Whippoorwill Farm, home of the first Community Supported Agriculture program on the Vineyard, is moving its operation back to Old County Road.

In a newsletter from the farm that went out to CSA members on Tuesday, farm owner Andrew Woodruff said his decision was driven by impending new ownership for Thimble Farm, where he has operated for the past five years. A group called the Martha’s Vineyard Farm Project formed this summer to raise money and develop a plan to buy Thimble Farm.

Eric Grubman, a seasonal resident of Katama, bought the 37-acre farm in the Iron Hill section of Oak Bluffs in 2007 for $2.45 million, saving it from a possible sale into the private residential real estate market. Mr. Grubman continued a lease with Mr. Woodruff who at the time had relocated his farming operating from Old County Road to Thimble Farm. That lease expires at the end of this year.

Early this summer Mr. Grubman made it known that he was ready to turn the farm over to new owners, spurring the formation of the farm project group.

In the newsletter Mr. Woodruff alluded to impending changes at Thimble Farm. “Many people are working hard on finding an ownership solution for the property that will keep it in food production forever,” he wrote. He continued:

“The land at Thimble Farm has been very important to the Farm and the CSA and we hope that the solution will include a role for the CSA. But because it is unclear how those efforts will turn out, I have made the decision to move the headquarters of the CSA back to my land on Old County Road in West Tisbury for the 2012 season. It is necessary to begin planning for next year now and I am structuring the CSA and the farm’s business plan around the acreage and infrastructure at Old County.”

CSA is a program where people buy a share in the farm’s harvest for the season. Members pay for shares at the beginning of the year to help fund the farm, and in return get weekly pickups of freshly grown vegetables.