Morgan Family Protects Land Base of Fourth-Generation Farm and First-Generation Distillery
When Livingston County ranked potential farmland protection projects in 2021, Woodlawn Farms in York ranked as the second highest. This was an impressive result considering Livingston County has some of the best ground in New York State and may be one of the most competitive places for farms seeking permanent protection thanks to the long history and robust collaboration between Livingston County, individual towns, and Genesee Valley Conservancy to protect farmland here.
Among the many factors considered in this ranking process, which aims to identify the most viable farmland protection projects, is soil quality. Woodlawn Farms has an impressive 90% USDA prime and prime-if-drained ratings. These soil ratings, along with good farming practices, help the farm produce higher than average yields and sets this ground apart as land worthy of being retained for continued agricultural use.
The Threat
York, like many rural towns in the Genesee Valley, faces multiple factors in how the landscape is changing and the threats being faced by agricultural lands. The need for cleaner energy is putting pressure on agricultural landscapes that are along high-capacity power lines where it is easy to build out solar facilities on cleared lands and cheaper to tie them into the grid.
Servicing rural residences with municipal water and fiber-optic internet, while upgrading existing residences within a town, also makes agricultural lands more desirable building locations for residential development by bringing amenities typically found in higher density areas out to the quieter and less busy rural areas of a community.
Farmland Protected
In January, 530 acres on Woodlawn Farms was protected thanks to the efforts of the Morgan family and Genesee Valley Conservancy. This project ensures these highly productive soils remain open and available for farming forever into the future, removing the threat that residential, commercial, and industrial development and subdivisions could remove these important resources from agricultural use.
Woodlawn Farms is a fourth-generation farm, owned today by John and Kaye Morgan and their son Matt Morgan. John and Matt are the primary managers of the farm, while Kaye is known to many for her care of small animals at York Animal Hospital.
History of Woodlawn Farms
The farm began in 1943 by John’s grandparents, Ralph and Mabel Morgan. Originally started as a small dairy farm, the farm diversified by adding crops like beets, sweetcorn, and wheat, which were sold to local markets and at a farmstand. Ralph’s son Jim and his wife Bonnie, continued the farm operation and passed it along to third generation owner John. Jim passed in May of 2024 and was a proponent of the family seeing this farmland become protected and was involved in initial stages of the project.
More recently, under John’s tenure as the third-generation owner of this family farm, the farm is no longer producing dairy and is instead focused on high quality beef and crops. Today the farm is growing corn, wheat, soybeans, edible beans, and triticale (a wheat and rye hybrid grain) as well as specialty grains for distilling.
Matt is the most recent addition to the farm and brings the farm into its fourth generation of Morgan ownership. Matt joined the farm after returning from studying at Iowa State University several years ago. Along with his sister Jaclyn, Matt brought the farm into a new phase, as the siblings founded Woodlawn Distilling in 2021. Woodlawn Distilling is housed at the farm and everything is distilled and aged on site, with a tasting room open to the public and for special events, and products that are stocked throughout the area at restaurants and liquor stores.
Distillery
Opening a distillery on the farm was strategic for several reasons. First, the farm had the land base to grow the grains needed for the distilling process. Second, with Matt returning from college, and interested in joining the family farm as a career, a new business model was needed to financially support his addition.
While the family could have looked at expanding their land base, adding to their herd, or a variety of other options for supporting additional family members, they opted to take product they previously sold and instead use it to create their own direct to consumer products which could be sold at a higher premium because they were adding value to the original crops by processing and blending them into fine spirits.
Woodlawn Distilling is the first distillery in Livingston County to operate since prohibition. While much of the grains used during the distilling process have been grown on the farm, in 2025 the Morgan’s plan to have 100% of the grains used across their products to be all grown on their land.
At the farm they distill bourbon, moonshine, vodka, gin, liqueur, and armaretto. Their distillery includes a tasting room open Friday (4:00-10:00 PM), Saturday (1:00-10:00 PM) and Sunday (12:00-6:00 PM) and is found at 2007 York Road West, Linwood, NY 14486.
Conservation Practices
The Morgans have been working to improve land management practices on the farm, which often provide both beneficial environmental impacts while also producing higher yields and increased net financial returns.
New technologies like GPS on the farm are helping with prescription planting and fertilizing and grid and zone sampling – helping the farm only use what inputs are needed to support ideal crop growth. This saves both time and money as the farm is not adding soil amendments when not needed and when inputs are added they are directly tied to an increase in production.
Zone building, minimal tillage, no tillage and cover cropping practices are also helping the Morgan’s improve soil health. Less tillage allows the important soil structure and microbes to remain intact which produces better crops with lower inputs. These practices also reduce the time and cost of running equipment, as well as reducing erosion. Utilizing cover crops on fields also help improve soil health and reduce erosion and runoff.
Beautiful Views
In addition to protecting the soils for continued agriculture, this project also secures the protection of more than two and a half miles of scenic road frontage which will remain as intact vistas of the rural, agricultural landscape that defines York’s character and that of the broader Livingston County. Rural views are common in the Genesee Valley, but ones that has been lost around the suburbs and cities where development has sprawled out into the landscape.
Woodlawn Farms is bisected by the Groveland Secondary Trail, a recreational trail owned by the NYS-DEC that travels from York more than 22 miles to Alexander. This former railroad bed now provides recreational use for hikers, horseback riders, and bikers. Roughly half a mile of the trail crosses through the farm, with views that can be appreciated by visitors to the east and west as they pass through the farm along this trail.
Future
By choosing to protect their farmland, through the sale of development rights, the Morgans were able to extract some of the equity out of their land to reinvest in their business and enhance what they are doing both on the growing side with the crop and beef operations, as well as on the consumer side with their marketing of products to the public, without losing the critical acres they need as a farm.
This project is helping the Morgans lower their debt-to-income ratio as they work to expand their business and ensure it is sustainable for their family in the near and long term, while ensuring the land will stay in agriculture.
An additional 150 acres owned by the family is also in the process of being permanently protected as part of the Woodlawn Farms project. The second phase of land protection is expected to be wrapped up later this spring/summer.
Summary
This conservation project involved accepting three conservation easements, including the Conservancy’s 150th in its 35 year history, as well as the 11th easement in the Town of York.
This project was the result of a collaboration between Genesee Valley Conservancy, Livingston County Board of Supervisors, Livingston County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board, Town of York and New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
To-date, the farmland protection program of Genesee Valley Conservancy has resulted in over $47 million being invested in protecting 24,538 acres of some of the State’s most productive agricultural lands, right here in the Genesee Valley.
Genesee Valley Conservancy works throughout the Genesee River watershed to protect high quality habitat, open space and farmland for the community. The Conservancy now oversees the protection of 36,340 acres.
Landowners in the Genesee River watershed interested in pursuing conservation options for their property, be it farmland, habitat, or a potential public nature preserve, should contact Genesee Valley Conservancy for more information.
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Genesee Valley Conservancy is a nationally accredited non-profit conservation organization working to protect the habitat, open space and farmland in the Genesee River watershed. Over 36,340 acres of natural habitat and productive farm and forest land have been conserved by Genesee Valley Conservancy in partnership with private landowners. The organization also owns nature preserves open to the public for recreation and education. For more information visit www.geneseevalleyconservancy.org