West Branch Commons
The open fields above are full of possibilities & invitations. These particular fields are part of a specific story shared in this 2025 annual report, but they also reflect the many possibilities Equity Trust anticipates and holds as we advise and accompany groups making their visions for strong, sustainable farms and communities a reality. The projects we support require hard work to prepare the ground, and like seeds they need time to germinate, but then there are times when new creations burst forth. In 2025, we’ve worked alongside groups in all these different phases from planting ideas and nourishing visions to realizing the fruits of these efforts as lands are protected and access secured.
Let’s start with those waiting fields: In 2025 Equity Trust committed a $200,000 loan to West Branch Commons as an early piece of a funding package to allow this young community land trust in eastern New York, committed to inclusive food systems and equitable land access, to acquire a 287-acre farm property. As our report describes, we haven’t disbursed the loan yet because funding and other work are ongoing, but we look forward to the culmination of this effort that will bring many new farmers to this land.
Meanwhile, our loan fund collaboration with the Persimmon Collective Fund is flourishing, with new resources for land access for BIPOC farmers that in 2025 assisted two successful land acquisition efforts in North Carolina, with a bridge loan to a seed farm and loan financing combined with an affordability grant for a farming family originally from Burma growing food for their immigrant community.
Back in New York, our loan fund and technical assistance combined in support of an exciting event: a farmer-to-farmer transfer of a long-term leasehold interest in a farm property that Equity Trust first worked with a decade ago when we helped protect it as a permanently affordable working farm.
Elsewhere, much of our work supports the growing stages of projects, when Equity Trust provides on-going assistance for efforts such as the development of a ground lease between Southeastern Connecticut Community Land Trust and Ceiba Valley Farm to establish appropriate terms for a long-term relationship between two organizations committed to long term stewardship of the land for community benefit. This is steady and gradual work, aimed at planting resources that will last for generations.
Our 2025 financial reports are also available for review.
Equity Trust’s work is possible thanks to your contributions.
You can donate on-line or by mail to:
Equity Trust,
PO Box 746
Amherst, MA 01004
Thank you for sustaining our work!