Benedictine monks ensure Jerome farmland will remain agricultural forever as monastery readies for new chapter

Benedictine monks ensure Jerome farmland will remain agricultural forever as monastery readies for new chapter

Benedictine monks at the Monastery of the Ascension in Jerome are ensuring that 400 acres of surrounding farmland will remain agricultural land, even as they prepare to transfer the monastery to a new religious order.The monks have established a conservation easement with the help of the Magic Valley Land Trust to protect the farmland, known as the Priory, from future development."We would like people to think it was a gesture of gratitude for a…