Land Tenure Issues and Preserving Farms for Farmers
If farms are to continue growing food, they must be kept affordable for farmers. In many real estate markets today, farms are being sold to non-farmers for prices that are out of the reach of farmers. This is a problem not only for current and aspiring farmers who are unable to purchase farms, but for local communities that have an interest in preserving access to locally produced food.
This Program's Goals
- To encourage exploration of alternative approaches to the ownership of land;
- To help local land trusts and others to preserve the affordability of farms for farmers;
- To help local groups increase community access to locally produced food.
Services
We provide counseling on land tenure issues (by phone, email, and on site) to farmers, land trusts and others.
We work to promote alternative approaches to farm ownership through presentations, workshops, and publications.
We provide model documents (in electronic form and on paper) for alternative approaches to farm ownership.
We help adapt these models to particular local situations – through document-review, phone and email consultations, and on-site technical assistance.
We work with a limited number of CSAs and others to develop strategies for funding local farm preservation projects.
Resources
Model Documents
"Farmers and Farmland For the Future"
"Gaining Ground"
Equity Trust continues to promote alternative approaches to farm ownership through presentations, workshops, and publications. Our newest publication, Preserving Farms for Farmers will be available August 2009.
Financing
Through a component of the Equity Trust Fund, we provide financing to farmers for the acquisition of land, agricultural improvements, equipment, and livestock. We also provide financing for educational programs dealing with sustainable agriculture and local food production.
For Potential Borrowers.
History
Equity Trust’s affordable farm tenure work since 1995 has involved two approaches to ownership – one using long-term ground leases, with farmers owning the improvements; the other using conservation easements containing options to purchase for agricultural value. These approaches have been developed through intensive work with the following pilot projects:
Roxbury Farm – Equity Trust assisted fundraising effort; purchased farm; sold conservation easement to local land trust; leased land and sold improvements on the land to CSA farmer.
Live Power Community Farm – Assisted fundraising effort; purchased conservation easement with purchase option, allowing CSA farmers to purchase fee interest on affordable terms.
Caretaker Farm – Worked with retiring farmers, new farmers, local land trust, and state of Massachusetts to plan and implement an ownership structure involving a conservation easement with purchase option, a local fundraising effort, and leasehold interests for both retiring and new farmers.
Dimond Hill Farm – Worked with the Trust for Pubic Lands, local land trust, local historical trust, and local government to preserve a farm in which Equity Trust now holds a remainder interest and will enter into a ground lease arrangement with new farmer upon the eventual death of the current farmer who has a life estate.
Good Humus Farm – Currently participating in fundraising effort for eventual purchase of conservation easement with purchase option, which will be held by local land trust.
White Oak Farm – Purchased farm with donated funds, assisted in creation of local nonprofit to which title was then transferred, with conservation easement with purchase option granted to local land trust.
Sheehan Farm (Boxborough, MA) – Assisted in developing and currently holds conservation easement with purchase option.
In addition to the above list, Equity Trust has worked with a number of other farms that have been successfully protected. We will be posting descriptions of our work with more farms on the website during the coming months.
Letter from Steven & Gloria Decater of Live Power Community Farm