Feature

For Berkshire County farmer, clean water is key to conservation stewardship

Standing behind George Noble’s farmhouse, looking over his corn field to the rolling Berkshire hills beyond, you’d never guess that Tweenbrook Farm is within the city limits of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. But despite its city zip code, the farm is nestled on 110 acres between the Housatonic River on the west, Sykes Brook on the south and Sackett Brook on the north.

Tweenbrook Farm’s location along with Noble’s record of good conservation practices made the farm eligible for the federal Conservation Security Program (CSP). Noble was one of the first Massachusetts farmers selected for this landmark program.

The Housatonic/Farmington watershed was one of 202 watersheds across the country, and one of two in Massachusetts, selected for CSP in 2005. New watersheds will be selected each year nationwide.

CSP is designed to reward producers for historic conservation activities on agricultural lands and to provide enhancement payments for producers who agree to implement additional conservation measures.

Eleven farms in Berkshire and Essex counties were selected for their conservation stewardship through CSP. Annual contract payments in Massachusetts will total nearly $100,000 statewide over five years.

Tweenbrook Farm was started in the early 1900s by Noble’s grandfather. His uncle inherited the farm in 1959, then Noble took over from his uncle in 1978. Historically a dairy farm milking 75-100 head of Holsteins and Jerseys, Noble now raises sweet corn, butternut squash, and hay.

He sells the sweet corn at the farmstand, the squash he sells both retail and wholesale. He sells 25,000 bales of hay a year to horse farms in the area.

Noble owns some 110 acres but farms about 300 through leased and rented land. His own land is protected through a state agricultural preservation restriction and borders a state wildlife area.

“The biggest natural resource concern that we have is clean water and keeping rivers and streams from being polluted,” said Noble. “Its very important to keep the water supply clean and eliminate runoff.”

To that end, Noble practices strip cropping and minimum tillage. He also has worked with NRCS to develop a conservation plan that includes crop rotation, cover cropping for the winter and integrated pest management.

“Any thing we can do to conserve natural resources, we’ve tried to do here at the farm. I’ve been working with NRCS since I took over the farm. Any practice that came along that looked like we needed to do, we signed up for,” said Noble.

Of CSP, Noble says that he’d like to see it offered to more farmers in Berkshire County because it benefits farmers who have tried to protect the water resources.

“I think water quality is the wave of the future. It’s something that the whole world is going to have to look at,” he said.

Read about more CSP farmers: Essex County farmers are stewards of land pressured by development and steeped in history

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