The land contained within an application shall meet all of the following minimum criteria: 

1. Be located in an agricultural security area consisting of 500 acres or more or meets the special provisions for parcels not entirely within an agricultural security area as outline in the ACE Program Guidelines.
2. Be contiguous acreage of at least 35 acres in size unless the tract is at least 10 acres in size and:
   1. Is either utilized for a crop unique to the area; or
   2. Is contiguous to a property that has a perpetual agricultural conservation easement in place under Act 43 or held by a “qualified conservation organization.” 
3. Contain 50% of soils, which are available for agricultural production and are in capability classes I-IV, as defined by the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
4. Contain the greater of 50% or 10 acres of harvested cropland, pasture, or grazing lands.
5. No land in an area identified as Designated Growth or Future Growth by the current adopted Berks County Comprehensive Plan may be preserved as part of the Berks County Agricultural Conservation Easement Program.  Further details about this requirement can be found in the ACE Program Guidelines.   If you have questions regarding whether your land has been identified as Designated Growth or Future Growth, you may contact the Berks County Planning Commission at (610) 478-6300 or planning@berkspa.gov.

Failure to meet the minimum criteria set by the County Board will result in a rejection of the application.  Landowners of applications that are rejected will be given written notice of the rejection along with an explanation of the reasons why the application was rejected.