HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania has added 1,470 additional acres, including 88 in Butler County, to its farmland preservation program under action Thursday by the Pennsylvania Agricultural Land Preservation Board.

The Kenneth and Ann Moniot farm, an 88-acre crop farm at 539 W. Park Road, Muddy Creek, Worth Township, is the only farm in the county added to the preservation program.

Since the program started in 1988, state, county and local governments have invested more than $1.1 billion to safeguard 459,007 acres on 4,243 farms.

The program was developed to slow the loss of prime farmland to non-agricultural uses. It enables governments to buy conservation easements, also called development rights, from owners of quality farmland.