MIDDLETOWN – Monmouth County Freeholder Director Lillian G. Burry officially welcomed Holly Crest Farm on Locust Point Road to the county’s Farmland Preservation Program today through a partnership effort among the Monmouth Conservation Foundation (MCF) and the State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC).

 

“Holly Crest Farm is a wonderful addition to Monmouth County’s vibrant Farmland Preservation Program,” Burry said. “This unique partnership ensures that future generations will keep farming in Middletown forever and move the Navesink Highlands Greenway project ahead.

 

“We especially thank Vincent Annarella, the landowner, for working with the MCF for making this permanent preservation of his farm a reality,” Burry said. “MCF is also to be commended for being the first to bring an SDC ‘Grants to Nonprofits’ project into play in Monmouth County. The $1 million grant contributes to the $2.5 million purchase price.”

 

Holly Cross Farm is the first farm in the Middletown Township to enter the county’s farmland preservation program. The 37-acre location is a thoroughbred breeding farm that is contiguous to the county’s Huber Woods Park.    

 

The farm also lies in the heart of the county’s Navesink Highlands area, 3,000 acres that stretches from shoreline in Atlantic Highlands into Middletown’s Chapel Hill area. The county has already preserved 1,170 acres in the area that includes Hartshorne Woods Park (792 acres), Huber Woods Park (366 acres), and Mount Mitchill Scenic Overlook (12 acres). Other local preservation projects complement the county’s public open space holdings.

 

“Each piece of farmland we preserve helps protect the quality of life in Monmouth County, now and in the future,” Burry said. “We are proud that more than 20 percent of all of Monmouth County’s land is permanently preserved as either farmland or open space. The Board of Chosen Freeholders is committed to continuing to build on that record of success through many more cooperative efforts such as this one.”

 

A total of 155 farms covering 11,883 acres have been preserved in Monmouth County.

 

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