True Family Protects Perry Farmland
True Family Protects Perry Farmland
Landowners Brian True and Stacia True worked with Genesee Valley Conservancy to ensure the seventh generation True Farm’s land remain intact and available for continued agricultural use forever into the future.
Three Conservation easements placed on the lands of True Farm in Perry will protect 770 acres of highly productive soils from the threat of subdivision and development!
Gateway to Perry
This project protects lands along over 4.3 miles of roads, including along three gateways into the Village of Perry, helping establish a strong buffer between the higher density and services of the Village and the surrounding agricultural lands and open space that supports the region's economy.
Farm History
The True family has operated as a dairy farm since the early 1800’s in Spencerport, NY. In 1979, the family moved the operation and family from Spencerport, due to the increasing development pressure from the City of Rochester, to Perry where they purchased 380 acres for their 140 cows.
The farm has grown steadily over the years and they now milk over 1,000 cows, raise their own calves and replacement heifers, and farm over 1,200 acres (owned and rented) to grow the crops needed to support the herd.
In addition to the dairy business, the farm grows sweet corn, pumpkins and other ornamental gourds for direct-to-consumer sales through farm stands in the fall.
The farm has focused on increasing soil health, which helps produce higher yields. In 2016, the farm began growing triticale, a winter hardy grain that acts as a cover crop and increases soil organic content, as well as provides the farm with a spring crop to harvest before planting. The farm also uses a manure injection system to increase the usage of their manure as fertilizer for the soil, while minimizing water quality issues that could result from spreading on top of the soil.
Farm in Transition
In 2015, Brian’s brother Glenn retired from the farm. His departure created a void in management and operations that needed to be filled by Brian and Jeff (the third True brother). The farm responded by upgrading to state-of-the-art technology and increasing the efficiency of the farm operation so they could maintain the farm with less oversight and staffing, while producing higher quality and quantity of milk.
Micro-chips attached to each cow provide data on a cow's daily movement, providing an early alert of unusual behavior that allows the farm to address health and reproductive concerns quickly. A shift to robotic milking allows the farm to accomplish this task with less staff and oversight. They conducted a complete audit of the farm related to energy consumption. A rooftop solar water heater was added to reduce water heating costs, barn lighting was changed to LEDs, and higher efficiency cooling fans in the barns replaced older less efficient models.
In April of 2020, Jeff True, passed away after a difficult and persistent battle with cancer. Jeff’s death, in addition to the emotional toll, required the farm to again modify its management and ownership structure to ensure this farm, which supports 12 full time employees, remained a viable business producing quality food.
While the farm has overcome several major challenges over the past few years and undoubtingly will face other changes in the future, the lands that support this farm will remain a base upon which to continue agriculture.
Expanding Farmland Protection
The True Project is the third farmland protection project in the Town of Perry. The True lands are directly adjacent to the lands protected by the Silver Meadows Farm (2021) and the Old Acres Farm (2019) creating a significant block of permanently protected agricultural land.
Prime Soils
Like previously protected farms in the town, the lands protected by True Farm are outstanding. Over 56% of these lands are classified as USDA Prime soil, the most productive soils around. An additional 32% of these acres are classified as NYS important soils. This was a key factor that made True Farm a high priority in Wyoming County for protection in 2018.
Community Impact
This project resulted in the 94th, 95th, and 96th conservation easements accepted by the Conservancy and the 6th, 7th, and 8th conservation easements in the Town of Perry.
How It Happened
In 2017, the True’s attended a farmland protection workshop hosted by the Wyoming County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board and Genesee Valley Conservancy to learn about conservation easements and the New York State grant program that funds these efforts.
The family applied to the local Wyoming County selection process. This process ranks interested farms so that the lengthy and competitive grant applications submitted to NYS are the best the region has to offer. During the local ranking, True Farm received the second highest ranking of all applicants (second only to the Silver Meadows Farm in Castile and Perry which was protected by the Conservancy in April of 2021). Unsurprisingly, the True Farm project was subsequently awarded funding by NYS and the True’s land protection project began.
This project was the result of a collaboration between Genesee Valley Conservancy, Wyoming County Board of Supervisors, Wyoming County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board, Town of Perry, and New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. To-date, the collaborative effort between Genesee Valley Conservancy and local partners has resulted in over $22 million invested in protecting over 12,580 acres of some of the State’s most productive agricultural lands in the Genesee Valley.
In Summary
This project was supported by the Wyoming County Agricultural & Farmland Protection Board and the towns of Perry. They recognize highly productive farmland is critical to the local economy and the economic future of the region. 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 22,724 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.