The Grafton nonprofit organization said it hopes to find an agricultural use for the land it owns in Brattleboro by March as it also moves forward on its plan to build a cheese manufacturing facility there next year.

In a memo sent out Monday, CEO and President Stephan Morse wrote that "operating a dairy farm is currently not financially feasible" and that the foundation and Alan Smith, who has worked on the Retreat Farm since the early 1970s, would "move forward" together to find a new use for the lands.

"Efforts to find alternative uses of the land were put on hold while a dairy operation was being explored," Morse wrote. "After speaking with Alan late last week about his personal decision not to pursue an independent dairy operation at this time, we feel we can now move forward."

But it was not a decision that came easy for Smith, who grew up on a farm in nearby Vernon and spent his entire adult life working on, and then managing, the community farm that was once owned by Retreat Healthcare, the nearby psychiatric hospital.

When asked Monday what he would like to see the lands there used for, he had only one answer.

"I'd like to see a dairy farm there," said Smith, who worked on the farm for 35 years, the last 17 of which as manager. "I think it would complement the cheese company when it moves here."

But without the financial support of the Windham Foundation — the philanthropic group that purchased the farm and lands after it was sold by the Retreat, which had used the farm for therapeutic sessions with patients, in 2001 — that's not possible, Smith said.

Source: Rutland Herald