Our Good Work, Winter 2026

From the Executive Director

Across the region we see farmers are preparing for tree tapping—holding onto the promise of spring even in the coldest days.

Farming has never been easy. Farmers know better than anyone that each season brings challenges, uncertainty, and hard choices. What carries them through is resilience, commitment to the land, and the strength of a supportive community. At this moment, those qualities matter more than ever—and so does standing firmly behind our farmers.

Land For Good remains deeply committed to farmer success. Farmers are essential to our local communities, our food system, and our economy. Ensuring secure access to farmland, stable tenure, and thoughtful land transfer is not just important—it is vital to the future of agriculture and the next generation of farmers.

Throughout the winter months, we've worked closely with farmers and landowners navigating the complex paths of finding farmland, transitioning a farm to new hands, or opening land for agricultural use. This spring, we’re eager to return to the fields and continue working side by side with them, offering guidance, tools, and unwavering support through every step of these transitions.

Read more in this issue:

• We're hiring! Join our team!
• Plan for the future of your farm
• Make your land available for farming this year
• Are you looking to improve your lease agreement?
• New England Farmland Finder helps connect farmers & landowners

We are strongly positioned to help more farmers in 2026. We are grateful to the many partners who have collaborated with us—contributing research, co-creating practical tools, and shaping policy ideas that reflect real on-the-ground needs. We honor the landowners who are thoughtfully working to keep land in active agriculture, and the farmers who are pursuing new opportunities with courage, creativity, and determination. We especially give thanks to our donors and supporters who sustain us.

We are proud to stand with farmers and landowners at the forefront of transforming how farmland is accessed, stewarded, and passed on. Together, we are building a stronger, more equitable future for farming—rooted in hope, sustained by collaboration, and growing toward the promise of spring.

Sincerely,

Shemariah Blum-Evitts

Executive Director

We're hiring! Join our team!

Are you passionate about maintaining and expanding working farmlands in New England? Do you feel strongly about supporting local food systems and working in collaboration?

Land For Good is seeking new team members with positions in Maine and Massachusetts:


• Maine Field Agent
• New England Program Manager

This is a unique opportunity to work on the critical issue of farmland access and transfer in your region—and across New England. As a regional and national leader on issues of farmland access, land tenure security, and farm transfer and succession, Land For Good works with farmers, landowners, and a wide network of collaborators to put more farmers more securely on land in New England, to support farm viability, to expand farming opportunity, and to keep farmland in farming.

Learn more

Plan for the future of your farm

Are you unsure who will take over your farm? Have questions about passing on the farm that you don’t know how to answer? Few farm families have plans in place that articulate who their successor is and exactly how the land, equipment, business, and other assets will be divided among heirs or transferred to a successor. Help is available with farm transfer planning:

• Start with this workbook on Farm Succession Planning to help you consider the bigger picture and put on paper what you already know.
• Watch webinar recordings from our winter series on how to get started, where to find resources, plus financial considerations and legal considerations of farm succession planning.
• Hear from farmers going through a farm transfer or succession. Both senior generation and junior generation farmers share the issues that arise in a transfer to a next generation or when there is no one in the family to take over the farm.
• Request individual assistance at no-cost, for a limited time, if your farm is in New England. We can help you clarify your goals, develop a farm transfer plan, and get resources. We can also help you identify or recruit a farm successor if necessary, and work with you toward a smooth transition. 

It's never too early or too late to plan for a successful farm transfer!

Make your land available for farming this year

Landowners can help secure a future for farming in our communities. Productive, sustainable uses for all or part of a property can bring many rewards! 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.

• Find resources for making land available for farming and explore the motivations, strategies, and mechanics behind it.
• Request individual assistance and connect with our team for help clarifying your vision and goals, assessing your land and options for farming activities, developing sound lease agreements, or finding the right farmer for your land.

We can help you meet your stewardship goals!

"Sitting down with Land For Good was very helpful in clarifying issues and choices," shared Clara, a non-farming landowner (RI). "Also helpful was the creation of a “to do” list and deadline. You are so good at making the impossible seem possible!"

Are you looking to improve your lease agreement?

If you’re a new or beginning farmer, leasing farmland may be an effective way to overcome one of the biggest challenges to getting on the land. Leases can offer affordable, flexible and secure access to farms, land, and buildings. 

• Find resources for leasing farmland, learn what’s in a good lease, print a lease template, and more.
• Find resources for seeking farmland like how to find, assess, and secure farmland with our plain language guide, and discover farm link programs.
• Request individual assistance to draft a lease agreement - or improve an existing lease - or for help with your land search.

New England Farmland Finder helps connect farmers & landowners

Achieve your farmland vision with New England Farmland Finder, the region's largest farm link website that facilitates farmland transfer, helping to connect farm seekers and landowners across New England.

• Find Farmland! More than 65 properties are currently posted across New England. Search all properties easily. Over the years, nearly 2,000 properties have been posted with many successfully finding a farmer on this farm link website.
• Find a farmer! View a database of farmers looking for farmland. Over 4,400 farm seekers are subscribed and many share their online profile, what they're looking for in a property, as well as their farming experience.

Managed by the New England Farm Link Collaborative, this site is a partnership of farm link programs and land access services including Connecticut FarmLink, Maine FarmLink, Vermont Land Link, and Land For Good.

"Land for Good and New England Farm Finder enabled us to meet so many great farm seekers, and ultimately find farmers who were excited to take the farm and make it their own," shared Lincoln Fishman, Sawyer Farm (MA). "I don't know how we would have gotten the word out without them. 

We are strongly positioned to help more farmers in 2026

Thanks to supporters like you, we exceeded our year-end fundraising goal! Your generosity allows us to connect more transitioning farmers and landowners to our region’s diverse farm seekers. Watch our good work in action.

There's still time to help us grow more farmland opportunity this year:

• Donate now!
• See the many other ways you can show support. 
• Want to leave a lasting legacy? Include Land For Good in your planned giving.
• Become a business sponsor.

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