Protected by: Connecticut Farmland Trust and CT Department of Agriculture
Year Protected: 2018
Acres: 38
In partnership with the State of Connecticut Farmland Preservation Program, CFT has protected Calabrese Farm in Watertown.
A pair of brothers and their uncle wanted to conserve their 38 acres of family farmland that abuts a neighbor’s protected 73-acre farm. In doing so, they created a 111-acre block of farmland preserved forever from development.
“My grandfather, Nicolangelo Calabrese, started the farm in the 1920s and it’s been passed down from generation to generation in the family ever since,” said Dominick Calabrese, who owns the farm with his brother, John, and uncle, Anthony Calabrese.
Dominick said the family’s decision to preserve the farm also honored the memory of his father, John, who passed away in 2016.
“He took a lot of pride in the land and the fact that it was farmland — he made a lot of financial sacrifices to keep it and not to sell it,” Dominick said. “Because of the family history, we thought it would be a nice tribute to keep it the way it is and make sure it will always stay that way.”
Originally, Dominick’s grandfather had an orchard and raised vegetables, livestock and eggs. These days hay and corn grow in the fields and the operation is leased by Logue Farm, a high-profile dairy in Woodbury.
The newly-conserved farm, which boasts 81.5 percent prime and statewide farmland soils, connects to Kuslis Farm in Watertown, which was conserved in 2015. ”
CFT leveraged state and federal funding from the CT Department of Agriculture and NRCS to make the protection of Calabrese Farm a reality.