Earl & Margaret Brown Family Fund: The Browns’ Legacy of Cultivating Generosity
In 1948, Earl and Margaret Brown took a leap of faith by moving their young family to Loganville, Pennsylvania where they started a small orchard. Founded as Earl E. Brown Orchards, the roadside stand later grew to become Brown’s Orchards & Farm Market—today, a scenic 29,000-square-foot York County treasure skillfully run by Mary Brown, the wife of Earl and Margaret’s late grandson, David.
That same spirit of cultivation and care led the family to create the Earl & Margaret Brown Family Fund at the York County Community Foundation (YCCF). Established in 1995 by Margaret Brown and her sons Stanley, Roger, and Richard, the fund advances two purposes that define the Browns’ lives: preserving York County farmland and encouraging local students to pursue careers in agriculture. In recent years, these goals have been coordinated through YCCF’s Agriculture & Land Preservation field of interest fund—amplifying the impact across conservation, farmer support, and ag education countywide.
The Browns’ civic efforts also live on through the Nona & Stanley Brown Memorial Scholarship Fund created by their daughter Linda to support York County 4-H members—another way the Brown family continues nurturing the next generation of community leaders.
According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, York County is home to over 1,900 farms and many now rely on advanced technology to preserve land and monitor soil levels and crop production.
In recent years, several grants were awarded from the Earl & Margaret Brown Family Fund to local nonprofit programs focused on preserving farmland.
In 2024, a $10,000 grant to York College of Pennsylvania (YCP) funded the purchase of two drones that assist YCP’s engineering students with identifying and analyzing agricultural concerns with extraordinary precision and speed. This cutting-edge drone technology and the use of artificial intelligence are being used to locate nutrient and pest issues to prevent the over-application of chemicals, protect waterways, and save money. One of the farms included in the drone study was Brown’s Orchard.
Earl & Margaret Brown likely never imagined these kinds of 21st-century innovations impacting the success of their farm. But by understanding the power of endowment, their fund will continue to support innovative projects and scholarship opportunities to ensure a fruitful future in agriculture and land preservation.
From orchard rows to endowed resources, the Browns cultivated more than land and a farmers market; they grew a tradition of stewardship and generosity.
You can donate to this fund or to any of the funds at YCCF, by visiting the donation page of our website.
