MOUNT HOLLY — Burlington County commissioners have taken a first step to preserve nine farms totaling almost 1,200 acres.

The commissioners gave preliminary approval Wednesday for the properties to enter the county’s farmland preservation program.

In a statement Thursday, the county said it will obtain appraisals to buy development rights to the farms and have them deed-restricted to remain in agriculture.

“The farmers will continue to retain ownership of the land,” it said.

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The farms to be preserved are in six municipalities — Chesterfield, Mansfield, North Hanover, Pemberton, and Southampton, and Tabernacle..

Farmland preservation “keeps land in agriculture and guards against overdevelopment,” said Felicia Hopson, the county’s commissioner director.

She said the county, which ranks first in New Jersey with 63,000 acres of preserved farmland, will continue to “aggressively target” remaining open space.

The commissioners voted to preserve four Southampton properties — Kenron Farm, 155 acres; Doyle Farm, 143 acres; Cheung Farm, 55 acres; and Thomas Allen Farm, 21 acres.

Also in the preservation pipeline are:

● Lustgarten farm, 162 acres; and Reid Sod Farm, 268 acres, both in North Hanover

● Bright View Farm in Chesterfield and Mansfield, 254 acres

• Ruth Glunt and Mary Powell Farm in Tabernacle, 87 acres

• Edward Allen Farm in Pemberton Township, 51 acres

All nine farms qualify for state funding that will cover as much as 60 percent of the preservation costs, the county said.

Six are also eligible for federal funding from the U.S. Department of Defense because they are within a 5-mile buffer zone around Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

The buffer zone is important because it helps minimize security issues immediately outside the base and also limits development and land use conflicts near it, the county’s statement said.

Since 2008, the County has preserved more than 2,300 acres in the buffer zone.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: Jwalsh@cpsj.com.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Burlington County panel gives preliminary OK to preserving farms