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ACTIVE FUNDRAISER: "Middle Tennessee Agrarian Commons Farm Acquisition" Donate
Organic and CSA farms creating legacy and cultivating food, culture, and agrarian connections to the Nashville foodshed and the Middle Tennessee region. This region encompasses counties that are among both the ten wealthiest and the ten poorest in the country.
Middle Tennessee Agrarian Commons
Interactive Map of the Agrarian Commons Get the full experience on Google Earth
Land Acknowledgement
The Middle Tennessee 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 renewing our relationships with Indigenous peoples, and supporting Indigenous sovereignty through word and action. Please visit native-land.ca to learn the names and histories of the Yuchi, Shawnee, Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Choctaw, Seneca, and Chickasaw peoples who live here in Middle Tennessee. Visit the Native History Association to learn about the forced march of the Cherokee and Creek peoples on the Trail of Tears, which passed directly through this area.
Legal Statement
The Middle Tennessee 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 The Middle Tennessee 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.
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ACTIVE FUNDRAISER: "Middle Tennessee Agrarian Commons Farm Acquisition" Donate
Home to thousands of small and midscale farms as well as the fast-growing Nashville metro area, Middle Tennessee is blessed with more than 3 million acres of green space, including forests, parks, and wetlands. A third of those acres are farmland. Of this total green space, only about 15 percent is protected by way of tools such as conservation easements—yet a 2012 USDA Soil Survey found that some of the state’s most highly productive agricultural soils are in the ten-county region. In addition, the state’s waterways are threatened by pollutants carried by runoff into rivers, lakes, and streams.
Land, History & Community
The Middle Tennessee Agrarian Commons is working with local farmers to preserve the agrarian landscape in this region while making farming a viable profession for the next generation of young, diverse farmers. Through holding, preserving, and giving farmers equitable access to farmland via 99-year ground leases, we can collectively help ensure the equitable transition of farmland to those excluded from secure land access.
The region’s unprecedented population growth represents a unique opportunity to connect new communities to the region’s organic and sustainably produced abundance, while stewarding precious acreage and supporting the local economy.
Structure
ACTIVE FUNDRAISER: "Middle Tennessee Agrarian Commons Farm Acquisition" Donate
Model
Local Agrarian Commons Board
FARMERS & STEWARDS
Jeff Poppen (the “Barefoot Farmer”)
COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS
AGRARIAN TRUST
Miranda Christy
Tennessee Attorney
Eliza Spellman Taylor
Kristina Rossi Villa
FEEL FREE TO CONTACT US:
Founding Farms, Ranches, & Agricultural Organizations
Long Hungry Creek Farm
Year established: 1984
Farm size: 280 acres
Employees: 3
Farm practices: Organic, biodynamic
Products: Cattle and mixed vegetable production
PARTNERS & ALLIES
BELLS BEND CONSERVATION CORRIDOR
THE LAND TRUST FOR TENNESSEE
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ACTIVE FUNDRAISER: "Middle Tennessee Agrarian Commons Farm Acquisition" Donate
The Middle Tennessee Agrarian Commons is focused on Middle Tennessee within the Nashville foodshed. Middle Tennessee is home to approximately 1 million acres of farmland. As of 2019, less than 10 percent of that farmland was protected. By 2016, according to researchers at the University of Tennessee, more than 120,000 acres of land in Middle Tennessee’s ten counties had been converted, largely from green, open, and agrarian landscapes to subdivisions and commercial real estate serving the growing metro population. Approximately 55,000 acres of farm and forest land have been lost to development since 1999, according to a report commissioned by Cumberland Region Tomorrow and prepared by researchers at the University of Tennessee.
Statewide Facts
10,874,238 acres
AMOUNT OF FARMLAND
106 farms (acreage unknown)
ACRES FARMED ORGANICALLY
69,983
TOTAL NUMBER OF FARMS
155
AVERAGE ACREAGE PER FARM
113,599
# OF FARM OPERATORS/PRODUCERS
100,555
PREVIOUS # OF FARM OPERATORS/PRODUCERS
58
AVERAGE AGE OF FARMER
22.9
# AVERAGE YEARS ON FARM
30,953
BEGINNER FARMERS
40% earn >$10,000/yr
FARM INCOME
$3,800/acre
AVERAGE FARM REAL ESTATE VALUE
FARMER DEMOGRAPHICS
Female farmers: 40,097
Male farmers: 73,502
White farmers: 111,050
Farmers of color: 2,549
American Indian or Alaska Native farmers: 329
Hispanic, Latino or Spanish-origin farmers: 1,205
Black farmers: 1,372
Asian farmers: 211
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander farmers: 24
TOP AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS BY SALES
- Soybeans
- Cattle and calves
- Poultry and Eggs
- Corn
- Nursery, greenhouse, floriculture, and sod
- Cotton
- Other field crops including hay
- Milk from cows
- Tobacco
- Vegetables, melons, potatoes, and sweet potatoes
Additional Facts and Resources
Food Insecurity & Hunger
According to the latest study, released in 2019, 13.3 percent of Middle Tennessee residents are food insecure. This is above the 12.9 percent national average.
Feeding America: Food Insecurity in Tennessee
Farmland loss:
55,000 acres in Middle Tennessee (1999–2016)
Number of people who move to the Nashville metro area every day: 82
Proportion of Tennessee waterways that are polluted: 40 percent
Proportion of state waters that cannot support a healthy population of fish and other aquatic wildlife: 30 percent
Resources on Tennessee Agriculture
- Ken Meter, Crossroads Resource Center, and Megan Phillips Goldenberg, New Growth Associates, Metro Nashville Food System Assessment, report, 2017
- Ken Meter, Crossroads Resource Center, Farming & Food in Nashville and Tennessee, presentation, 2014
- State of Tennessee Department of Agriculture: Tennessee Agriculture Summary Reports
Recommended Reading
Radio, Film & Exhibitions
- Videos from the 2020 Tennessee Local Food Summit
- Episodes of the Nashville public television program Volunteer Gardener, including “Nitrogen,” “No Lawn, Just Garden,” “Growing Peanuts,” and many more, which feature Jeff Poppen of Long Hungry Creek Farm
- Savannah Roth, Tennessee’s Native American History: From Removal to Present Day in Tennessee
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ACTIVE FUNDRAISER: "Middle Tennessee Agrarian Commons Farm Acquisition" Donate
