Monday, April 30, 2012

Maine "Forever Farms"

The Maine Farmland Trust has a program to protect farmland through conservation easements. Their website shows farms protected so far.

The Press Herald reports on a farmer trying to protect her farm. You can lean more about Maine farms on this blog.

"Stacy Gambrel, lands projects coordinator at the trust, said the Forever Farm Program and its website was launched last year. “It’s an effort to recognize all the farms across the state permanently protected with easements,” Gambrel said. “As part of this, we have unveiling events where people hear about what it means to have protected farms. We have these signs that we’ve been putting up across the state denoting farms that will always be protected.” She said the website lists the farms and links to their websites as a way to promote their efforts to preserve the land for future generations. Included on that list is Lakeside Orchards in Manchester. “We’re always looking for new farms to protect,” Gambrel said. “At this point we’ve protected over 20,000 acres of farmland. We do this in partnership with other land trusts. Our goal is 100,000 acres, so we’re interested in having more farms” participate in the program."