PORT ANGELES — A 60-acre farm in Eastern Clallam County will be preserved for future farming after the owner pledged the land to the North Olympic Land Trust.
John Jarvis, who owns Finn Hall Farm, was born on the property he still lives on, he said Sunday.
He and his wife, Carmen, were named Farmers of the Year by the land trust in September.
Jarvis has been a dairy, beef and hay farmer since 1956 — the same year he and his wife were married.
He recently sold his cattle and now leases the land out, he said.
“I didn’t want to see houses built on good farmland,” he said.
Jarvis’ family were working farmers on the land since the early 1920s, he said.
His award was announced at the 100-mile Harvest Dinner on Sept. 26.
The announcement followed an audio-visual presentation by land trust Executive Director Greg Good, who interspersed photos and comments from his visit last summer with the branch of the Jarvis family who has remained in Finland and also continues to farm.
Both Jarvises accepted the award and have asked the land trust to help them make sure the land always will be available for agriculture.
The land trust cannot continue to count on the grants it received from the federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program and state Recreation and Conservation office to buy development rights and cover other expenses related to protecting farmland permanently, Good said at the dinner.
He said the nonprofit organization will be looking for more support from local individuals, businesses and organizations to make up the difference between what can be gained in grants.
“Growth pressures have reduced our area’s prime farmlands in the past 50 years from more than 76,000 acres to less than 22,000 acres,” Good said.
“The need to protect valuable local food sources as well as the rural scenery and wildlife habitat farms give us has never been more urgent.”
