The Equity Pledge is an opportunity for property owners to support programs that promote affordable housing and equitable access to land, News and Events
Equity pledge remains an important tool
The Equity Pledge is an opportunity for property owners to support programs that promote affordable housing and equitable access to land, Equity Trust 2021 Annual Report
Read how the Equity Pledge, introduced more than thirty years ago, when Equity Trust was founded, has become an even more powerful tool for economic justice. 2021 Lending Report
Like the projects in its portfolio, the Equity Trust Fund demonstrated resilience in 2021 after difficult times in 2020. Support Debt Relief for BIPOC Farmers
“Justice too long delayed is justice denied.” -Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail
After decades of documented discrimination of BIPOC farmers by the USDA, recognizing the unequal impact of COVID, Congress included funding in the American Rescue Plan Act to assist BIPOC farmers in paying off Farm Service Agency loans.
On Thursday, June 10, a federal judge placed …
Successful Harvest for Farm Affordability
Over six years, Equity Trust’s Hudson Valley Farm Affordability Program had a significant impact on farm preservation in this region of New York State, with many strong partners. The program preserved working farms by ensuring that they:
Are permanently affordable for farmers; Grow food for the region on an ongoing basis; and Remain in the hands of farmers.It complemented …
Presentation on Our Hudson Valley Farm Affordability Program
Jim Oldham, Executive Director of Equity Trust, will be presenting at The Emerging Research on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Conference, hosted by Farm Foundation and USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) online November 9-10, 2020.
Jim will present in Session Three: Land Access and Other Barriers to Entry on Monday, November 9, 3:00-5:00 Eastern Time.
Abstract:
Supporting land access and farm …
New Book from Center for Community Land Trust Innovation
A new resource is available from the Center for Community Land Trust Innovation’s Terra Nostra Press: On Common Ground: International Perspectives on the Community Land Trust (2020) traces the growth and diversification of the international community land trust movement. Edited by John Emmeus Davis, Line Algoed, María E. Hernández-Torrales.
DESCRIPTIONFifty years ago, African-American activists in Albany, Georgia extended their …
In Defense of Black Lives
Black Lives Matter. Equity Trust stands in solidarity with all those demanding justice and recognition of the sanctity of Black lives.
It is critical that we support those on the frontlines of this struggle, as we work to build a new system that affirms the sacredness of Black life and ensures community control of land and resources:
COVID-19 Update & Resources
As we collectively struggle with the social, economic, and health impacts of COVID-19, many organizations in our networks are working to provide information and resources to address a wide range of needs. Equity Trust staff will be keeping the resource list below updated, and we encourage you to reach out if you need assistance.
Resources for FarmersThe Northeast BIPOC …
Celebrating New Communities’ 50th Anniversary
Fifty years ago, a group of civil rights leaders in rural Georgia created the first community land trust in the United States. On this anniversary, Equity Trust celebrates New Communities’ innovation in community-based land ownership, which laid the foundation for the Community Land Trust (CLT) movement that followed.
In the 1960s in Albany, Georgia, as throughout the south, African …
Engaging Peace: Reparation and its Forms, a workshop series co-sponsored by Equity Trust
Equity Trust is proud to be co-sponsoring Leah Penniman’s talk and workshop on Land Reparations, part of the Karuna’s Center’s workshop series, Engaging Peace: Reparation and its Forms Fall 2019/Winter 2020
Many people are aware of the deep and pervasive impact that the legacy of racial oppression in the United States has on the present day. The horrors of …
Remembering Monica McGloin
We are saddened by the loss of our good friend and long-serving board member, Monica McGloin (January 4, 1941 – October 2, 2019). Monica served on the board of Equity Trust since 1994, including as Board President, and on several committees, including the Governance Committee most recently. Previously, she also served on the board of the Institute for Community Economics. …
Thanks and best wishes—Rebecca Fletcher moves on
Rebecca Fletcher has left our staff after many years, to take a position with the Cooperative Fund of New England, where she will be responsible for lending to co-ops and other democratically-owned enterprises in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York.
Rebecca joined the Equity Trust staff in 2005, and during her 14 years with Equity Trust she has served as Project Manager for our Farms …
One Farm at a Time in California
On Halloween day, 2018, Annie and Jeff Main of Good Humus Produce sat down with Equity Trust Executive Director Jim Oldham to place a specialized easement on their farm that will ensure it always remains a place where farmers can build a life growing food for their community, as the Mains have done.
This culminates a two-decade effort, inspired in …
Article Published in Communities Issue on Community Land
We are honored to have an article published in the Spring 2019 issue of Communities magazine on Community Land. In collaboration with Jack Hornickel, of project partner GrowNYC’s FARMroots program, we had the opportunity to tell the story of a collaborative project, still in progress as part of our Hudson Valley Farm Affordability Program: Windfall Farms in Orange County, …
NY Working Farm Protection Act Becomes Law
In July 2018, the “Working Farm Protection Act” was signed into law by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo after being passed unanimously by the State Assembly and Senate. This law makes farm affordability protections of the sort pioneered by Equity Trust eligible for funding under New York State’s agricultural easement program.
