Do you have livestock and hay ground? If you are a retiring farmer living somewhat near to us with no one to transition your farm to, please reach out. If you’re seeking young farmers will love and appreciate your farmland, please reach out. If you’d like to stay in your farmhouse indefinitely and would consider a creative ownership agreement, please reach out. It hurts my heart to see gorgeous farms fall into ruin and sold to development. If we can help prevent the loss of your farm, while expanding our own access to additional hay and grazing ground, we would love to discuss options with you.

I have dreams for my family farm. I see a future for my family farm. We’re doing it! I need your help to safeguard these irreplaceable resources -the rural landscape and our family farms- by supporting and protecting farmlands and working landscapes.

My husband and I are both Cornell University graduates. My husband was a Natural Resources Management major and I was a double major in both the Plant Sciences and Agricultural Sciences. I was a top graduating senior in the Cornell Plant Sciences Department and an American Society for Horticultural Sciences recognized 2011 Collegiate Scholar. We were both Nationally Ranked NCAA Division I athletes. I held a job throughout college, secured scholarships, and worked incredibly hard to graduate with no student debt. My parents, both full time farmers, couldn’t afford to contribute to my college education and my degrees are entirely self-funded. After taking the GRE’s, I decided to follow my heart and return to the family farm rather than pursue a graduate degree. As the youngest of four daughters, it had become clear that none of my other sisters were likely to take a full-time interest in a farming lifestyle.

My husband and I are now full-time farmers, deriving 100% of our livelihood from the land we steward. As you can see from our university interests, we work each day to secure a stable and sustainable future for our farm. We direct market all of our farm products to local communities. These communities benefit from having a direct connection to the farm and farmers who produce their food. We began further processing our livestock into retail cuts of meat in 2014 and have been slowly expanding our products and customer base. Currently, the farm sells more than 95% of its livestock directly to the end user by retail meat cuts, internet sales, local farmer’s markets, a Meat CSA Program, and live animal sales.

​The recent Wayne County Agricultural Development Plan detailed that there was a 30% decline in agriculturally related firms in the county between the years of 2006 and 2015. I wish I had the statistics from the most recent 2022 Census of Agriculture as I write this note. Wayne County has been losing farms at a rapid pace over the last 10 years. That same development plan detailed that the number of farmers older than 55 increased by 40% from 2002 to 2012, while those farmers younger than 55 declined by 26%. In 2012, 60% of principal farm operators worked off farm. So the county trends are: aging farmers that are forced to work off farm because they are unable to derive a sustainable livelihood and very few young farmers entering the business. Of course, we are seeing similar patterns across the country, but Wayne County risks losing the majority of experienced farmers to aging and retirement leaving little opportunity for young farmers to enter the playing field once properties are lost to rising land prices and development.