POST Purchases San Gregorio Farm

POST Purchases 74-acre Property in San Gregorio

April 1, 2015

(Palo Alto, Calif.)—Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) announced the acquisition yesterday of 74 acres of farmland in San Gregorio. POST purchased the property for $3.1 million from a long-time farming family.

With a half-mile frontage on Highway 84 and most of the property located within the state-designated scenic corridor for Highway 1, the land was an attractive prospect for development when POST stepped in to preserve it.

“Farmland in our area is particularly vulnerable,” said POST President Walter T. Moore. “It’s highly desirable accessible real estate in a competitive market. One of POST’s priorities is protecting places like this so they remain open working lands.”

The San Gregorio property consists almost entirely of prime soils, a designation that means it has the best combination of characteristics for agricultural production. Nearly 90 percent of the property is used for growing row crops such as strawberries, Brussels sprouts, peas and pumpkins.

The land also has impressive water access. San Gregorio Creek borders 3,000 feet of the property and is important steelhead habitat. There is an onsite reservoir and an extensive irrigation system—critically important features that allow the farm to remain in production while minimizing impacts on water resources during the current drought.

POST has protected three other properties in the local area—Arata Ranch, San Gregorio Ranch and Toto Ranch—through the use of conservation easements that permanently protect the natural resources on those lands.

“Our local farms and ranches play a critical role in the health of the landscapes around them,” said Moore. “Part of POST’s vision for our area is to create a network of protected lands, and farmland is an essential part of that equation.”

POST has already identified a tenant for the property so farming activity can resume this spring. POST’s long-term goal is to sell the property to a private operator with the stipulation it remain in agriculture.

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POST is a leading private, nonprofit land trust that protects and cares for open space, farms and parkland in and around Silicon Valley. Since its founding in 1977, POST has been responsible for saving more than 70,000 acres as permanent open space and parkland in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.