The LandTrust celebrated the closing of a conservation easement on the 250-acre Stokes Family Farm in Linwood, North Carolina. Completion of this project represents more than a decade of work with the Stokes Family, who have farmed this land for more than two generations and long-desired to see the property protected. “GoldPrint Farms,” a part of the Stokes Family farm, is an internationally-known brand in the Guernsey Dairy Cattle industry. Winning awards at many fairs and shows across the country, the cattle bred at this farm are considered among the best in the country, year in and out, due to the quality of the grasses grown at this farm. These grasses are superior, the Stokes family believes, because of a combination of the very unique agricultural soils found at this place, and the environmental sensitivity with which the family manages the farm.
Clair Stokes Wylie (and her husband Paul), Jane Stokes Everhart (and her husband Randy), and Smith Stokes all worked together to ensure that their farmland would remain farmland for many generations to come. In fact, the conservation of the farm was strongly supported by the children of the easement grantors who all intend to continue to maintain the heritage of quality Guernsey cattle production and the “Goldprint” brand created by their grandfather.
Support for the project was provided by the North Carolina Agriculture Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund and the USDA Farm and Ranchland Protection Program.