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Our Good Work, Summer 2019
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Our team is growing! This summer we successfully filled two key, new staff positions. A big welcome to Dakota Rudloff-Eastman (VT) and Kate Kellman (MA). Dakota brings significant on-farm and farmer customer service experience to her role as Program and Administrative Coordinator. Kate brings a successful track record of entrepreneurship, branding, and online marketing to her role as Digital Marketing Coordinator. Meet Dakota and Kate at landforgood.org/staff.
Deep thanks to Barb Jackson, our Operations Manager for the past 8 years. We wish her all the best in retirement! Barb's tireless work behind the scenes, and the systems she built, will be a lasting legacy to our work.
Growing our team, while widening and deepening our collaboration with partners, yields more effective and accessible resources and support for farmers and land-owners. Phase 3 of the Land Access Project (LAP3) continues to help farmers access and transfer farms - and increase knowledge, skills, and support systems available to all farmers, farmland owners and allied professionals in the region.
Read more in this issue:
We have an amazing network of partners, a stupendous team with deep experience and creative ideas, and a committed Board and advisor network - and we have YOU. Thank you for being a part of this critically important work
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Jim Habana Hafner
Executive Director
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 Accessing land? Consider your options with our practical, comprehensive guide
Farming is a capital-intensive business to enter, in part because of skyrocketing land prices, and because beginning farmers often see small profits, or even losses, in their first years of business.
Our
Farm Access Methods
decision guide was created to help farmers make informed decisions about how they access land in a way that is affordable for them. This guide organizes farm access and tenure methods into three basic categories: "ownership now," "ownership in the future," and "no ownership."
Within those categories the guide explores a set of variables that farm seekers consider when seeking access to farms: security, equity, affordability, flexibility, farming requirements, and access to capital.
Learn more or go to the full guide
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New England Farmland Finder works for farm seekers & landowners
Connecting farm seekers with exiting farmers and other farmland owners is needed now more than ever.
NewEnglandFarmlandFinder.org
is a free farm property posting website that helps them find one another.
"This site has been very helpful.
I've had about a dozen interested candidates and today toured with a very interested family. Thank you!" shared Janice Wentworth, The Warren Farm & Sugarhouse (MA).
It can work for you, too.
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National Farm Viability Conference comes at critical time
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photo credit: MN Food Association |
The 4th National Farm Viability Conference will take place October 22 - 24, 2019 in Red Wing MN. It comes at a time when consolidating and changing markets are affecting many family run farms, and when farmland is changing hands at a rapid rate. This conference provides the opportunity to support colleagues from across the country and to learn about key efforts to support farm and food entrepreneurs as they navigate markets, growth and change. With land access and succession among the themes, the conference will highlight new, innovative approaches to protect our country's agricultural resources and strengthen the economic viability of our farmers. LFG is a member of the advisory committee and will send several staff to moderate and present workshops.
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Craft a farm lease with our Build-A-Lease Tool
- and learn all about leases!
A sound, written farm lease doesn't have to be complicated, but it should have a solid legal foundation and reflect the interests and goals of both parties. Our Build-A-Lease Tool can help you learn about farm leases, develop or improve your farm lease, and craft a working document to use with landowners, tenants or advisors. This interactive tool was informed by our work with New England farmers, landowners and service providers - and developed with help from a team of experienced attorneys.
"The Build-A-Lease Tool gets parties thinking about provisions that need to be agreed upon and provides example language while clearly describing the purpose of each provision," shares Elizabeth M. Dunne, Esq., Dunne Law, LLC (HI).
"I often work with clients on a limited budget who want to generate the first draft of the lease document before I review. With the Build-A-Lease Tool, they can work out many of the key terms before incurring any legal fees."
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Farm succession advisors, a critical part of a farm family's business advising team
Farm succession planning is a critical issue for thousands of farm families, and they need assistance from qualified and knowledgeable professionals to help them complete succession plans. Attorneys and other service providers who include farm succession planning in their professional portfolio are highly sought after throughout New England. A new resource, Farm Succession Advising: Attorney Training Compendium, drawn from a farm succession professional training, provides solid legal background material and technical tools for attorneys - and other farm succession advisors - who work with farmer clients on their succession plans. Many farms will cease to operate if farmers do not receive adequate information and support, further reducing opportunities for next-generation farmers to acquire farmland or viable farm businesses.
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Save the date! 5th Annual Farmland Access & Transfer Conference
On November 18, 2019 the largest conference in the region focused solely on land access and transfer for farm seekers, retiring farmers, landowners & service providers will take place in Augusta ME. Last year's conference drew over 130 farmers, policymakers, service providers and advocates and featured storytelling, skill-building workshops, and thoughtful discussion around farmland access and transfer challenges and successes
Join us and Maine Farmland Trust for a day of practical workshops to better understand the options, resources, and steps to accessing or transferring your farm or farmland. The conference always features stories and strategies from the field!
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Land For Good | 39 Central Square, Suite 306, Keene, NH 03431 | 603.357.1600
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