Mad River Valley dairy farm acquires land using new farmland protection program
March 30, 2024 | By Lisa ScagliottiDeFreest Farms in Waitsfield recently closed on a land deal that uses a new federal program to promote conservation, climate resilience and recreation.
Former Vermont Land Trust staffer Liza Walker and dairy farmer Dave DeFreest during a site visit to the Waitsfield property. File photo courtesy of Vt. Land Trust
Working with the Vermont Land Trust, the family dairy operation acquired a 70-acre parcel that will be protected and available for farming, flood resilience and recreation, according to the land trust.
The announcement notes that this conservation project was the first in the nation to close under a new funding program to help farmers acquire farmland using the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Located along Tremblay Road and the eastern bank of the Mad River, the tract is visible from Vermont Route 100. It’s one of multiple fields the DeFreest farm rents from area landowners for crops and grazing.
Fourth-generation dairy farmer Dave DeFreest and his extended family run a 1,200-cow dairy farm in Warren. The DeFreests previously rented
the Waitsfield parcel from former owners Laurie and Don Spaulding, whose family operated a dairy farm from the 1960s to the early 2000s.
“Working with the Vermont Land Trust on this project has helped us secure a vital piece of our existing land base as well as contribute to our ongoing goal of environmental stewardship,” DeFreest said. “The funding provided by many generous donors allowed us access to affordable farmland, while allowing the Spaulding family to sell the property for a fair market price.”
The land went on the market in 2020, after Don Spaulding passed away. In 2021, after discussions with the Spaulding and DeFreest families, Vermont Land Trust purchased the land with the intent to conserve it and eventually sell it to the DeFreests at an affordable price. The family continued to lease the land with the goal of buying it, subject to conservation restrictions. The sale closed on Jan. 18.
The conservation easement on the 70-acre parcel protects its productive soils from development and ensures that the land will remain available to future farmers. It also protects the property’s water, habitat and recreational resources, according to the land trust.
“This multifaceted conservation project provides many public benefits – all of which are enabled by farmers like the DeFreests who are willing to participate in a rather complicated process,” said Vermont Land Trust Conservation Director Britt Haselton. “I’m really grateful for Dave’s patience and for his family’s deep commitment to the Mad River Valley community. And we’re equally grateful for the terrific conservation partners that helped make this project happen.”
First under new ‘Buy-Protect-Sell’ program
This was the first farmland conservation project in the country to close under the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s “Buy-Protect-Sell” program, part of its larger Agricultural Conservation Easement Program that funds the protection of the vast majority of working farms in the United States, according to the land trust.
A view of part of the 70 acres conserved by DeFreest Farms and conservation partners. Courtesy photo, Vermont Land Trust
Buy-Protect-Sell provides conservation funds for eligible entities (such as land trusts) to acquire farmland that is at risk of being developed, and sell it to a farm operation after protecting it. The model is increasingly important in Vermont’s pressured real estate market. The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board was a key partner on the federal NRCS grant for the project.
Rasna Dhillon, communications manager at the Vermont Land Trust, summed up the process this way: The land trust in 2021 bought the Spaulding farmland and began working with partners to conserve it. On Jan. 18, 2024, the land trust conveyed the unconserved land to Dave Defreest, who simultaneously conserved it with $288,000 in farmland easement funding from the Vermont Housing Conservation Board and the new NRCS Buy-Protect-Sell program. He paid the land trust $142,000 for the conserved parcel. Defreest sold a separate river corridor easement to the land trust for $89,000 with funding provided by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation.
“The NRCS is proud to stand alongside the DeFreest family, and our conservation partners like [Vermont Land Trust] and [the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board], as we promote responsible stewardship of land in Vermont,” said NRCS State Conservationist Travis Thomason. “More than ever, we need innovative ideas to help us achieve our goals and to advance our agency’s mission to deliver conservation solutions so agricultural producers can protect natural resources and feed a growing world.”
Vermont Housing and Conservation Board Executive Director Gus Seelig credits DeFreest’s commitment to agriculture and his “great patience” as the new program put forth in a recent federal farm bill was established. Seelig noted Vermont’s former U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy for his efforts in supporting the creation of the program.
Having the land trust involved to facilitate the land transfer also was instrumental, Seelig said. “The Vermont Land Trust has brought skill and resources into helping young farmers access land, and their efforts in partnership with farmers like Dave have enhanced the vibrancy of our agricultural heritage,” he said.
Thirty-eight acres along the Mad River have been protected for river health and flood resilience. Courtesy Photo, Vermont Land Trust
Multiple layers of conservation
In addition to the Buy-Protect-Sell farmland conservation easement on the entire 70-acre parcel, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation provided funding for a separate river corridor easement on 38 acres of the parcel that lie along the Mad River. The objective of those protections is to ensure that the Mad River will be able to move freely over time and spread into its natural floodplain when waters rise.
In addition, the land trust explained that approximately 8 acres have been retired from farm use and enrolled in the USDA’s Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, which provides financial and technical assistance for implementing riparian buffers. Another approximate 7 acres of former cropland will be planted with native trees and shrubs to benefit clean water, flood resilience and wildlife habitat, they said.
Vermont Land Trust and partners say they will continue to work with the DeFreests on restoration projects that enhance and balance the land’s ecological functions and its agricultural use.
Finally, during Vermont Land Trust’s ownership of the property, the Mad River Path Association developed over a mile of new public trails across the conserved land. A public access provision in the conservation easement ensures that this trail will remain available into the future.
The conservation effort was also supported by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation and its Clean Water State Revolving Fund, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife program, and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.