The Burlington County Commissioners have amended the County’s Farmland Preservation rules so that towns will no longer have to contribute a cost share for most preservation deals.
The change was approved by the Commissioners last month and will spare most municipalities the expense of contributing local funds to farmland preservation deals without impacting the County’s aggressive preservation goals.
Under the previous rules, most municipalities were required to contribute between 5% to 20% of the cost to preserve a farm. This policy was put in place decades ago when the County had just begun collecting its dedicated tax for farmland and open space preservation and park development, and resources were limited. The County’s new policy eliminates this requirement for local cost share under most circumstances.
Burlington County Commissioner Deputy Director Allison Eckel said the change would save towns money without jeopardizing the County’s push to preserve more farmland.
“More than 67,000 acres of farmland in Burlington County has been permanently preserved because of the support from the federal government, State of New Jersey, county taxpayers and our local partners,” said Commissioner Eckel, the liaison to the Department of Resource Conservation, Parks and Farmland Preservation. “Burlington County municipalities alone have now contributed in total more than $15 million to help preserve over 200 farms. We are forever grateful for this support, but we believe it’s no longer necessary for towns to contribute a local share. This rule change allows us to continue preserving farmland without impacting municipal budgets and taxes.”
The new policy will not create an additional drain on County funds because the State of New Jersey is now covering a larger 80% share of the cost to preserve most farms. The increased State cost share was part of a 2025 update to New Jersey’s Statewide Preservation Formula to calculate the value of farmland development rights.
“Preserving more farmland benefits the entire state, so it makes sense that the state should shoulder a greater share of the expense,” said New Jersey Assemblywoman Andrea Katz, the chair of the Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. “Kudos to the Burlington County Commissioners for deciding to use the increased State support to waive the local cost share to ease the burden faced by local property taxpayers.”
Burlington County is already benefiting from the new Statewide Preservation Formula, which appraises the value of a farm’s development rights beyond traditional market value to assign additional worth based on the agriculture and natural resource characteristics of a property. Since the change took effect, the County has seen interest in preservation increase, including from the owners of long-targeted farms.
Since the formula change, the County has finalized the preservation of two farms equaling about 197 acres and reached tentative agreements with the owners of another 10 totaling more than 1,400 acres.
In addition to those agreements, the State of New Jersey closed on the preservation of the 70-acre Three Willows Farm (https://www.co.burlington.nj.us/m/newsflash/home/detail/2545) in Springfield last summer.
“The Farmland Preservation Program is one of Burlington County’s biggest success stories and we are excited by the recent changes and the interest it's generating among farmers,” said Commissioner Randy Brolo. “Preservation doesn’t just benefit the farmers. It benefits all our residents and surrounding communities. We want to keep the momentum going, while reducing the costs to our municipalities and property taxpayers.”