New Flemish Land Access Initiative
A recently established cooperative aims to purchase or acquire usage rights over land, and subsequently renting it out to to farmland to small-scale, short-chain organic farmers in Flanders. Its main goal is to provide professional farmers with an opportunity to gain firmer footing in today’s agricultural system through durable (long-term) usage agreements. In so doing, De […]
Featured Resource: New Study on Land Access and Beginning Farmers in Coastal California
A new study published by The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development (FAFSCD) investigates land access. Read the entire study Land Trusts and Beginning Farmers’ Access to Land: Exploring the Relationships in Coastal California by Jessica Beckett and Ryan E. Galt Published online March 13, 2014 Abstract This paper examines relationships between beginner […]
Experience Speaks: Alternatives to Farm Ownership
Alternatives to Ownership: Land Trusts as Land Reform by Robert Swann In those countries where traditional land reform (redistribution of land to private owners as initiated by the central state – examples in Japan, Taiwan, Iran some South American countries, etc) has taken place, redistribution of land has resulted in some cases (Taiwan for instance) […]
Featured Resource: Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund
The Federation of Southern Cooperatives was founded in 1967. The following is from their website and explains their history and mission: In the four decades since the founding of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, there has been significant work, participation and development of low income people and their communities. There are three major themes of […]
Agrarian Trust and Allies in the News
By Michael Levitin from NationofChange.org There’s a new currency here called Bay Bucks that’s helping businesses trade in services and get off the dollar. There’s a new agriculture-tech startup called CropMobster helping redistribute excess produce and cut down on food waste. And a new electricity provider, Sonoma Clean Power, just flipped on the switch May 1 to supply tens of […]
Plans to Develop Shelved in RI: Land Returns to Agriculture
By Richard Salit from the Providence Journal Plans to convert historic Di Meo farm in Johnston into housing duplexes upset conservationists and forced the farmer leasing the land to relocate out of state earlier this year. But now Michael Di Meo, owner of the property, has shelved his plans to develop the land and is […]
Farming Without Profit: NPR Looks at Part-time Farmers
Listen to the Story by Dan Charles from NPR Every five years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture carries out a census of farmers: who they are, and what they are doing on their farms. The agency just released the , and it’s a feast for all ag geeks. And here’s the very first, most basic […]
Getting More Access for Agriculture on Protected Land
From Land for Good: A regional coalition to support sustainable food systems is partnering with LFG to work on significant local farmland access projects over the next year. The project proposes to improve access to farmland and provide more secure land tenure for farm seekers in Cheshire County, describes the Monadnock Farm and Community Coalition […]
Town of Amherst, MA Proposes Incubator Program
By Diane Lederman from MassLive AMHERST – Town Meeting has supported spending Community Preservation Act money to help buy a nearly 20-acre parcel of land of Belchertown Road that the town plans to use for myriad agricultural and resource protection projects. Last November, the meeting rejected the request to spend $41,785 in Community Preservation Act […]
New Food First Backgrounder Addresses Land Reform and Resistance in the United States
OAKLAND, Calif., May 1, 2014 – The disastrous effects of widespread land grabbing and land concentration sweeping the globe do not affect all farmers equally. The degree of vulnerability to these threats is highest for smallholders, women and people of color—the ones who grow, harvest, process and prepare most of the world’s food. A new […]