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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 11, 2010 For more information contact: | |||
Shrewsbury -- An emerging organic dairy farm in Shrewsbury has been protected from subdivision and development by John Pollard and Joan Aleshire, partners in Red Wing Farm LLC, the Vermont Land Trust announced today. John has farmed most of his life and lives and works on the 92-acre farm with his two young sons, while Joan, a poet and co-founder of the local library, lives nearby. John sells organic milk from grass-fed cows, and currently has 14 Jerseys. He is co-president of the board of Rural Vermont and a board member of the Rutland Farm to Family Food Link. “I've lived in Shrewsbury for almost 40 years and love the landscape and sense of community it provides,” said Joan. “When I met John, we looked for a farm to restore to productivity with the idea of making it available to future generations of farmers. The Vermont Land Trust has helped us realize that goal.”
Someday, they would like the farm to be a place where younger generations can come to learn the business of small-scale, locally marketed agriculture. But for now, they have ensured that the farm will remain undeveloped and available for agricultural use. In addition to donating the easement, John and Joan took an extra step of donating an “option to purchase at agricultural value,” a provision that allows the land trust to have right of first refusal should a non-farmer try to buy the farm in the future. “It makes me happy to be farming this land and knowing it is going to be farmed into the future,” said John. The farm is a mix of open meadows and managed forestland along Frank Lord and Freeman Brook Roads. It has a wetland area and 900 feet of frontage along Freeman Brook. The easement will help protect these resources and the valuable wildlife habitat on the property. The conservation of Red Wing Farm helps to sustain not only the important agricultural, forestry, and other natural resources of the farm but it enhances previously conserved land in Shrewsbury, including that is in both private and public ownership. “John is a man deeply committed to agriculture that is appropriately scaled to benefit people, animals and land, and Joan embodies the notion of good community by working hard for education, local food production and the special places that bring Shrewsbury together,” said Donald Campbell of the Vermont Land Trust. “Red Wing Farm serves the local community both by producing healthy food and by inspiring future farmers.”
About the Vermont Land Trust The Vermont Land Trust is a statewide, member-supported, nonprofit land conservation organization. Since 1977, the Vermont Land Trust has permanently conserved more than 1,580 parcels of land covering 498,000 acres, or about eight percent of the private, undeveloped land in the state. The conserved land includes more than 700 working farms, hundreds of thousands of acres of productive forestland, and numerous parcels of community lands. This conservation work changes the lives of families, invigorates farms, launches new businesses, maintains scenic vistas, encourages recreational opportunity, and fosters a renewed sense of community. For more information or to become a member, contact: Vermont Land Trust, 8 Bailey Avenue, Montpelier, VT 05602, (802) 223-5234.
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Joan and John generously donated a conservation easement on the farm. A conservation easement is a legal tool that limits development on productive land and other natural and community places. Landowners continue to own, manage, and pay taxes on the land and can sell their land; however, the conservation easement permanently remains on the property.