Family farms still part of the fabric of the East End

For all the bounty that has sprung from the fertile fields of John L. Halsey’s family farm in Water Mill, no crop has yielded more satisfaction than the gift of passing down the Halsey tradition of tilling the soil and reaping the harvest—a custom that has nourished residents of Southampton Town since its founding in 1640.

While hosting Southampton Town officials during a tour of his farm last Wednesday, August 19, Mr. Halsey said he wants to go to his grave knowing that his daughters, Amy and Jennifer, would have the “opportunity to continue running the family farm.”

With both daughters’ hands firmly planted in the earth, Mr. Halsey can take comfort in the fact that the 350-year-old Halsey farming tradition will carry on. Amy, a floriculturist who not only works the farm but also runs Amy’s Flowers, and Jennifer, a pomologist—one trained in the cultivation of fruit—represent the 12th generation of Halsey farmers.

Mr. Halsey told Wednesday’s group that working on the family farm was his life’s passion.

“People ask me when I plan on retiring,” he said. “Well, it’s hard to retire when you feel like you don’t work. I love what I do.”

The stop at the Halsey Farm was part of a tour aimed at raising awareness of local agriculture and highlighted the industry’s contribution to the community and the struggles family farmers face in an ever changing society. Along with the visit to the Halsey farm, the town officials’ bus made stops at the Mecox Bay Dairy farm in Water Mill, Pike’s Farm Stand in Sagaponack and Channing Daughter’s Winery in Bridgehampton. All the members of the Southampton Town Board, along with Mary Wilson, the town’s Community Preservation Fund manager, and members of the town’s planning department, took the tour.

John v.H. Halsey, the president of the Peconic Land Trust—and distant cousin to Mr. Halsey the farmer—who also took part in Wednesday’s tour, said many farms on the East End have disappeared over the years, buried by the blade of development. Many of the farmers, he said, were “land rich, but cash poor” and succumbed to the dollars offered by developers when pressured by the enormous burden of inheritance taxes.

“In the ’70s, a lot of farms were turned into subdivisions because the owners couldn’t afford to pay the taxes,” he said, adding that the scenic split rail fences that used to line the landscape of Southampton have given way to the massive, isolating hedges that block most properties from view.

The plight of the local farmer is what inspired Mr. Halsey, who grew up in Southampton, to establish the Land Trust in 1983. Working with landowners and local governments, the Peconic Land Trust steps in to preserve farmland and the farming way of life. Since its founding, the trust has saved some 9,500 acres of working farms.

Mr. Halsey is currently working to save Pike’s Farm and its farm stand on Sagg Main Street in Sagaponack Village. The farm is listed for sale for $8.23 million and, so far, Suffolk County and the Town of Southampton have pledged to spend $6.49 million—pending a vote by the County Legislature on September 15—to buy it. The trust was able to secure an additional $800,000 toward the purchase and is trying to raise the final $1 million.

At a stop at the farm stand on Wednesday, Town Supervisor Linda Kabot said the town is committed to the partnership with the county and that saving the farm is important for the community. Spread across 60 acres, the mainstay of the farm, according to Jennifer Pike, is the farm stand. “This is our business,” she said.

Estate planning, Mr. Halsey of the land trust said, is essential for farmers who wish to hold on to their soil. So is diversifying their crops, which is exactly what the farming Halseys did when they converted from potatoes to fruit. They were among the first to do so. Now, the Halsey farm grows 26 varieties of apples as well as peaches and pumpkins and the family sells them at its retail store, the Milk Pail, on Montauk Highway.

Art Ludlow, who runs Mecox Bay Dairy Farm, shifted from potatoes to dairy in 2001 and now specializes in artisanal cheeses produced from a small herd of Jersey cows. Mr. Ludlow also raises free-range turkeys that are purchased by residents from Manhattan to Montauk for Thanksgiving dinners, he said. Mr. Ludlow also raises pigs.

Larry Perrine, a partner at Channing Daughters Winery, said local farms not only preserve the character and quality of life on the East End, they also contribute to the community.

“We have 12 full-time employees and three part-time employees,” Mr. Perrine said. “And they pay taxes. They are able to live out here.”

Channing Daughters, on 28 acres, produces some 12,000 cases of wine per year, he said.

Harvey Reissig, an entomologist at Cornell University who, working in conjunction with the state, conducts periodic checks of Long Island farms to ensure that pesticides are being applied safely, said local farmers like the Halseys are “true stewards of the land.” Mr. Reissig, who paid a visit to the Milk Pail during Wednesday’s tour, said the Halseys use pesticides only “when necessary” and have invested in newer insecticides that are healthier for the environment and the wildlife.

“Local farmers are willing to make that extra investment because they care about their neighbors and they care about the land,” Mr. Reissig said.

“Society has changed,” Mr. Halsey the farmer said. “More people have moved out to the country with less knowledge of farming. It has become harder to keep our agricultural base. But we have some of the finest soil in the world here. We have to keep our farming alive.”