| DECEMBER 2, 2011 -- The town and the Connecticut Department of Agriculture have purchased development rights for 164 acres of farmland, preserving two adjoining properties on Phelps and Quarry Roads.
The properties line either side of the Farmington Canal Heritage trail, which makes them particularly desirable candidates for preservation, according to Economic Development Director Patrick McMahon. As part of the deal, an acre of land will be deeded to the town for Canal trail parking.
The development rights were purchased for $2 million, with the state contributing $1.4 million and the town $600,000. The project has been in the making for several years, according to McMahon. The rights were purchased from the property's new owner, Quarry Brook Farm, a Massachusetts-based family farm that bought the land just days before the preservation deal went through.
Quarry Brook plans to use the property to grow vegetables, tobacco, bedding plants and herbs, according to owner Ben Nascimbeni, who currently runs Meadow View Farm with his family in Southwick, Mass.
Nascimbeni said that both he and his wife grew up in Suffield and liked the property's proximity to their existing farm, which they will continue to operate.
"I think preservation is a big benefit to everybody in the long run," said Nascimbeni, who also praised the property's soil quality.
The farms have been used to grow tobacco, nursery products and vegetables under previous owner River Bend Associates, according to River Bend Vice President Tim Lescalleet.
River Bend, a real estate development company, is a subsidiary of Griffin Land & Nurseries, which was formerly part of the Culbro Corp., a large regional grower of shade tobacco since 1910. Lescalleet said that after learning the town was interested in preserving the property, it made sense for the real estate company to sell it to a farm like Quarry Brook.
"We are happy to have participated in this transaction as a means of preserving the land for farming in perpetuity," said Lescalleet.
Suffield maintains a list of farm properties considered desirable for preservation and purchase rights as funds and properties become available, said McMahon. Most recently, the town preserved the 79-acre Leahey Farm on Sheldon and Taintor roads for $915,344 in Jan. 2011.
The town has preserved more than 1,000 acres through farmland and open space programs, according to McMahon, with the majority of acreage preserved through development rights.
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