Protected by: Connecticut Farmland Trust
Year Protected: 2019
Acres: 37
John and Gloria Wraight approached CFT in early 2019 about a plan they wanted to put into action. They wanted to donate their Ellington farm’s development rights and then sell the protected land to a new farmer. “I called, and we were off to the races,” said John.
Within one year, CFT worked with the Wraights’ to determine the terms of an agricultural conservation easement and protect 37 acres of active hay fields, pastureland and woodlands.
Why did John want to preserve the farmland for eternal farm use?
John’s parents bought 70 acres of farmland on a dirt road with only two houses in 1956. John’s family once raised Hereford cattle and was able to produce eight to ten thousand pheasants a year. The farm began to transition away from pheasants and beef cattle in the 1970s. John has continued to work the land as a hay operation for decades.
During his lifetime John has seen the road that he grew up on change immensely; the road is now paved and trucks and school buses trundle up and down the busy street. John wanted to make sure his farm would not be targeted for a new subdivision, but instead would remain available as a resource to the next generation of farmers in Ellington.