MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 8, 2023
Gerard “Jerry” Rivard spent nearly all of his 98 years on his family farm in Springvale, working the land and creating a legacy that he’s now passed on to the next generation. “I see the land as sacred. Land is to be used and cared for, not destroyed,” Rivard told the Maine Farmland Trust in October. Shortly before he died on Nov. 5, Rivard signed an agricultural conservation easement with Maine Farmland Trust to create a Forever Farm, accomplishing a goal he set two decades ago to preserve the land as a working farm for future generations. The 102-acre property includes woodland and 49 acres of prime farmland soil. Pressure to develop farmland has significantly increased in the last decade with skyrocketing land values, high market demand and growth in residential and commercial development.