The legislation was the result of advocacy by many …
New Guide for Urban Land Access
Despite increasing interest in urban agriculture, little exists to help farmers navigate access to land in urban settings. Jo Rosen of Equity Trust and Kathy Ruhf of Land for Good co-authored a guide that addresses urban land access for commercial farmers. The guide looks at the unique challenges in locating urban properties, and dealing with urban ordinances, soil issues, and …
Land Access Innovations Training in Western Pennsylvania
Johanna Rosen, Program Associate at Equity Trust, will help lead a training for farmers near Pittsburgh with the National Young Farmers Coalition in March 2018.
In response to demand from farmers in the area, Equity Trust worked in collaboration with the National Young Farmers Coalition, the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, and other local partners to plan this full-day training.…
Support Hurricane Relief for Farmers in Puerto Rico
Looking for ways to help Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the hurricanes? Consider this appeal from our friends Don and Marnie McLean, farmers we are working with through our Hudson Valley Farm Affordability Program to protect their farm, Thompson Finch Farm:
Dear Farmers and Friends of Farms,
We are making an appeal to all of you who know …
Support Hurricane Relief for CLT in Puerto Rico
Looking for ways to help Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the hurricanes? Consider this appeal from our friends in the CLT movement:
We are writing to call your attention to a GoFundMe campaign that has been launched to help the Caño Martín Peña Community Land Trust in San Juan, Puerto Rico in aiding people and repairing homes that were …
Announcing a Pair of March 2017 Publications by John Emmeus Davis
Affordable for Good: Building Inclusive Communities through Homes that Last
Habitat for Humanity International (2017)
Every other year, Habitat for Humanity International publishes a “shelter report” highlighting an innovation in policy or practice which Habitat’s 1500 affiliates in the USA are encouraged to consider for incorporation into their own programs. For its 2017 Shelter Report, Habitat enlisted the support of …
Presentations at Land For Good’s National Conference
Jim Oldham, Executive Director of Equity Trust, and Program Associate Johanna Rosen will be attending and presenting at “Changing Lands, Changing Hands,” a national conference on farm and ranch access, tenure and transfer, hosted by Land For Good in cooperation with USDA, in Denver, Colorado, June 13-15, 2017.
Jim will participate in two sessions: the first, Shared Ownership, …
Land Access Innovations Trainings in North Carolina
Jim Oldham, Executive Director of Equity Trust, will help lead a pair of training events in North Carolina with the National Young Farmers Coalition in March 2017.
FOR LAND TRUSTS
Mills River, North Carolina – March 8, 2017
This all-day training is intended for land trust staff and other regional conservation professionals who are involved in farmland …
New Report Shares Funders’ Perspectives on Secure Land for Urban Agriculture
In 2013, Equity Trust launched the Secure Land for Urban Agriculture initiative within our Farms for Farmers Program to explore and address the issue of land tenure for urban agriculture. In the first phase of work, we interviewed and hosted a gathering of representatives from urban agriculture organizations and their allies to more fully understand their land tenure needs and …
New York State Announces Awards for Hudson Valley Agricultural Enhancement Program
Three farms that are partnering with Equity Trust’s Hudson Valley Farm Affordability Program were among 28 farms awarded grants under New York State’s first-ever regionally targeted grant program for farmland protection. The $20 million in awards announced May 3, 2016 provides funding for preservation of agricultural lands, protecting more than 5,600 acres of active farmland in seven counties through permanent …
Talking with Funders about Secure Land for Urban Agriculture
This fall, as part of Equity Trust’s Secure Land for Urban Agriculture initiative, we are partnering with foundations and funder groups to promote dialogue about land and urban agriculture. We aim to raise awareness of the critical issue of land tenure to the viability of a wide range of farm- and garden-based programs related to health and nutrition, youth …
Two more farms protected by Hudson Valley Farm Affordability Program
Equity Trust is pleased to report that two Hudson Valley Farm Affordability Program projects recently closed, helping to protect the farmers’ continued access to their land as well as the affordability of the land through future transfers. Both projects involved partnership with Scenic Hudson and Columbia Land Conservancy (CLC).
In June 2015, we supported the acquisition of an …
Equity Trust promotes farmer friendly leases in Connecticut
This summer, Equity Trust presented a workshop on “Building Equity in Farm Leasing” as part of UConn Extension’s Scaling Up Program for Beginning Farmers, held at the Wethersfield Historical Society on July 23, 2015.
