Vermont Housing Conservation Board 2005 - Vermont Housing and ...

BRIGGS FARM, ADDISON
22
JOINING A CONSERVED COMMUNITY
In the Champlain Valley, Briggs Farm Is in Safe Company
With more and more farmland protected in the Champlain Valley, this year’s
transfer of development rights on Dale and Alma Briggs’s 485-acre place
in Addison adds up to much more than a single conserved farm.
The Briggs family farm, conserved with VHCB funding through the Vermont
Land Trust, joins two protected farms on adjacent land. Overall, 5,431 acres of
farmland have now been conserved in Addison town — that’s about 17 percent of
the landscape, according to VLT. Almost 47,000 acres are conserved in Addison
County—most of which is productive farmland.
“There’s getting to be a pretty good-sized block that’s been protected here — and
I think that’s the last hope for farms in Vermont,” says Dale Briggs. “It’s when the
neighbors get close that problems begin to crop up. We’re not changing — cows
still produce manure, they still eat food — but the neighborhoods around us are
changing. If we can have some farms make a block, we can continue to farm without
irritating too many people.”
The Briggs are hoping to purchase some additional land from a neighboring
conserved farm with the proceeds from their sale of development rights. “That
will give us some room to add some grain crops, and also to have some more room
for manure, to meet the new regulations that are coming up,” Briggs says. “Try to
continue. To survive.
“There isn’t enough money in the farming economy now,” he adds. “This is one
way to do the things you need to do.”
“There’s getting to be a
pretty good-sized block
that’s been protected
here — and I think that’s
the last hope for farms
in Vermont. ...We’re not
changing — cows still
produce manure, they
still eat food — but the
neighborhoods around
us are changing. If we
can have some farms
make a block, we can
continue to farm without
irritating too many
people.”
— Dale Briggs
Freestall barn at the 485-acre Briggs
Farm, one of the largest farms in
Addison. The family milks about 170
cows, with a total herd of over 350.
The Briggs till 410 acres and rent
an additional 200 acres of cropland.