Maryland Priority Preservation Areas for Farmland

Maryland Department of Planning provides a GIS dataset of Priority Preservation Areas (PPAs) adopted by counties under the Agricultural Stewardship Act of 2006. The data is aggregated from county submissions or digitized by MDP, though not all counties have designated PPAs. It serves as a public resource for general information on farmland preservation program certification.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the spatial distribution of certified farmland preservation programs across Maryland counties.
• Cross-referencing PPA boundaries with parcel data using the GIS_SRC field to understand data lineage.
• Supporting county applications for state certification to retain agricultural land transfer tax revenue.

Strengths

• Dataset is maintained by the authoritative Maryland Department of Planning (MDP).
• Includes a GIS_SRC field documenting the source of geometry data for traceability.
• Procedures are documented for aggregating and updating GIS data from local jurisdictions.

Limitations

• MDP explicitly states it cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information and disclaims liability.
• Data may be outdated or incomplete if MDP has not received recent updates from counties.
• Specific row counts, column names, and license information are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

Maryland Department of Planning (MDP), aggregated from county submissions.

Collection Method

Collected from counties or digitized by MDP in coordination with local jurisdictions.

Time Range

From the Agricultural Stewardship Act of 2006 onward, with ongoing updates.

Freshness

Last updated date cited as 2/17/2026.

Geography

State of Maryland, at the county level where PPAs are adopted.