Protecting the Working Lands of the Champlain Valley

From the air, the Champlain Valley is a patchwork of fields, hedgerows, and winding roads — some of the richest farmland in New England. It is also, increasingly, land that developers would like to build on, which is where conservation easements come in.

The idea is straightforward. A farm family sells or donates the development rights to their land, permanently barring it from being paved or subdivided, while continuing to own and work the acreage. In exchange they receive payment that can retire debt or help pass the farm to the next generation.

For a young farmer, protected land is often the only affordable land, because the easement lowers the price to something a working farm can actually support. Over the years, thousands of Vermont acres have been kept open this way. The result is visible from any hilltop: valleys that still look like farm country because they still are. Keeping that view is not an accident. It is a choice, made one farm at a time.