Our Good Work, Spring 2024

Celebrating 20 Years!

This year marks 20 years of expanding farmland access opportunities and securing land for future generations! We couldn't do this work without our partners and funders.

We thank the many partners who have collaborated on research projects, co-produced new tools, or workshopped policy ideas. We recognize the landowners who’ve bravely faced questions on how to keep land in agriculture, and the farmers who’ve explored new opportunities with hope and determination. We’re proud to be working along all of you at the forefront of changing the way land is accessed, held and transferred to future farmers across the country. (Want to celebrate with us?)

Farmland access and tenure continue to be among the most pressing issues in agriculture today. These land challenges must be considered in their historic and contemporary contexts. Systemic racism, a legacy of land theft, and policies that advantage white people perpetuate inequality and limit land access for farmers and communities of color. We collaborated on a new guide, Toward Land Justice, with Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association - reviewed by land access/agricultural professionals, farmland owners, and farmers of color - to contribute to the evolving exploration of how farmland access can be made more equitable, and what white landowners can do to meaningfully redress past harms and be part of new opportunities.

Over the winter, we connected with farmers and landowners on their road to finding farmland, transferring their farm, or making their land available for farming. This spring we look forward to being back in the field and working side by side with them through these transitions.

Read more in this issue:

• Toward Land Justice
• Motivations for landowners to make land available for farming
• Now on the ground in southeastern New England
• At the forefront of a national conference
• New online features & improved website access
• Thank you to our funders
• New sponsorship opportunities available!

Cheers to 20 years,

The Land For Good team

Toward Land Justice

Toward Land Justice is a new guide that was motivated by our work with white landowners seeking to do something with their land to advance social justice. Farmland owners have the opportunity to shift power in the food system.

This guide grounds us in history, invites us to reflect on guided questions, and explores options for making farmland available. Landowners can learn what they can do on and with the land in their care toward repairing past harms and promoting equity and opportunity. 

In collaboration with Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association, we worked with land access/agricultural professionals, farmland owners, and farmer of color. Together, we learned about the topic and grew our awareness about the challenges and how to talk about them with respect and humility. This guide is a living document; we welcome input for future revisions and new resources.

We hope this guide will inspire and assist white farmland owners to partner with farmers and communities of color to access land.

Get started with excerpts & additional context for this guide

Motivations for landowners to make land available for farming

Our goal is to help farmland owners feel empowered and prepared to share their land with farmers as an important piece of the crucial farmland base of New England. When a landowner makes land available for farming, it helps secure a future for farming in our communities. Productive, sustainable uses for all or parts of a property can bring many rewards!

Over the winter, more than 115 landowners and service providers registered for our workshop series to learn how to make land available for farming, hosted with the New England Farm Link Collaborative. These workshops were recorded! In conjunction with our great many online resources, landowners can watch and explore motivations, strategies, and mechanics for making any amount of land available to a farmer.

Find this two-part workshop series now on our YouTube channel.

On the ground in southeastern New England

With some of the most expensive farmland in the nation, southern New England farmers must often get creative in purchasing farmland and transferring it to the next generation. Our Southeastern New England Field Agent, Deanna, is now on the ground to help farmers and landowners in the region!

A recent southeast conference addressed some of the challenges farmers face. Topics ranged from improvements to production systems to business planning to seed sovereignty, soils, and farmland. Deanna moderated a conference panel on some of the common land conservation pathways that can be used to protect farmland as well as make it more affordable to the next generation at the time of transfer. She has been strengthening relationships with our partners in the southeast. Partners at the conference included Bristol County Agricultural High School, Buy Fresh Buy Local Cape Cod, Cluck and Trowel Farm, Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation, NOFA-RI, OASIS on Ballou, Plymouth County Extension 4-H, and Pocasset Pokanoket Land, and the conference hosting partner Southeast Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership.

Read more from Deanna

At the forefront of a national conference

Our staff will lead some engaging workshop sessions at the National Farm Viability Conference in Charleston, West Virginia, April 29 - May 2. The conference brings together agricultural service providers from across the nation for peer-to-peer learning and networking with a focus on strengthening farm sustainability.

We hope to see you there! Check out our workshop sessions on these topics: farm linking; retirement and farm succession planning for farmers of all ages; emerging farm transfer planning models; working with white farmland owners on issues of land ownership and power dynamics; and the role of agricultural conservation easements in farm and ranch viability and succession.

"This year’s conference theme, Mountains of Excellence - Growing Equity, Inclusion and Sustainability, invites us to imagine how we move farm viability efforts forward given the lessons learned over the past few years, especially around the COVID-19 pandemic and social justice issues." ~ NFVC 

See the full agenda at NFVC

New online features & improved website access

Our website was recently upgraded to offer full site translations, enhanced navigation, and improved access to resources with a new searchable directory.

Our YouTube channel now presents many of the workshops we hosted and recorded this winter on topics of farm succession planning and making land available for farming.

New England Farmland Finder, the region's largest farm link website, was also recently upgraded to include full site translations. With improved site navigation and enhanced functionality, farm seekers can now create a profile and include a short pitch to property owners. Landowners can use the farmer database to look for farmers that may be a good fit for their land. The site is managed by the New England Farm Link Collaborative, a partnership of farm link programs and land access services in New England, including Connecticut FarmLink, Maine FarmLink, Vermont Land Link, and Land For Good.

Grateful to our funders

Thank you to the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation for empowering us to better serve the farming community!

A recent grant award will support Land For Good’s work over the next year to increase farming opportunity for farmers to build and maintain viable businesses, and to keep farmland in farming. This winter we wrapped up a three-year award from the Foundation that helped us increase our outreach efforts, collaborate with diverse partners, engage in educational events, and broaden our affiliations in the state.

Learn more about support from the Foundation

Sponsorship opportunities - Picture your logo here!

As part of our 20th Anniversary, we are seeking sponsors to become part of the exciting work that's happening across New England.

Your support will help strengthen the security of agriculture in New England and help us continue to connect transitioning farmers and other landowners to our region’s diverse incoming farmers. Sponsors will receive top mention at events and online! Many opportunities are available!

Contact us for details

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