Agricultural Assets

How many farms are there in Cape Elizabeth?  What is the food and farming potential for Cape Elizabeth?  If new farmers want to start farming here, what parcels of land might be suitable?

These are the kinds of questions that our Agricultural Assets subcommittee has been working on since 2007 when the Cape Farm Alliance first formed as the Cape Elizabeth Farm Committee.  We realized that in order to be true to the priority of “valuing rural character and open space,” as identified in the Comprehensive Plan, we needed to get some specific details about where we’ve been, where we are and where we could be going.

If you would like to learn more about the Agricultural Assets of Cape Elizabeth, come to one of our meetings (usually the third Monday of the month, 7 pm, Cape Community Services) or get in touch!

And if you’d like to have a conversation about possibly leasing some of your land to a farmer, contact David Buchanan at stillmangreen@yahoo.com for advice and information.  David’s an organic grower specializing in vegetables and fruit bushes and trees, as well as a landscape designer. He’s currently farming land owned by Rodney Voisine at Old Ocean House Farms and has been involved with a number of land-lease arrangements, so can share a broad perspective.  Cape Elizabeth has a rich farm history, and a vibrant present as more and more growers have founded some innovative new ventures, several in just the past three years. But we have more farmers anxious to grow here and not enough available land. Please give sharing some of your land serious consideration.