Connecticut Farmland Trust is pleased to announce the preservation of Pesce Farm in Bolton! This 68-acre farm was protected with many partners. In addition to CFT’s donors, the Connecticut Department of Agriculture (CT DoAg), USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS), and Bolton Land Trust all devoted considerable time and resources to ensure the success of this project. We are on track to protect more farms in 2022 than we did just last year!
Especially important, as you can see on the map below, Pesce Farm is across the street from recently protected Barger Farm and Town of Bolton protected land. The Farm’s protection connects multiple open spaces, providing multiple environmental benefits apart from preserving farmland.
“This has been a family farm for 118 years and it was important to myself and my two nieces that we keep the land available for future farming,” said Larry Pesce, owner of the property. “I grew up in Bolton and there were 40 farms here then. Not as many remain today, and we are grateful for the work of the Bolton Land Trust and other partners to bring this to fruition.”
Pesce has been working the farm, started by his parents Aldo and Iside Pesce in the early 1930’s, his entire life. The farm specializes in pick-your-own strawberries and offers a variety of fruits and vegetables at their farmstand. In addition to vegetables and fruit trees, the farm also produces hay for sale and is well-known for being the site of the Bolton Land Trust’s annual Strawberry at Sunset event.
“Working with the Pesce Family to achieve their vision of the land remaining as farmland forever was a great privilege,” said Kathleen Doherty, Connecticut Farmland Trust’s Conservation Manager. She added “Keeping CT’s working lands in production benefits all residents, from people alive today who enjoy Pesce Farm’s strawberries in June, to future CT generations who will appreciate the state’s ability to produce its own food.”
Pesce Farm, located within a suburban town filled with residential development and small businesses, is near Barger Farm and Rose Farm, creating a cluster of permanently protected prime and important soils critical to agricultural production. Almost 100% of the soil on Pesce Farm is important agricultural soil.
“NRCS is committed to protecting our state’s valuable working lands,” said Thomas L. Morgart, Connecticut State Conservationist for the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). “The conservation easement placed on the Pesce Farm in Bolton through this partnership ensures that these 68+ acres will never be subject to development. Almost the entire parcel is comprised of prime, statewide, and local important soils – meaning high yielding soils that are key to meeting short- and long-term needs to feed and clothe a hungry world,” he said.
Through the NRCS Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), agricultural land easements protect the long-term viability of the nation’s food supply by preventing the conversion of productive working lands to non-agricultural uses. Land protected by these types of easements provide additional public benefits including environmental quality, historic preservation, wildlife habitat, and protection of open space. Connecticut Farmland Trust and Bolton Land Trust assisted to secure funding through the USDA-NRCS ACEP-ALE program.
“The forward thinking of our farmland owners and family members to protect their working lands is critical to provide an abundant local food supply,” said Agriculture Commissioner Bryan P. Hurlburt. “The permanent protection of Pesce Farm will ensure that the local community remains connected to where their food is from. This wouldn’t be possible without the support of local, state, and federal partners working in concert with the landowner.”