SACO, Maine (AP) A Maine environmental education center is getting $20,000 toward its development of an educational farm.

The Quimby Family Foundation is making the gift to The Ecology School in Saco. The school intends to transition its programs to a 105-acre farm by the end of 2019. A school spokesman says the school’s long-term goal is to establish “a full-scale organic farm with crops and livestock.”

School Executive Director Drew Dumsch says the grant will help with the planned expansion. The school has taught food systems for 18 years using a half-acre garden on rental property at Ferry Beach.

The property the school has purchased is at River Bend Farm in Saco. The school says all of its farming activity will adhere to a conservation easement that’s held by Maine Farmland Trust.