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About
The Confluence Agrarian Commons is working with people to preserve the agrarian landscape in northern Virginia and beyond, while creating an equitable, land-based community for the next generation of young farmers, healers, and activists. Through holding, preserving, and giving people equitable access to land via 99-year ground leases, we can collectively help ensure the equitable transition of farmland to those historically disenfranchised from secure land access in the region near the meeting of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers.
Interactive Map of the Agrarian Commons Get the full experience on Google Earth
Land Acknowledgement
Confluence Agrarian Commons is located on traditional and ancestral lands of a number of Indigenous peoples and nations, who have lived in relationship with these lands since time immemorial. We honor their elders, past and present. Much of this land is unceded, and in many cases, these territories were stolen, seized, or otherwise acquired through genocidal actions of the state, colonizers, and settlers.
As an organization primarily of settlers, we are committed to supporting Indigenous sovereignty through word and action. Please visit native-land.ca to learn the names and histories of the Siouan peoples who lived here in so-called northern Virginia.
Legal Statement
The Confluence Agrarian Commons is organized and shall be operated exclusively for the purpose of holding title to property, collecting income therefrom, and turning the entire amount, less expenses to the AGRARIAN LAND TRUST within the meaning of Section 501(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the “Code”). Agrarian Land Trust, the parent corporation of Confluence Agrarian Commons, is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(a) and described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Code.
Community
The Confluence Agrarian Commons is working with people to preserve the agrarian landscape while creating an equitable, land-based community for the next generation of young farmers, healers, and activists. Through holding, preserving, and giving people equitable access to land via 99-year ground leases, we can collectively help ensure the equitable transition of farmland to those historically disenfranchised from secure land access in the region.
Why Support Confluence Agrarian Commons?
Confluence Agrarian Commons is raising money to contribute to radically accessible, sustainable, land-based relational communities in and around Virginia. Some of these initiatives include:
- Radically affordable, energy-efficient housing for BIPOC community members, both on this parcel of land and for BIPOC people at other land trusts
- Reforestation of the land
- Holistic community education, including a forest and garden school, and immersive land-based experiences for youth and adults of all backgrounds
- A Black-led, cooperative, sliding-scale community café
- Income- and wealth-sharing models that address racialized, intergenerational wealth disparities, which could inspire sister communities
- Community-engaged, community-building arts events—open mics, cob oven pizza parties, land-based theater and puppetry
Stay tuned for fundraising opportunities or contribute today.
Land, History & Community
Confluence Agrarian Commons is made up of land near the meeting of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers—a site of gathering, ceremony, and trade for the Indigenous Siouan tribes of the Manahoac, Monacan, Massawomeck, Saponi, and Tutelo, as well as for Algonquian and Iroquois peoples from across the eastern seaboard, for thousands of years.
This land was conceived of as “property” by distant British landlords, who sold off pieces of it, including the piece where the Confluence Agrarian Commons sits, without permission to own it, let alone sell it. Those who thought they could own this land went on to engage in the violent trade of enslaving humans. So this rich, fertile soil was tended and stewarded for over 100 years by enslaved African men, women, and children. Many fled north during and after the Civil War and others created communities around Loudoun County.
In 1973, a local family purchased the land as part of a growing, family-run vegetable farm that at the time was a decade old, and today still serves the Washington, DC, metro region with ecoganic vegetables. Since 2017, 20 acres of this land has been stewarded by Rhize Home Community, which, together with the farm-owning family and Agrarian Trust, is responsible for transitioning the land into Confluence Agrarian Commons.
Shifting land from private, family ownership to a commons is a crucial step in the journey of the land becoming more accessible to people of different backgrounds, as well as honoring its history. They are also deeply committed to continuing to resource kindred communities, particularly BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) communities, so that people can return to land in healing, empowering, and nourishing ways.
Structure
Model
Local Agrarian Commons Board
FARMERS & STEWARDS
Four members of the Rhize Home Community*
COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS
Four members of the Rhize Home Community*
AGRARIAN TRUST
Eliza Spellman Taylor
FEEL FREE TO CONTACT US:
Founding Farms, Ranches, & Agricultural Organizations
Local Agrarian Commons Documents
Bylaws
Articles of Incorporation (in process)
Land Lease (in process)
PARTNERS & ALLIES
Confluence Agrarian Commons is part of a network of neighboring farms and related businesses stewarding 400 acres in Loudoun County in northern Virginia. These farms encompass a diversity of products, including vegetables, organic flowers, and dairy.
The Rhize Home Community supports partnerships with nonprofits in the Washington, DC, area to donate food requested from low-income DC communities.
Learn
Statewide Facts
7,797,979
AMOUNT OF FARMLAND
212 farms, acres unknown
ACRES FARMED ORGANICALLY
43,225
TOTAL NUMBER OF FARMS
181
AVERAGE ACREAGE PER FARM
70,594
# OF FARM OPERATORS/PRODUCERS
PREVIOUS # OF FARM OPERATORS/PRODUCERS
58
AVERAGE AGE OF FARMER
23
# AVERAGE YEARS ON FARM
18,957
BEGINNER FARMERS
Farm average income: $19,306
FARM INCOME
$4,620/acre
AVERAGE FARM REAL ESTATE VALUE
FARMER DEMOGRAPHICS
Female farmers: 25,509
Male farmers: 45,085
White farmers: 68,053
Farmers of color: 2,997
American Indian or Alaska Native farmers: 168
Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish-origin farmers: 845
Black farmers: 1,693
Asian farmers: 259
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander farmers: 32
TOP AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS BY SALES
- Poultry and eggs
- Cattle and calves
- Milk from cows
- Nursery, greenhouse, floriculture, and sod
- Soybeans
- Corn
- Other field crops including hay
- Vegetables, melons, potatoes, and sweet potatoes
- Tobacco
- Hogs
Additional Facts and Resources
Land ownership: upward of 90 percent of land in Loudoun County is in private, white ownership.
The farmland loss in Virginia from 2001 to 2016 was 339,800 acres.
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