| Live Power Community Farm - Covelo, CA With the support of a San Francisco-based CSA membership, Steve and Gloria Decater had spent nearly 20 years developing this biodynamic farm on 40 acres of rented land several hours north of the Bay Area. When the land came on the market in the early 1990s, the Decaters worked with a core group of CSA members and Equity Trust to arrange for the farm’s purchase. CSA members and others donated funds to Equity Trust so that it could purchase a conservation easement and purchase option, allowing the Decaters then to buy the land and improvements for their remaining “farm value” (equal to the full unrestricted market value of the property minus the value of the rights given up through the easement.) In this case the rights given up through the easement included more than those given up through typical conservation easements. This specialized easement requires – as the Decaters themselves insisted – that the land continue to be farmed organically or biodynamically. It also gives the holder of the easement an option to purchase the property for its farm value if the owners wish to sell – or if they are no longer farming the land in accordance with the terms of the easement. |
