Harford County, MD
Conservation Easements in Harford County, Maryland: A Top-5 National Program
Harford County's farmland preservation program dates to 1977 and has permanently preserved 64,500 acres -- roughly 26% of the county's entire land area -- placing it among the top 5 counties in the United States for total acreage preserved through local agricultural easements. A 2024 county reform tightened and expanded eligibility. Here's what that means before you buy land in Harford.
This page covers what's specific to Harford County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.
A nearly 50-year-old program covering more than a quarter of the county
Harford County's agricultural land preservation effort began in 1977 -- three years before Carroll County's better-known program started -- making it one of the oldest county-run farmland easement programs in Maryland. The results are substantial: as of recent county reporting, 64,500 acres are permanently preserved, equal to roughly 26% of Harford's total land area. Multiple independent sources, including the county's own government materials and Harford Land Trust, describe this as placing Harford among the top 5 counties in the entire United States for total acreage preserved through a local farmland-easement program -- not just a Maryland-leading figure, but a nationally ranked one.
That scale is funded and administered through several layered mechanisms: the Harford Agricultural Land Preservation Program (HALPP), the state's Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF) program, the state's Rural Legacy Program (most notably the roughly 67,000-acre Deer Creek Rural Legacy Area, plus the smaller Manor Conservancy Rural Legacy Area shared with Baltimore County), and the Maryland Environmental Trust. In the county's fiscal year 2024 budget alone, officials set aside $26.5 million for the preservation program, funded through the county's real estate transfer tax -- a dedicated, recurring local funding source most county-level preservation programs nationally do not have.
How a Harford easement works, and the 2024 eligibility changes
The core mechanism is a purchase of development rights: the county and state programs pay a qualifying landowner for a permanent easement that retires the property's development potential, while the landowner keeps ownership and the right to keep farming, selling, or passing down the land. Basic eligibility requires the property to be in active agricultural or forest production, to meet minimum soil-productivity standards set by the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, and (historically) to total at least 50 acres. Landowners not yet ready for a full easement sale can instead sign a five-year district agreement, a shorter-term commitment limiting subdivision in exchange for a $50-per-acre county property tax credit -- capped at offsetting up to 50% of that parcel's Harford County property tax bill.
In March 2024, the Harford County Council took up legislation to update the program -- reducing the acreage a property needs to qualify, requiring that at least 50% of a proposed property consist of high-quality soil, and expanding eligibility beyond strictly agriculturally zoned land to additional zoning categories, opening the door to smaller farms that previously couldn't meet the acreage bar. For a buyer evaluating a smaller Harford County farm parcel that wouldn't have qualified for preservation a few years ago, this 2024 reform is directly relevant -- it may now be eligible where it wasn't before.
What to check before buying Harford County farmland
Given how much of Harford's land base -- more than a quarter of the county -- is already permanently preserved, confirming easement status is a standard step for almost any rural Harford parcel, not an edge case. Ask the county's Agricultural Land Preservation office directly, and independently verify with a title search, whether a specific parcel already carries a recorded HALPP, MALPF, Rural Legacy, or Maryland Environmental Trust easement; if it does, that restriction runs permanently with the land regardless of what a listing implies about future development potential, though continued farming and a farm residence typically remain permitted.
If the parcel is inside the roughly 67,000-acre Deer Creek Rural Legacy Area boundary, understand that boundary itself doesn't mean the land is already preserved -- it's a designated priority area where the state and county actively target new preservation funding, so land inside it may still be entirely unrestricted today. And if you're a landowner rather than a buyer weighing whether to enroll, ask the Agricultural Land Preservation office how the 2024 eligibility changes (smaller acreage minimums, the 50%-high-quality-soil standard, and the newly eligible zoning categories) affect a specific property that may not have qualified under the program's older rules.
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Connect with a local land specialistSources
- Agricultural Preservation — Harford County, MD (accessed 2026-09)
- Harford council aims to update county's agricultural land preservation program — The Baltimore Sun (accessed 2026-09)
- Harford County Agricultural Land Preservation Program — Farmland Information Center (accessed 2026-09)
- Learn -- Harford Land Trust — Harford Land Trust (accessed 2026-09)
- Agricultural Preservation -- Friends of Harford — Friends of Harford (accessed 2026-09)
- Defending Program Open Space Funding — Harford Land Trust (accessed 2026-09)
Last reviewed 2026-09