Elm Stone Farms owner happy to sell his land for the birds

By Taylor Broderick

BELLEVILLE – A farmer in Prince Edward County recently sold his land along Elmbrook Road to Canadian Solar in hopes of the company maintaining it as a bird habitat.

Elm Stone Farms, and its surrounding land, is thought to be a good spot for the declining numbers of the Eastern Meadowlark and the Bobolink to live.

Canadian Solar has built solar installations in other parts of the county. It has been reported that preserving this particular piece of land is Canadian Solar’s way of making up for the destruction of other animal habitats in the area.

William Stone and his wife, Fern, have owned the farm since 1972. The 81-year-old retired farmer didn’t originally have his land up for sale. But he said Canadian Solar came to him in February with an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Part of that offer was to let Stone and his family keep living and working on the farm.

“We decided to continue to live here and let the birds live with us,” he said. 

The two-hectare portion of Elm Stone Farms that was sold is only a small piece of the overall 80 hectares of land bought by the solar company, but to the Stone family, it’s the last 40 years of their life.

“Everything’s going to go on the same as when I owned it,” Stone said.

He added that he was pleased on Monday night when Prince Edward County council voted in favour of a zoning bylaw for the land to stay in its natural state. He’s always appreciated the work companies such as Canadian Solar do for the environment, he said.

“I think it’s great they’re trying to protect some of these species.”

Though the company won’t be building anything on the land, Stone said maintaining it as a bird habitat is a good cause.

He added that he can’t believe how much the bird population dwindles each year.

“This time of year they (used to be) lined up on the hydro wire for miles. Now I hardly see any.”

Stone said he hopes he can have another 10 or 20 years on the farm and in that time he will see the bird population return to a higher number.