An End to the Age of Entitlement

Oct 24, 2015 • Land Access Stories • By Agrarian Trust

Learn about a conference addressing one of the most pressing issues of our time: working land and access to it.  On November 7, 2015, the David Brower Center, in partnership with RSF Social Finance, the Yggdrasil Land Foundation and Berkeley Food Institute, is hosting a half-day conversation targeting the question:  How can we find a way to transform the […]

Who Owns U.S. Farmland, and How Will It Change?

Oct 15, 2015 • Land Access Stories • By Agrarian Trust

Recently released findings from the USDA’s Tenure, Ownership, and Transition of Agricultural Land (TOTAL) survey describe who owns the 911 million acres of farmland in the U.S. (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) and how they are managing that land.  Read the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s analysis about this land and the two million landowners who manage or rent […]

Wake County, NC Considering Charging Rent to Farmers

Sep 13, 2015 • Land Access Stories • By Agrarian Trust

In Raleigh, NC, farmers using county-owned land may no longer be able to farm free of rent with year-long leases. The Board of Commissions is working on a cost per acre rate so that the land will be affordable for Wake County farmers.   To Learn More: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article30650067.html

Farmland Investors See Promise in Sustainable Agriculture

Aug 13, 2015 • Land Access Stories • By Agrarian Trust

Ross Wilken and his father Harold Wilken are successfully farming 2,300 acres of diversified, organic crops in the midst of millions of acres of genetically modified corn and soybeans in Illinois.  As Dean Kuipers describes in a recent article, while institutional investors have spent an estimated $25 billion on conventional U.S. farmland over the last decade, the […]

Prices for Agricultural Land Continue to Decline in 2015

Aug 07, 2015 • Land Access Stories • By Agrarian Trust

According to Farmers National Company, an agricultural real estate business based in Nebraska, nationally lower grain prices have caused a reduction in land prices, and this year’s harvest results may impact which direction prices go over the next few years. Additionally, with this slight reduction of land values, some investors are looking at this as […]

Sharemilkers Get Ready for Gypsy Day

May 29, 2015 • Land Access Stories • By Agrarian Trust

Gypsy Day is coming June 1st for the sharemilkers. It marks the end of one season and the beginning of the next. Sharemilkers, like sharecroppers are landless farmers, who move from space to space. Unlike sharecroppers, who can’t take their crop easily from farm to farm, sharemilkers usually own their livestock, and take their cows […]

Law, Land Commons . . . and Sea Urchins

May 29, 2015 • Land Access Stories • By Agrarian Trust

A bit about the law and the land (and us!) from lawyer Janelle Orsi from STIR. The Law of the Land The Spring Issue of STIR digs into the law and the commons, get it here: http://www.stirtoaction.com/issues/issue-09 (Featured Image for this post by Bethan Mure)