BOWDOINHAM — The Maine Farmland Trust has announced the purchase of a 100-acre farm in Bowdoinham with plans to preserve the land through a conservation easement. Purchased through a new Buy/Protect/Sell program, the idea is for the land trust to be able to resell the property to someone who wants to farm the land, which contains more than 50 acres of farmland suitable for crops or livestock.

According to a press release from the Maine Farmland Trust, land trusts "generally aren't in the business of selling land. But a statewide land trust that focuses on working farmland is trying to do exactly that." The organization expects to use this property to attract a new farmer to the local community.

Nina Young, land projects coordinator for the land trust, said the trust will try to finance purchase of these farms in different ways depending on each situation; sometimes working with the landowner or borrowing money.

The organization bought the Steen farm for below market value from Rob and Julie Steen, who are moving away but wanted the farm protected, Young said. The land trust will conduct fundraising beginning this spring to help fund the purchase in the long run. The land trust wants to negotiate the price down as much as possible for a farmer, she said, and that the trust can't pay more than market value for a property.

Esther Lacognata, who works with the organization's FarmLink program, said that by including an easement stipulating the land can't be subdivided, the land trust is trying to make the land affordable for a farmer as well as preserving the farmland.

The next step would be to try to find a farmer who will buy the property through the FarmLink program, which connects prospective farmers seeking farmland with retiring farmers and other farmland owners who wish to see their agricultural lands remain active.

According to the Maine Farmland Trust, Maine has lost more than 800,000 acres of rural land to development in the last 15 years, the highest percentage of any state except Virginia. There are more than 7,000 working farms which if profitable, can boost the future economy while preventing sprawl and preserving the rural character that strengthens other economic sectors.

According to Bowdoinham's 2000 comprehensive plan, Bowdoinham in 1998 had 2,164 acres, or 38 parcels valued at $532,900, of farmland enrolled in the Farm and Open Space Tax Law program.

"Contrary to popular opinion, farming in Maine is not dead or even dying. In the last few years Maine has begun a turnaround," according to literature from the land trust. "Though some larger commodity farms are struggling, many others are stable. At the same time there are great and growing opportunities for smaller farms that have developed local markets."

Bowdoinham Town Manager Kathy Durgin-Leighton said the prospect of the Steen Farm property going to development is devastating because it encompasses the head of the Abagadasset River, a habitat which according to Young the Department of Environmental Protection is working to save.

Durgin-Leighton said the town is focusing its economic development on agriculture as well as recreation and the creative economy, so "keeping that as farmland fits in with all of that."

The fact that the property won't become a housing development is a big deal, she said.

"This town is rich in its agricultural history, and we want to preserve that." Every town has to have its niche, and agriculture is Bowdoinham's, she said. The purchase, she said, will "benefit our whole community."

"So we're delighted," Durgin-Leighton added.

Tony Cox, the town's economic and community development director, said the Bowdoinham Farmers' Market at the Merrymeeting Grange will open June 20. A meeting he held about the opportunity brought out 22 farmers, most young and energetic and many organic farms and just starting out.

He and Durgin-Leighton spoke of how the farmers' market fits into Bowdoinham's niche as it will be able to generate some money for the central-village located grange, which is in need of repair. It was originally built to support farmers and now the small local farmers are gong to be able to keep the building alive, she said.

It was one of the local farmers, George Christopher, who Lacognata said alerted the Maine Farmland Trust to the Steen Farm. Christopher was a mentor for Steen as a young man and has hayed some of the Steen Farm fields, she said.

Young said the Steens had worked their land about 10 years, cleaning up the woods area and bringing it back for farming, using one area to grow vegetables and haying the fields.

John Piotti of the Maine Farmland Trust stated in a press release about the purchase that Bowdoinham is a great place to farm. He's worked with several farmers in and around Bowdoinham and said, "The community is ideally located close to several thriving farmers markets, and local policy makers have embraced agriculture as an important part of the community's economic future," Piotti said.

While much of Maine Farmland Trust's work focuses on preserving farmland, the organization is also concerned about increasing farming and recruiting new farmers.

Maine Farmland Trust recently began to purchase properties that are well suited for farming, with the plan to protect those properties and re-sell them to new farmers. This strategy allows the trust to target farm properties that are particularly vulnerable to development. In December 2007, Maine Farmland Trust resold the first farm it purchased in this manner, a 200-acre property on the outskirts of Auburn.

"One of the great benefits of this approach is that we can provide farmers with the opportunity to purchase preserved farmland, which comes with lower cost," explains Piotti. "The high cost of farmland is the major barrier to expanding farming in Maine, and many prospective farmers are looking to buy preserved land."

Maine Farmland Trust's priority is finding the right farmer to buy the property. The trust is open to a buyer who may want to buy all the land, or just a portion of it. For instance, a farmer may not want to purchase the existing house. In that case, the trust would sell the house separately.

Inquiries about the property can be made to Nina Young at nyoung@mainefarmlandtrust.org.

For more information about the Maine Farmland Trust, visit www.mainefarmland.org or call 338-6575.