Tales of Two Families

These case studies will be discussed by a panel that includes an attorney, farmer, county agriculture specialist, and land trust representative at the April 29 workshop for the Farmland and Floodplain Conservation Initiative, 6 – 8 p.m. at the St. Paul’s Parish House, 113 Main Street, Lancaster, NH.

These stories of two North Country families are drawn from a variety of real life examples but do not represent any one person or family. Neither do they lend themselves to one-size-fits-all solutions. Conservation agreements are best crafted through a process that builds mutual understanding between a landowning family or individual and a conservation organization, based on a clear sense of the landowner’s goals for using the land now and in the future.

1. The Smith Family.

Jean and Bernard Smith live in northern New Hampshire. Their families have farmed along the Connecticut River for five generations. They own 280 acres of corn and hay fields, 100 acres in N.H. and 180 in VT. They also have a 90-acre woodlot in New Hampshire. Over the years they have sold off some of their land as home sites to carry them through lean times and to help send the four kids to college. Most of their fields are in the floodplain. Despite this fact, by summer the fields are high and dry, and its not uncommon for visitors to stop by on golden summer evenings and offer to buy some land with the glorious views of the river and the hills of Vermont.

The Smiths still have a dairy herd but between the economy and their advancing ages, staying with dairy seems less and less practical. Mrs. Smith also runs a modest farmstand that attracts more and more people every year.

The Smiths’ four adult children are a mixed bag, and as a group the family has never talked about what will happen with the farm. Daughter #1 loves to visit the farm and brings her own children to get a taste of country life. Her daughter – the oldest grandchild – is studying agricultural science at UNH and has started talking about being a farmer. Daughter #2 is getting divorced and has two kids, and Jean and Bernard anticipate she’ll need some financial help after the divorce.  Son #1 is a banker on the West Coast and they hardly ever see him, but they know he’d would want to get every penny he could out of the farm someday, likely by selling it for development. The other son is a starving artist in New York, and always short on money.

The Smiths’ farm is their nest egg; they want to live on the farm as long as possible, at least while both are in good health.

What are some of the options available for the Smiths?

2.  April and Jason Stewart

The Stewarts moved to northern New Hampshire about 10 years ago, after cashing out of their dot-com business. They had enough to buy an old farm and bring it back into modest production, and are now committed, small-scale farmers, raising local meat, organic produce that they sell to regional restaurants and farm markets. Their land is now their major asset. They own 75 acres along the Connecticut River and 300 acres of upland and fields on the other side of Route 3 in NH.

Both April and Jason maintain other part-time jobs (they telecommute) but they really want to devote more time to farming. They understand there may be funding available for conservation, and that might help move them to the next level of production so that one of them can work the farm full time. They are considering greenhouses for tomatoes and maybe going into cheese making.

But April and Jason are concerned about locking into a future that no one can foresee. They wonder about climate change, about development pressure here in the valley, about the economy in general – they’ve made it through this downturn so far, but what if the “localvore” movement that has helped them dies out? Or what if farm policies continue to squeeze out the local people in favor of the big operators? If they expand, where will the help come from? So many young people are moving away.

The Stewarts are both avid bird watchers and they love paddling the river (April studied wildlife biology before she became a computer programmer). They know that the floodplain forest that grows on part of their land is good habitat and provides a buffer against erosion. A neighbor has offered them a nice sum to cut firewood there, though.  They are very concerned about an area of riverbank that has been eroding more every year. During this January thaw the river jumped the bank and carved a new channel that lasted for nearly a month and is still pretty wet.

The other thing that troubles them is recreational use of their land. Wanting to be good neighbors, they do not post it, and have a good relationship with the local snowmobile club that has a trail through the fields. But ATV use has been a problem, especially when the machines go off trail, and there’s been more and more trash from boaters who come down the river and sometimes stop in the floodplain forest. The Stewarts are concerned that conserving their land may invite more misuse.

What would you advise to April and Jason?