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Saratoga PLAN preserves Barber Bros. dairy

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On Tuesday, Saratoga PLAN completed its largest farmland conservation project to date. A total of 464 acres of the Barber Bros. Dairy Farm in Northumberland is now conserved in perpetuity.

The purchase of development rights was made possible by funding from the state Department of Agriculture and Markets and a partial donation by Linda Barber and her son, Chad Barber.

What began in 1939 as a small farm run by two brothers selling eggs and offering custom field work, Barber Bros. has developed into a successful 1,200-acre dairy farm, currently supporting a milking herd of 650 cows.

With a conservation easement in place on nearly one-third of the farm, the family can finally begin to enjoy views of her property without fear of encroaching development.

“I don’t want to sit in my rocking chair and look out the window and see something else there. I want to look and see my fields and the trees,” Linda Barber said.

The idea to conserve their farmland originated with the Barber’s late neighbor, Lyle Purinton, who conserved a portion of his land but unfortunately passed away before completing the paperwork to bring the remainder of his dream to fruition. After winning the bid to purchase Purinton’s land in order to increase their own adjacent farm’s acreage, the Barbers latched onto the dream of protecting the land in perpetuity.

In 2016, the family approached Saratoga PLAN about the possibility of protecting a third of their cropland. Three years later, they recall their initial hesitation about what seemed like an enormous undertaking, and shrug it off.

“Working with Saratoga PLAN has been perfect. I wouldn’t have gone any other way,” Linda Barber said. “And if it wasn’t for Saratoga PLAN, we wouldn’t have been able to complete the conservation easement.”

The family and Saratoga PLAN’s Conservation Director, Mike Horn are already discussing options for Phase II to bring more of their farmland under conservation.


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