The Oxford County Soil and Water Conservation District is pleased to announce that the Weston Farm owned and operated by George, Laurie and John Weston of Fryeburg, are the recipients of the 2006 Cooperator of the Year award. This award recognizes land owners who have made an outstanding commitment to conservation on their land.

The Weston Farm is a six generation family farm located in Fryeburg. Since 1799 the Wes­ton's have practiced sustainable agriculture on the rich farmland soils of the Saco River Valley. This 200+ year old farm has seen many changes over the years from operating a successful live­stock business, then dairy farm, to today's thriving farm stands business. Currently over 1000 acres are under production in timber, diversified vegetables, maple sugar bush, Christmas trees, and hay production.

The Weston’s have a rich history of conservation on their land. Dating back to the 1950's our records show conservation practices that include crop rotations, cropland erosion control, seeding of cropland, and riverbank stabilization. In the 1970's and 80's the farm continued to rotate cropland with hay land, perform nutrient management and thinning and pruning of young stands of white pine trees. More recently the Weston’s have solved erosion problems on access roads, stabilized riverbanks, improved fuel storage facilities, provided a stabile stream crossing and have adopted an excellent winter cover crop program.