Protected by: Connecticut Farmland Trust, The Nature Conservancy, USDA-NRCS
Year Protected: 2009
Acres: 206
Connecticut Farmland Trust collaborated with The Nature Conservancy to purchase an easement on 206 acres of the Marvel and Mitchell farms. This was CFT’s first partnership with a national conservation organization. Owned by the same family for more than 150 years, the former dairy is now used as pasture for boarded horses and the hay fields are leased to a local farmer. More than 50% of the farms include prime and statewide important agricultural soils. The 206 acres are part of a 7,500+/- acre block of public and private protected land. There are approximately 550 acres of active farmland within two miles of the farms.
CFT secured funding from the USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service for the purchase of a conservation easement on the farms. Additional funding was provided by CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and The Nature Conservancy.