WASHINGTON -- For George M. Radcliffe of Cambridge, farming goes beyond simple dollars and cents. It's a way of life, steeped in family history.
Mr. Radcliffe traces his connection to the farm more than 300 years -- back to ancestor Stephen Gary, one of Dorchester County's first "gentlemen justices," who in 1662 laid claim to what is now Mr. Radcliffe's land and about 1,250 surrounding acres.
Mr. Radcliffe, 75, a practicing lawyer, is one of a diminishing number of Maryland farmers who are bucking a trend to sell to developers. He says his farm is the oldest in Maryland under constant ownership by one family.
He and others like him, who have kept their farms in families for generations, say they value its family history and savor the sense of independence it brings.
"Farmers have a great deal of pride in their own farm," Mr. Radcliffe said, "and particularly if it is a family farm. The rewards are great -- even spiritual."
But increasingly, nonprofit groups and government programs have had to provide incentives to farmers to keep them from selling.
"Everywhere you turn around, developers are building something. . . . They're moving in right and left around us," said Mary Sasscer, who raises cattle in Upper Marlboro on a farm that's been in her family for a century.
Her farm sits in urban Prince George's County and is a prime target of developers, she said. Six acres next door were sold for about $180,000 a few years ago, she said. That land didn't even have a house on it.
In Maryland, land devoted to farms has dipped from 4.3 million acres in 1950 to about 2.2 million acres in 1994, according to Bruce West, a statistician for the Maryland Agriculture Statistic Service.
The number of Maryland farms has dropped from about 39,000 in 1950 to about 14,500 in 1994, said Richard Dittman, also a statistician with the service.
Mr. West said a significant factor in the land loss is that Maryland farmers can get more money for selling their property than working it.
The average acre of farmland in Maryland, including buildings on the property, could be sold for $2,866 in 1994, or $2,122 more than the $744 national average, Mr. West said.
Harry DeLong, a deputy statistician, said that "the agricultural value of land is so low that almost every other use" for it would be more profitable.
Two preservation programs are helping to curtail the loss of farmland.
In one, launched in 1977, the state government pays farmers for the right to restrict development of their property. The development rights for 110,000 acres of farmland have been purchased since that program began, said Paul W. Scheidt, director of the Maryland Agriculture Land Preservation Foundation.
In the other, begun in 1968 by the Maryland Environmental Trust, donations of farmland development rights are accepted, said John Hutson, a natural resources planner with the trust.
He said contributors since 1986 have received income tax breaks.
Mr. Radcliffe's father, who donated his farm's development rights to the trust in 1974, missed out on the tax cut, said Tom Saunders, trust director.
Mr. Radcliffe said his family was not interested in the money; it simply wanted to sustain the natural beauty of the land.
Mr. Hutson said Mr. Radcliffe is "benefiting the public good by preserving a scenic landscape."
The farm allows people to enjoy the beauty of an open field, he said, instead of viewing the front of a condominium.