Adam and Christine's bold adventure in buying a farm

How do new farmers get started in agriculture? It’s hard enough these days for young people to buy their first house, let alone buying several acres of land to farm.

Farmers Adam and Christine Bourque with Sadie and Delia at Blue Heron Farm.

Case in point: Adam and Christine Bourque of Blue Heron Farm in Grand Isle. Adam and Christine have been great farmers for our co-op over the past several years, selling us their fresh organic eggs and vegetables. Yet Adam and Christine have never owned their own farm – their land access has always relied on more tenuous land leases. 

Land ownership can be one of the trickiest barriers for new farmers in our area. Development pressure and the lack of suitable, affordable farmland for sale are some of the complex reasons why, despite the support for local food, the amount of land in agriculture in Vermont decreased by 6% between 1997 and 2007.

Last year a portion of the land Adam and Christine rent went on the market, creating an urgent need to protect the farm. Luckily, The Vermont Land Trust stepped in to temporarily acquire the land while money could be raised for permanent conservation. 

Vermont Land Trust plans to conserve Blue Heron Farm so that it will remain in farmland in perpetuity, and sell it to Adam and Christine so they can continue to produce their sunny-yellow eggs and raise their crops and their children on the farm. 

Vermont Land Trust needs our help to do this: the total cost of conserving the 30-acre farm is $215,000, of which $80,000 must be raised from the community by January 31. As of January 1, VLT was 95% of the way to that goal – but they still need to close that final gap by the end of the month. 

Visit www.vlt.org/blueheron to learn more about the farm, or to make a gift in support of its conservation. Whether you’ve got a dollar to spare or not, thanks for your support of local farmers!