The Seed Farm

The Seed Farm is an agricultural incubator project supported by the County of Lehigh in Southeastern Pennsylvania.  The mission of the Seed Farm is to start and grow new sustainable farms and farmers and to support the development of a vibrant local food system.

Lehigh County not only permanently preserves farmland (19,619 acres to date), but the County is acting to preserve farmers and farming as a way of life in the Lehigh Valley.

Project Goals

1. Provide land, training, infrastructure and other support for new farmers to start their own agricultural enterprises.

2. Help mentor new and existing area farmers through a network of experienced Lehigh Valley farmers who have successfully adopted sustainable production and marketing systems.

3. Create a demonstration model of profitable and sustainable agricultural enterprises for new and existing farmers.

4. Be a focal point for building a strong local food system in the Lehigh Valley.

5. Provide educational opportunities for residents of Southeastern Pennsylvania to learn about the importance of local agriculture and local food production systems.

6. Help link new farmers to existing preserved farmland in the Lehigh Valley for lease and purchase opportunities.

The Site

Lehigh County owns a beautiful 451 acre agricultural property known as the Seem Seed Farm that is located in Upper and Lower Milford Townships in the southwestern portion of the County.

An initial 25 acre project site has been selected to provide basic agricultural infrastructure to those farmers who choose to start new sustainable farm enterprises.   The seed farm site contains 10 acres of prime tillable farmland soils and two large ponds that are available for irrigation and livestock watering.  The site is currently being transitioned from conventionally farmed land to land that can be certified for organic farm operations.

The Vision

As the incubator program evolves we plan to establish the following:

• New Farmer Training, Mentoring, & Apprenticeship Programs

• Business and marketing training

• Sustainable production of vegetables, fruit, grains, herbs, flowers, and livestock products

• Value added product development

• Grass-fed, humanely raised livestock production & processing

• Fiber production and processing (sheep, goats, llamas and alpacas)

• Access to healthy and affordable home grown food to all residents of the Lehigh Valley including disadvantaged populations

• Sustainable energy systems and green agricultural buildings / facilities

• Farmer field days and seminars

• Education programs for residents of the Lehigh Valley

• Sustainable agriculture & food conferences, meetings and festivals

• Sustainable agriculture library and education center

Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agricultural

Please contact us if you would like to join us as a sponsor and/or as a volunteer.

For more information, contact Jeff Zehr, Director of Farmland Preservation at 610-391-9583 ext. 15 or email him at jzehr@lehighconservation.org .