Big tech and a little farm: ASML contributes to Ambler Farm

Ambler Farm was purchased from its namesake family in 1999 by the town of Wilton as a 22-acre space to preserve the rich agricultural history of the region. On April 23, 2024, the farm was visited by a delegation of town officials, representatives of Friends of Ambler Farm, and a contingent from the world spanning European tech company ASML.

“We are thrilled to announce that Friends of Ambler Farm has been awarded a generous grant in the amount of approximately $324,0000 from ASML, located here in our hometown of Wilton,” Executive Director of Friends of Ambler Farm Ashley Kineon said, addressing the mixed crowd on the bright spring morning of April 23 as sheep looked on from their pen.

Wilton First Selectwoman Toni Boucher drew surprising parallels between the Dutch semi-conductor production equipment manufacturer and one of the farm’s former owners.

“As we celebrate ASML’s generosity and investment in our town’s future we must also thank a generation of innovators and risk takers who are responsible for us being here. Mainly Arthur del Prado, the founder of ASM which ASML spun out of, and Benjamin Gilbert, the founder of Gilbert & Bennett Manufacturing whose fortunes shore up the farm,” said Boucher.

“In hindsight,” the First Selectwoman added, “excellent choices like these can be seen as very wise, perhaps obvious decisions, while in the moment they were often fraught with tremendous risk. We are so grateful that ASML is studying and working here, and we are beyond words of gratitude that they have chosen to make their home here, to become active in our community and schools.”

Boucher pointed out that del Prado blazed a new path for the material silicon from a leaky shed in the Netherlands in a way which echoed Gilbert’s innovative use of horsehair in novel applications.

“The ASML grant funding is designed to cover the next four years improve our programming and outdoor learning space, enhance our animal habitats, and provide scholarships for student field trips and enriching learning experiences for generations to come,” Kineon said. She explained that contributions to the non-profit organization are key to supporting both the town-owned farm and the educational programming it offers.

“There has never been a grant of this size,” said Program Director Kevin Meehan. “It’s going to support our summer program, it’s going to support our apprentice program, our sprout program, our builder program. Literally everything that we do and how we teach about the farm and engaging kids and adults in the community is going to happen better and longer because of this grant. This grant isn’t just impacting what we’re going to be doing this year, this grant is going to ensure that the next generation of Wilton kids is going to benefit from the farm as well.”

Meehan also expressed hope that the funding could bring Norwalk students to the farm free of charge and explained that the contingent of ASML visitors volunteering at the farm that day would be shoring up work done entirely by student volunteers.

“The beds that are here are all built by kids. We’ve built 45 garden beds right now, and that’s white oak. The logs are 150 pounds each. Out of the 45 beds I filled two,” he told the Volunteers.

“I will be honest,” joked ASML Wilton’s Senior Director of Finance Brian Olson, “I’m here under false pretenses. My team back here didn’t want to be in the office. And then yesterday Brian [Amero, ASML community engagement program manager] said ‘oh by the way there’s a little speech to the press.’”

Olson admitted that he was biased towards the choice of Ambler Farm as a partner for ASML’s efforts to become more involved in the Wilton community.

“This place really means a lot to my family and I,” Olson said. “We actually signed the offer on our house in the first half of the year here in the parking lot.”

“We have over 3,300 employees just here in Wilton, so this community means the world to us, and we want to be a more active member of it.”