land, livestock, facilities and equipment to a beginning farmer. The program, administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, officially started in July but the application window just opened Monday.
Worried about mounting conservation mandates and their prohibitive costs, local stakeholders continue to raise concerns about the development of a plan to clean previously overlooked pollution piled up behind a Maryland dam.
The strategy, which is in its final planning stages, is likely to have an impact in Lancaster County, especially its farmland, which contributes pollutants to the downstream Conowingo Dam.
Now, officials in the county and across the state are concerned about the Conowingo project s costs, as well as its potential to draw resources away from other local clean-water efforts.
There are a couple of âpotential pitfalls,â according to Allyson Gibson, coordinator at Lancaster Clean Water Partners, a countywide group of organizations working toward clean water.