Like many others, I am dismayed to hear that the Windham Foundation is planning to close the Retreat Farm. Back in 2000, when the Retreat first announced that they were closing the farm and developing the land, Stephen Morse, who serves on the boards of the Retreat and the Windham Foundation, brokered the transfer of the farm property to the Windham Foundation, as a means of "saving" the farm and farmlands.
The Windham Foundation now claims that they are losing $300,000 a year operating the farm, and so they must shut it down. They'd like to tear down the cow barn and build a cheese factory.
No prudent business operator would let a $300,000 per year operating loss take them by surprise. Any inherent problems in the farm were already well known before the Windham Foundation took ownership. All the more so, since Mr. Morse was on the Retreat board. It is doubtful that the Windham Foundation, with Mr. Morse as the head, actually thought that the farm could be made to turn a profit simply by adding a petting zoo and buying brand new tractors.
It is certainly the right of any farm owner to quit farming and sell to whomever they want, for whatever reason. What is troubling about this scenario is that the public was told in 2000 that the Windham Foundation was stepping in to save the farm, not to run it further into debt and then use the land for their own, unrelated purposes.
The Windham Foundation has put themselves in the odd situation of defending their plan by demonstrating their own lack of management and financial foresight. No drop in milk prices can explain a $300,000 per year loss. As it turns out, $100,000 of that annual loss is money that the Windham Foundation is charging itself in rent. To expect any farm to operate while paying that kind of rent is absurd.
The current decision by the Windham Foundation to close the Retreat Farm and convert the property to other uses has little to do with farming, and a lot to do with real estate. Furthermore, the manner in which it is being done involves a breach of the public trust, and presumes a very short memory on the part of the public. The Windham Foundation should reconsider their plan, lest they do irreparable damage to their reputation in Windham County.