Our Good Work, Spring 2025

From the Executive Director

As the new growing season begins, many farmers are concerned for their farm's financial stability. The ongoing federal funding freeze is causing significant hardship for farmers and the organizations who serve them. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) continues to withhold payments owed under signed, lawful contracts, and in some cases has cancelled existing contracts.

Congress can act to fix this, and they need to hear directly from folks who are affected – along with all of us who care about our local farmers and food system, and the organizations that help us strengthen our communities. Join us in advocating for farmers! Use this fast-action form to contact Congress and urge USDA to honor its commitments and restore critical support to the farmers who grow our food.

We are stronger together. And we're celebrating our strength and collective impact in our new Annual Report. Find highlights from 20 years of impact, plus stories from the field, a financial statement, and a look at where we're headed. This past year 1,937 farmers, landowners, and service providers took advantage of LFG training through 58 workshops. We guided 414 individuals through one-on-one advising to secure access to land, improve land tenure situations, transfer a farm, or make land available for farming. Read more in our Annual Report 2024.

We are excited to introduce our new field staff in Maine and Connecticut that are helping farm seekers on their path to acquiring farmland and retiring farmers with their transfer planning. Please welcome Freedom and Sylvie!

Whether we're helping a retiring farmer plan their legacy or a new farmer establish roots, our goal is the same: to keep land in farming and build a future where farmers can thrive. Thank you for your continued support!

With gratitude,

Shemariah Blum-Evitts

Executive Director

Welcome our new field staff

We are grateful to have an amazing team doing this work – a staff with deep experience and creative ideas, an educated network of partners, and a committed Board of Directors. Please welcome our new staff to the team!

Freedom Gerardo, a long-time collaborator, joins LFG as our new Connecticut Field Agent. Freedom is a Bronx-native community organizer turned farmer, co-owning the Liberated Land Cooperative, which runs Connecticut’s first statewide CSA. He is passionate about creating a more equitable and sustainable future for farmers in New England. As Co-Director of the Venture Farming Institute and co-founder of his farm, SEAmarron Farmstead, Freedom works to reimagine equitable food systems for farmers in the state of Connecticut and nationwide. His focus on land access and food justice empowers communities of color through farming and community organizing to build long-term food sovereignty.

Sylvie Boisvert joins the team as our new Maine Field Agent and Farm Transfer Program Coordinator. Sylvie brings extensive experience in small business advising and farm succession planning. She knows how to navigate the emotional and relational complexities of transitions. As a Farm Coach for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Sylvie assisted farmers with farm management, business planning, and succession issues, and often recommended LFG's Farm Succession School and resources to farmers. She is also a certified farm succession coordinator through the International Farm Transition Network.

Meet our team and new board members.

Securing a farm lease for Dancing Harvest Farm

Daniela learned that searching for farmland was easier with a team on her side. It required assessing soil quality and access to markets on multiple properties, as well as writing a lease that considered the farm’s viability and growth.

Daniela worked with our team to articulate her farmland criteria, narrow her search, and assess multiple properties. She even felt empowered to walk away from an opportunity that wasn't a good fit. Bolstered by this support, Daniela hit the ground running; she knocked on doors hoping to talk to the landowner, dropped off veggie bags and letters, and scoured maps and public records. 

“All of these steps felt overwhelming to take on alone, but having the support of LFG field agents who were both farmers themselves and experienced in this process made me more confident to keep moving forward,” shared Daniela of Dancing Harvest Farm (ME). 

Daniela secured a lease in 2024 on farmland in South Portland, Maine that better fit her needs. Read Daniela's journey in our farmer stories.

Help for farmers going through a farm transfer or succession

This winter, five more farms graduated from our Farm Succession School in Massachusetts. They learned the many aspects of succession planning, clarified goals, identified next steps, and reviewed the necessary documents for a smooth transition.

Many senior farmers wonder how to get started, where to find advisors for financial and legal considerations, or need help to identify or recruit a farm successor. Farmers who have recently gone through a farm transfer shared their successes and challenges. Hear their stories on our YouTube channel.

“Sharing was such a big part for me. And the knowledge and resources you gain will be immeasurable and invaluable going forward," shared Jan Golonka of Golonka Farm (MA).

To initiate individualized farm transfer coaching, fill out a Farm Transfer Form, and we'll connect you with our team. To get started on your own, we recommend completing this farm succession planning workbook.

Many more resources are available for transferring a farm.

New England Farmland Finder, a fabulous resource for landowners & farm seekers

Recently heard on The Fabulous 413 podcast, "Tell us more about New England Farmland Finder (NEFF)!" In this episode our farmer friend Emmy explains her farmland search and using NEFF.

NEFF is the region's largest farm link website, and it was recently upgraded to include full site translations and enhanced functionality. Farm seekers can now create a profile and include a short pitch to property owners. You can browse 135 current listings and subscribe for alerts to see when new properties are posted. Landowners can post a property to NEFF at no charge and get in front of over 4,400 farm seeker subscribers who are looking for land.

"It's a really great way for farm seekers and landowners to kind of match and pair together. They'll list acreage, housing, what infrastructure is on the farm... This piece of land being so central and available for lease was an amazing find,” shared Emmy of Little Light Farm (MA).

Hear about Emmy's farmland search and the beginnings of Little Light Farm on this episode of The Fabulous 413.

Post your property or browse current listings on New England Farmland Finder. NEFF is managed by the New England Farm Link Collaborative of Maine FarmLink, Connecticut FarmLink, Vermont Land Link, and Land For Good.

* Photo credit to our friends at CISA Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture and New England Public Media.

You can make a difference!

These are unprecedented times. Current economic uncertainties and the loss of federal funding are placing farms at great risk. At Land For Good, we rely in part on federal funds to provide essential services to farmers. The federal funding freeze, despite its reversal and legal challenges, is affecting some of our current and potential contracts. You can make a difference for farmers and farmland across New England.

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