FARMINGTON – Their goals for the meeting are three-fold: to help area farmers, to get more Franklin County farmland back into production and to help more people get into farming, say two members of the Farmington Grange.
Richard Marble and Stephen Scharoun have sent out the call this winter to area farmers who need more land and help on the farm, to anyone interested in getting some of their unused farmland back into production and to anyone who wants to get into farming but is discouraged by the high cost of farmland and the shaky rural economy.
Drawing on a nineteenth century tool known as farmers’ meetings, a precursor of the Grange, once popular throughout rural America, Marble and Scharoun are scheduling a series of farmers’ meetings this winter to help current farmers farm more profitably and to help people get into farming.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 2, 6:30 p.m. at Marble Family Farm, Holley Road. All local farmers and people who want to start farming are invited to attend. Contact Marble at 491-6166 to let him know you plan to attend.
The two hope to start a lend/lease program that will match farmers looking for more land with people that have land and who would like to see it remain in or get brought back into production. They also want to work towards the development of a program that provides people, who want to start farming, with access to a wide range of farm-based skills through an apprentice/internship with local farmers.
Eight people attended the first farmers’ meeting on Jan. 20. Discussions included an exchange between two market gardeners on walk-behind tractors, one farmer’s need for haying equipment and an impending bill in the Legislature that would bring agriculture back into the classroom.
Marble and his family run Marble Family Farms in Farmington; the farm is noted primarily for its year-round greenhouses and breads. Scharoun, a historical archaeologist is concerned with all aspects of historic preservation, especially as it relates to agriculture and the rural trades.
