By KENNEDY GRIFFIN
(Buckland, MA) Clessons River Farm in Buckland was recognized officially at the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, MA on September 16, 2022 as Massachusetts’s Outstanding Dairy Farm Of The Year by New England Green Pastures program. The New England Green Pastures Award honors one outstanding dairy family in each New England state; the program has been running since 1947.
Clessons River Farm spans 327 acres with 65 dairy cows and 60 dairy heifers. The farmland is under the Clessons River Farm Realty Trust and ownership of the farm was transferred from Paul and Judy Willis to Melissa and Adam Griffin in 2021. The farm has been in Melissa and Paul’s family for five generations, beginning with Walter Scott in 1910. Over the years the farm has grown with recent upgrades including a Lely A5 robot used to milk the cows that increases efficiency while providing crucial data on each cow.