Maine Farmland Trust Reaches Milestone

The organization says it's protected tens of thousands of acres of Maine farmland from being used for nonagricultural activities.

An organization dedicated to preserving farmland in Maine has reached a significant milestone. The Maine Farmland Trust says it's protected 30,000 acres of Maine farmland toward its goal of 100,000 acres by the end of 2014.

Trust Executive Director John Piotti says, while farming in Maine is very well poised for the future with increasing consumer demand and available natural resources, there's a lot of farmland in the state that's going to be in transition in the next 5 to 10 years, "simply because of the age of the farmland owners," he says. "And a lot of that land could very well transition out of farm use unless we intervene."

Piotti says the principal way the trust protects land is by working with landowners who wish to place an agricultural easement on their property, which allows it to be resold as the owner wishes while preventing non-agricultural activities.

This story was reported by Ed Morin.