Ag secretary proud of roots, agency work
A lot has changed in Sussex County since Wm. Donald Clifton II grew up on a farm along Route 1 north of Lewes, playing football for Cape Henlopen High School before graduating in 1976.
His family has been farming in Sussex County for four generations. The family barn was razed only last year, but the farmhouse remains.
His son Lucas lives there with his family and works the land at a time of change, as some farmland and forests across the county have rapidly been replaced by housing developments in recent years.
It has been Donald Clifton’s job to support farming, Delaware’s leading industry – barely ahead of the growing tourism business – since he was appointed state agriculture secretary in January 2025.
Clifton and Assistant Agriculture Secretary Jimmy Kroon spoke about their efforts during an April 8 presentation to the Sussex Preservation Coalition at the Lewes Public Library.
In addition to the financial issues of farmers across the country, those in Sussex County deal with development pressures that complicate farming but can also offer a financial windfall to those who sell their land.
“We have a lot of challenges in the marketplace when it comes to how we are going to preserve our land and how are we going to properly regulate the land that maybe should be developed,” Clifton said.
He praised the work of the Sussex Preservation Coalition in that effort. Farmland and open space preservation is one of the group’s priorities.
Kroon outlined the state farmland preservation program, which has conserved 160,000 acres on 1,250 farms since the mid-1990s. The state buys the development rights, keeping them in agriculture in perpetuity.
Real estate transfer tax revenue funds much of the program costs, with contributions from the counties and the federal government.
Sussex County last year doubled its $1 million annual contribution, which added eight farms to the program, bringing the state total to 35 farms.
The state’s annual allocation to the program has remained steady at $10 million since 1995 as total realty transfer tax revenue to the state roughly doubled to $236 million last year, Kroon said.
Meanwhile, the cost of easements per acre increased from $2,000 to more than $5,000 after deep discounts from landowners that average about 50%, said Clifton. Discounts vary by parcel and have totaled $413 million since 1995, he said. Landowners bid to try to participate in the program.
The fair market value of agricultural land in the state increased from $2,000 per acre to more than $11,000 on average since 1995, Kroon said. Farmland on the east side of Sussex County is worth $30,000 to $40,000, and sometimes far more, making it too expensive for the preservation program, Clifton said.
In addition to housing development pressures, farmers typically have low profit margins, but their financial challenges worsened recently as diesel fuel and fertilizer prices have risen, he said.
“The cost-price squeeze for our commodities, whether it be corn, soybeans, wheat, most of the things we grow, the margins are slim to none,” Clifton said.
He provided statistics about agriculture in the state and Sussex County.
Delaware’s 2,150 family farms produce a variety of products, such as corn, soybeans, wheat, poultry, fruits and vegetables on 520,000 total acres.
Poultry accounts for 70% to 75% of total agricultural receipts. Sussex County is the nation’s top producer of poultry, with 176 million chickens raised annually.
Food and agriculture industries provide 76,243 jobs, one of every eight in the state, and billions of dollars in economic activity.
Farmers markets last year for the first time topped $1 million in total sales, said Clifton.
Before his current job, he served as executive director of the Delaware Farm Bureau, worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the Clinton and Obama administrations, and served on statewide committees.
Clifton said he met his wife Ruth at a dance after a high school football game, and they will soon be married 47 years. They have seven children and 10 grandchildren. The couple now lives on the Kent County side of Milford.
The Clifton family has been farming for four generations in Sussex County.
“We’re proud of our heritage, and Ruth and I are proud of our family,” Donald Clifton said.
Kevin Conlon came to the Cape Gazette with nearly 40 years of newspaper experience since graduating from St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor's degree in mass communication. He reports on Sussex County government and other assignments as needed.
His career spans working as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in upstate New York, including The Daily Gazette in Schenectady. He comes to the Cape Gazette from the Cortland Standard, where he was an editor for more than 25 years, and in recent years also contributed as a columnist and opinion page writer. He and his staff won regional and state writing awards.
Conlon was relocating to Lewes when he came across an advertisement for a reporter job at the Cape Gazette, and the decision to pursue it paid off. His new position gives him an opportunity to stay in a career that he loves, covering local news for an independently owned newspaper.
Conlon is the father of seven children and grandfather to two young boys. In his spare time, he trains for and competes in triathlons and other races. Now settling into the Cape Region, he is searching out hilly trails and roads with wide shoulders. He is a fan of St. Bonaventure sports, especially rugby and basketball, as well as following the Mets, Steelers and Celtics.