Rebecca Fletcher and Johanna Rosen led participants in an exploration of the benefits of Equity Trust’s ground lease model of land tenure, which provides lessee …
Shelterforce blog post promotes permanent affordability
In What Would it Look Like to Win?, Rick Jacobus’ May 6, 2015 post on Rooflines, the Shelterforce Blog, he writes:
We should not have to pay for [affordable] access more than once. We should own the land... In every part of the country public and nonprofit agencies are investing in rental and ownership properties that will remain …
Approaches to Farmland Preservation in the Northeast
Jim Oldham, Executive Director of Equity Trust, will present at Community Food Funder’s Farmland Access & Preservation Working Group briefing in New York, Wednesday April 29, 2015.
This is a funder-only event with invited guests; however, the event will be livestreamed (contact adam@northstarfund.org for login info).
Jim will present along with Steve Rosenberg, Senior Vice President, Scenic Hudson, and …
2015 Land Access Innovation Training
As part of our Farms for Farmers program, Equity Trust is partnering with the National Young Farmers Coalition to offer training for land trusts focused on preserving affordable farms.
Access to farmland remains one of the biggest barriers for beginning farmers. Strategies such as conservation easements with an option to purchase at agricultural value (OPAV) and long-term ground leases that …
Remembering Juanita Nelson
Juanita Morrow Nelson (August 17, 1923 – March 9, 2015) was “an ardent pacifist, war tax resister, civil rights activist and supporter of local, organic agriculture.”[1] Juanita was a mentor to Equity Trust’s founder Chuck Matthei, and her deeply held values helped to shape Equity Trust as an organization. We wish to honor Juanita’s tremendous life.
May …
Two presentations at American Farmland Trust’s National Conference
Jim Oldham, Executive Director of Equity Trust, will participate in two panel presentations at Farmland, Food and Livable Communities, American Farmland Trust’s National Conference in Lexington, Kentucky, October 20-22, 2014.
The first session will cover Land Access and Securing Affordable Farmland with Kathy Ruhf, Executive Director, Land for Good and Equity Trust Board member (moderator); Jim Oldham, Executive …
Stone Ridge Orchard and Equity Trust’s Hudson Valley Farm Affordability Program featured in Country Wisdom News
“The saving of the Stone Ridge Orchard is a miraculous feat of community support, vision, hope, funding, and good fortune,” according to Marie Doyon’s article, “Saving the Stone Ridge Orchard” in Country Wisdom News, a regional source for age-old and modern thoughts on food, the land and the home.
Read more about Equity Trust’s work with Stone …
Equity Trust borrowers repay loans
Two innovative small farms and a nonprofit community development group repaid their Equity Trust loans this summer, with thanks to the Equity Trust lending community that made those loans possible.
Whippoorwill Farm was the first CSA farm on Martha’s Vineyard, almost twenty-five years ago. Now there are many! Lockhart Family Farm brought the CSA model to the “slow meat” movement…Developing Models for Predictable Land Tenure – Panel at Vacant Acres Symposium in April
Johanna Rosen, Program Associate at Equity Trust, participated in a panel discussion on Developing Models for Predictable Land Tenure at the “Turning Vacant Acres into Community Resources” Symposium put on by 596 Acres, April 22-23 at The New School, NY.
This session provided an overview of models that take communities past temporary access and land …
Roots & Branches: new website on the CLT movement
Announcing the launch of a new website put together by Greg Rosenberg and John Emmeus Davis: Roots & Branches: A Gardener’s Guide to the Origins and Evolution of the Community Land Trust. Found at www.cltroots.org, it features dozens of colorful graphics by Bonnie Acker, enlivening a digital archive of photographs, videos, interviews, and documents. This collection will grow richer …
Equity Trust featured on Civil Eats
“One thing that makes Equity Trust radical is its focus not just on the active preservation of land, but on the challenge of evolving social values about what property ownership should look like.” This quote comes from Antonio Roman-Alcalá as he featured Equity Trust as one of “Five Groups Working to Help New Farmers Access Land” on Civil …
Tools and Techniques for Farmland Conservation–Panel at NYS Land Conservation Summit in April
Jim Oldham, Director of Equity Trust, will participate in a panel discussion on Tools and Techniques for Farmland Conservation at the NYS Land Conservation Summit, April 10-11 in West Point, NY.
Details: http://nyslandsummit.org/.
This session will provide an overview of tools and techniques that can be used to protect active agricultural land. Panelists will present the challenges faced …
Workshop at the Farming Our Future Conference – February 22 in NY
Jim Oldham, Director of Equity Trust, will be presenting at the February 22, 2014 Farming Our Future Conference in Columbia County, NY. Conference details: http://www.farmingourfuture.org/.
Jim will join Marissa Codey of the Columbia Land Conservancy to lead a workshop about farmland access strategies used by conservation organizations. Marissa will describe how the Conservancy helps make farmland available to farmers …
