You may not have realized it, but it’s happening all around us. Farmers are getting old and they’re tired from all those years of working in the fields and adjusting to fickle markets.
They’ve come to accept that their kids aren’t the least bit interested in taking over the family business and the “FOR SALE” sign goes up.
Land prices being what they are, the parcel ends up being too cost prohibitive for other farmers to afford.
So, it gets sold to developers and those golden acres you’ve admired from the roadside since you were a kid, are transformed before your very eyes into a housing development – the concrete and manicured lawns replacing once productive soils.
Some of the local farmers I know around here have told me that Henrietta was once chock-full of prime farmland. I know they’re right, but it’s hard to believe when you look around and realize how few functioning farms are really left.
The sad reality, at the end of the day, is that most of the farmland you drive by every day by will be in jeopardy, if it’s not already, in the near future, as this cycle repeats itself again and again.
This is why we’re been so resolute in finding a way to preserve our 56 acres.
And why, for the past few years, we’ve been quietly working in the background with the Genesee Land Trust, to preserve the development rights for the farm forever.
The goal of this partnership and pursuing a grant like this is pretty simple – keep the farm a farm forever. But the process of getting there and actually selling/donating the development rights to New York State in this way, is anything but.
You might remember us celebrating last summer when we learned that NYS had accepted our grant application. This was a milestone, for sure, but we knew we still had a long way to go to get to the finish line.
But just last week, we hit an even bigger milestone! We received an email saying NYS has officially approved our application and is now in the process of allocating funding!
They also said that what comes next will be “the most involved real estate transaction you may ever encounter,” which I can only guess means several more years of back and forth. But it really is official now. This farm will soon be FOREVER farmland.
Our goal is that when we’re gone, a new generation of farmers will be able to pick up where we’ll eventually leave off and keep growing amazing food for this community. And now, we’re closer than ever before, to making that a reality.
I hope this makes your heart sing, just as it does ours, as this would NEVER have been possible without you showing up and choosing to see the value in our farm and the food we grow.
Your Farmers,
Jenney & Greg
PS – You ready to experience our organic and pasture raised meats (and eggs!)? We’ve got all the grilling supplies you need for Memorial Day this weekend and Father’s Day coming up! Order ahead HERE.