Vermont Land Trust Seeks Final $120,000 of Fundraising to Conserve Kingsbury and Bruce Farms

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 26, 2009

For more information, please contact
Liza Walker at VLT , 496-33690
Elise Annes at VLT 262-1206

Vermont Land Trust Seeks Final $120,000 of Fundraising to Conserve Kingsbury and Bruce Farms

Two Farm Campaign kick-off event on Wednesday, February 18th at the Big Picture Theater featuring Bill McKibben

The Vermont Land Trust (VLT) in concert with the Mad River Watershed Conservation Partnership is kicking-off a public capital campaign to secure the final $120,000 for the conservation of the 20-acre Kingsbury Farm in Warren and Waitsfield and the 102-acre Bruce farm in Moretown. Approximately $480,000 or 80% of funding from grants and private donations is currently in place. The Vermont Land Trust has just two months remaining to raise the balance of funding from local, private sources needed for the permanent protection of these farms and additional farm and forestland that may become available for conservation in the near future. Upon completion of the community fundraising effort, the Vermont Land Trust will transfer the Kingsbury Farm to the Vermont Foodbank. The Bruce family will also sell their historic farm on Route 100B to new farmers, Keith and Rae-Anne Lacroix.

“Residents of the Mad River Valley care about where their food comes from and about their neighbors,” said Gil Livingston, President of the Vermont Land Trust. “If this campaign is successful, and we are able to protect the Kingsbury and Bruce Farms, the Valley will be taking the necessary steps to secure their local agricultural future and at the same time help provide some of our most vulnerable Vermonters with the food security that they need.”

Field and barn on Kingsbury farm. Environmental and health concerns, market forces, and an interest in reducing the transportation costs of food have come together to make consumers more interested in locally grown food. CSA (Community Sustainable Agriculture) membership and participation in “localvore” initiatives have increased rapidly. While the Valley has two farmstands in Waitsfield, Moretown has no outlets for local produce. Liza Walker, VLT regional Director for the Mad River Valley comments, “Once the Bruce farm is revived as a working farm, the new owners will establish a farmstand in one of the historic barns. That will make it easier for Moretown residents and commuters on Route 100B to buy locally grown foods. In this way, the conservation of land can bring enormous and broad-ranging benefits to a community.”

As the first of its kind in Vermont, the Foodbank-owned Kingsbury farm may become a template for future projects across the state and a vital resource for agriculture, education and recreation. By providing low-income families with locally-grown produce, the Foodbank is diversifying their approach to how they supply food to community food shelves. With an emphasis on lowering the transportation costs of food and making sure children and adults have healthier diets, the Foodbank is poised to begin a farming operation. Preparation of the soil and farm facilities will begin this summer, with the first harvest of crops for local food shelves expected in the summer of 2010. The historic barn, house and other out buildings offer a variety of options for community use. The Foodbank plans to share its design plans with the community at a public meeting scheduled for early March.

Vermont is often referred to as a patchwork state referring to the farms, forests and open fields which combine to offer scenic landscapes. These two conservation projects go a long way in keeping the Mad River Byway, farmland and forest along Route 100 and Route 100B, rural in nature. Additionally, recreational use of the Kingsbury farm will be encouraged along a new extension of the Mad River Path which will provide public access to a swimming hole. A tree planting effort to be led by the Friends of the Mad River will promote the future health and stability of the river.

Due to perpetual conservation easements that will soon be in place on the farms, affordability will be ensured to the Vermont Foodbank and the new owners of the Bruce Farm, as well as to future generations of farmers on these properties. If these farms are sold in subsequent years, the easements are transferred and the properties remain available for farming, forestry and open space uses.

VLT is planning a kick-off event on Wednesday, February 18th at the Big Picture Theater where Bill McKibben, Scholar in Residence at Middlebury College and author of “Deep Economy” and “The End of Nature” among other books, will speak. McKibben is a nationally known environmentalist and food expert who has been active in protesting global warming. More details about the event will be forthcoming.

Tax-deductible donations to support the conservation of the Kingsbury and Bruce farms can be mailed to: Vermont Land Trust, 8 Bailey Ave., Montpelier, VT 05032. Please note “Mad River Valley” in the memo line of your check. While closings for both farms are slated for March 30, 2009, gifts and pledges can be spread out from now through January 30, 2010.