Pennsylvania Farmer Jeff Biddle Locks 170 Acres Away From Development

Jeff Biddle turned down two lucrative buyout offers for his 170-acre Bear Meadows Farm near Tussey Mountain, choosing instead to secure a permanent conservation easement in July 2026. The Centre County Farmland Trust confirmed the agreement, which legally severs the property’s development rights from its deed. This means the land can remain in agriculture forever, regardless of who owns it. It is a hard line in the sand against the creeping residential sprawl that defines the Centre Region’s growth boundary.

Biddle has lived on this land most of his life. His father, Harold, bought the property in 1959, initially for a hunting camp before restoring the buildings for a beef operation. Jeff, a former cabinet-maker, took over the farm with his wife Claudia in 2002. They converted the operation to a grass-based dairy in 2005 and secured state permission to sell raw milk in 2009. Today, the farm produces raw milk, eggs, and grass-fed beef, with milk also shipped off-site for cheese production. It is a demanding daily routine of milking cows and tending chickens, a life Biddle has documented since his youth.

The protection extends beyond the fields. The 170 acres contain pasture, hay fields, cultivated cropland, and mixed forests with streams feeding into the Spring Creek watershed. This water system flows toward the Susquehanna River and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. By locking the land, Biddle preserves habitat for bears, turkeys, and deer, while maintaining groundwater quality. The historic spring house and waterways remain intact, shielding the ecological corridor from concrete.

ClearWater Conservancy provided the technical and legal mapping for the easement, working alongside the Farmland Trust. The farm had previously sat on the county’s waiting list for the Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement Program. The new agreement addresses Biddle’s uncertainty about finding a next-generation farmer, given the high capital costs of entry. Whoever works the fields next, the landscape is now secured. The 170 acres will stay open, wild, and agricultural. The development pressure is gone.