Dale and Alma Briggs sold development rights on their 492-acre farm to the Vermont Land Trust in 2005, with funding from VHCB. The farm has very good soils, is located in a strong farming community, is part of a large block of VHCB-conserved farmland, and has about two miles of frontage on Otter Creek.
The Briggs family knew they wanted to keep working this land. Dale’s grandfather bought the original farm in 1929, and his parents owned and ran it from the late 1940s until 1983, when Dale and Alma took over. Having grown from its original 340 acres, the Briggs farm is now one of the larger farms in Addison County. The family milks about 170 cows, with a total herd of over 350. With 410 acres of tillage and 200 acres of rented land, all cultivated according to an NRCS plan, the farm employs four full-time and three part-time employees.
“There’s getting to be a pretty good-sized block that’s been protected here—and that’s the last hope for farms in Vermont,” said 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.”
- adapted by Ethan Parke from an article written by Doug Wilhelm
