It was the initial “signature” farm in the fledgling years of Montgomery County’s farmland preservation program.

It is now listed for sheriff’s sale.

The Wismer dairy farm in Trappe, which includes 163.6 acres of farmland and a separate 10.7-acre tract that includes a farmhouse that was built in 1895, is listed for a Jan. 30th sheriff’s sale resulting from a mortgage foreclosure action.

The National Penn Bank filed the mortgage foreclosure action in December 2011, claiming the owners were in default. At that time, the debt on the property included $338,252 in principal on a mortgage loan made in May 2006. Coupled with interest, late fees and legal fees, the total mortgage debt at the time of the filing was $373,743.

Whatever the result of the sheriff’s sale, the county’s purchase of easement rights to the 163.6 acres of farmland remains intact, according to county Communications Director Frank X. Custer.

“No matter who owns it, it cannot be developed and the land must be used for active farming or pasture land,” said Custer.

The county’s farmland preservation program, which was created in 1989 but for which the board was not appointed until the following year, went to settlement on its first purchase of farmland development rights in June 1992.

In August 1992, the county went to settlement on the Wismer farm easement rights. The purchase cost the county’s program $2.48 million ($1.88 million in state funds and $600,000 in county funds) or about $15,000 an acre.

At that time, it was the largest acreage preserved by the county, the most costly and also involved the first farm outside the western portion of the county.

While the state signed off on the purchase, it drew the ire of farmland preservation officials in other counties. They claimed the county was paying too much an acre for easement rights.

At that time, Lancaster County was spending an average of about $2,000 an acre while other counties such as Bucks and Chester had placed caps of $10,000 an acre on their purchases.

Montgomery County farmland officials defended the Wismer purchase, saying that land in the county was more valuable than land in more rural counties and that setting a cap would eliminate many farms from the program.

To date, the county has preserved 146 farms totaling 8,638 acres, according to county planning Section Chief Brian N. O’Leary. The county’s contributions to the program over this time span tally about $34.5 million, he said.

The county commissioners last week approved a $128,306 allocation for this year’s program. However, this allocation does not involve any county open space funds.

The $128,306 is interest paid last year by property owners who removed their land early from a preferential tax assessment program for undeveloped land. That money, by law, has to go to a county’s farmland preservation program.

O’Leary estimated that the allocation, coupled with funds left over from last year and the state’s contribution, will be give the county about $2 million to spend on the program this year. This should give the county sufficient funds to purchase easement rights this year to an additional four or five farms, he added.

However, O’Leary noted, the state will not announce its allocation until mid-February. The state allocation is determined, in part, on how much money the county puts into the county program, he said.

The county kicked off the program in 1989 with a $400,000 contribution in county dollars. In 2001, that yearly allocation reached the $1 million mark, with the largest allocation ($6 million) occurring in 2008.

The county followed with a $4 million contribution in 2009.

When county finances took a downturn because of the economy, so did the allocation, with $1.25 million awarded to the program in 2010 and $250,000 in 2011.

The new administration last year made no contribution from limited county open space funds. Instead, it just turned over $88,608 in interest on back taxes paid by those coming out of preferential tax assessment program in 2011.

Under the farmland preservation program, the county purchases easement rights to farmland, using a combination of state, county and sometimes municipal funds. The cost of these easement rights is equal to the difference in value of the land as a farm and its value if sold for development.

Owners of the farms accepted into the program continue to own the land and can use it for farming but are prevented from building any non-agricultural buildings on the land. The farm owner can sell the property but the new owner must continue to use the land for farming or pasture land.