Pitney Farm sale contract reached
Group needs $400,000 to complete purchase
SARATOGA SPRINGS >> The nonprofit Pitney Meadows Community Farm has finalized a sale contract with the Pitney family to acquire the 166acre property on West Avenue.
Plans there call for an agricultural teaching and training center, community gardens, a farmers market and crop production.
Faced with a December closing deadline, the organization needs to raise $460,000 to complete the purchase, and an additional $600,000 for capital improvements and to create a required stewardship fund.
“This is the last farm still in operation in the city of Saratoga Springs,” Sandy Arnold, Community Farm president. “We have a unique once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leave a great legacy to our children and grandchildren. We’ve already reached many important milestones with the community’s help. Now we just need to finish strong.”
The focal point in the next phase of fundraising is “Founding Patrons” campaign. Any individual or business that donates $2,500 will be recognized with a plaque on the farm’s iconic silo and an invitation to an annual founders event.
“If 400 individuals, families and
companies come forward to become Founding Patrons by the end of 2016, we can close on the property and write an exciting new chapter in this farm’s 150-year history,” Arnold said.
Some people are using this fundraising opportunity to memorialize a loved one, she said.
Community Farm board members hope to create a large, self-supporting teaching and training farm similar to the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Westchester County and the Intervale Community Farm in Burlington, Vt.
By renovating the farm’s existing buildings and adding new facilities, the site could host educational programs and multi-generational activities including a community garden, children’s garden, year-round farmers’ hub, farm apprenticeship program and a commercial kitchen.
One of the top priorities is teaching the importance of agriculture to children of all ages and what it means to produce healthy food for themselves and their families.
The board is also considering creation of a regionwide “Winter Growing Institute” that helps farmers extend the growing season with solar-heated “hoop houses.” Joint initiatives with Skidmore College and SUNY Adirondack, which offers an expanding program in sustainable agriculture, are being discussed.
The property’s purchase has been made possible, in part, with $1.13 million from the City of Saratoga Springs’ Open Space Bond Fund, which voters approved in 2002. This city’s money is being used for a conservation easement that will protect the property’s agriculture status in perpetuity.
Arnold credited Saratoga PLAN and other local supporters for making valuable contributions to the project such as a title search, land surveys, and structural assessments of farm buildings.
The Saratoga Springsbased LA Group developed the site plan.
“This initiative not only will help to preserve the viewsheds and historic uses of this significant agricultural property in Saratoga Springs, but also will sustain the city’s farming heritage and history,” said Michael Ingersoll, LA Group principal and vice president.
For more information and to make a donation, go to w w w.pitneymeadowscommunityfarm.org/foundingpatrons.