“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 …
News and Events
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 …
Stone Soup Ribbon Cutting
Stone Soup Community Center celebrated the near completion of the Green Rebuild and Collaborative Training Project with a Ribbon Cutting on Tuesday, December 3, 2013. New London Homeless Hospitality Center celebrates the opening of its new facility
The New London Homeless Hospitality Center (NLHHC) celebrated the opening of its new facility with an Open House and Dedication event on October 16, 2013. Equity Trust Director Jim Oldham attended along with Anne Scheibner, Paul Jakoboski, and Hannah Gant of the St. Francis House (our Francis Fund partners). About 300 people attended the celebration, including Connecticut Governor Malloy. New York Times opinion piece advocates for affordable farms
"Keep Farmland for Farmers," an important commentary in NY Times from Lindsey Lusher Shute and Benjamin Shute, Hudson Valley farmers and co-founders of the National Young Farmers Coalition.
Young Farmers Coalition report: how land trusts can protect working farms
The National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC) released a report entitled “Farmland Conservation 2.0: How Land Trusts Can Save America’s Working Farms.” The report outlines the ways that current farmland conservation practices are failing to keep land in production and farmland affordable to farmers. The report highlights innovative farmland conservation models and reinforces Equity Trust’s message of the importance …
Our office has moved
Equity Trust has moved our office from Turners Falls, MA to Amherst, MA to be closer to where staff live and thus reduce our commute and carbon footprint. We are delighted have found a home in the beautiful Nacul Center for Ecological Architecture, a redesigned church just a few blocks from downtown Amherst, which houses an art gallery and several offices and studios. Dimond Hill Farm Grows
Dimond Hill Farm, a landmark property on the outskirts of Concord, New Hampshire, stewarded by Equity Trust, has just grown its land base by almost 25%.
A working farm since the 1700s, Dimond Hill was protected in 2006, through a partnership among Equity Trust, the Trust for Public Lands, Five Rivers Conservation Trust, the NH Preservation Alliance, and the City of Concord. Under the ownership structure designed to permanently protect the farm and make it affordable for future farmers, Equity Trust owns title to the farm, the Conservation Trust and the Preservation Alliance both hold easements on the property, and the land is currently farmed by sixth generation farmer Jane Presby under a lifetime agreement. Farm Aid features Jeff and Annie Main of Good Humus Farm
Jeff and Annie Main, of Good Humus Produce in Capay, CA, have been featured in an article posted on the Farm Aid website. Read about the history of their farm and about their work with Equity Trust and with One Farm at a Time, an initiative of several California food co-ops to raise funds to preserve the sustainability of …
Film screening and panel at MIT on preserving farms
On April 4, 2013 Executive Director Jim Oldham joined filmmaker Chuck Schultz and others at MIT in Cambridge, MA, for a screening and discussion of The Last Crop, a film-in-progress sharing the story of Jeff and Annie Main and their efforts to permanently protect their Good Humus Farm in California’s Central Valley. Equity Trust has supported this effort for years, …
Presentations on farm preservation at NOFA and National CLT Conferences
Equity Trust shared approaches for farm preservation at the NOFA Summer Conference in August 2012 and at the National CLT Conference in September 2012. On August 12, we led a workshop on Strategies and Tools for Saving Local Farms at the annual summer conference of NOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association) on the UMass campus in Amherst, MA. On September 13, …
Judith Haskel Brewer Fund makes
grant to Equity Trust Fund
In April 2012, the Judith Haskel Brewer Fund of the Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia made a $15,000 grant in support of the Equity Trust Fund.…
Impact investing report features Equity Trust Fund
The Equity Trust Fund is one of 20 funds profiled in Promoting Sustainable Food Systems Through Impact Investing, a report by The Springcreek Foundation aimed at helping socially responsible investors “play a critical role in the establishment and maintenance of regional sustainable food systems in the United States.”
June 2011…
Saving Lands Magazine highlights Farms for Farmers
Equity Trust's work to preserve affordable farms was featured in the tools and resources section of the fall 2011 issue of the Land Trust Alliance's Saving Lands Magazine. Follow the link and scroll to the second page of the section.
FA Green reports on our farm preservation work
Equity Trust's farmland preservation work is featured in Follow the Food, in the March 2012 issue of FA Green, a magazine offering "strategies for sustainable, responsible, investing and giving." Call for Stories! Please share your connection with Equity Trust or projects we have worked with
Equity Trust just celebrated our 20th anniversary! As we celebrate this history, we want to hear from you. In order to tell our story, we need yours. By gathering and sharing stories from people and organizations that have been part of this extraordinary work in one way or another, we hope to paint a broader picture of the movements we support and the vision that we share.
