Land Access for Next Generation Farmers
We hope to see you at one of these upcoming events! Our team and advisors will be at workshops, conferences, gatherings and more over the next 30 days in the following states: Colorado North Carolina Maine Massachusetts New Hampshire We
2018 marked the hundred-year anniversary of the privatization of the San Pedro Land grant, the place where I was born and still call home. It is an arid piece of high desert, covered in piñon and juniper, located in the eastern and northern foothills of the Sandia Mountains in central New Mexico. It was an anniversary no one marked publicly, not even the heirs to the land still living in San Antonito, the village just down the road. It is part of a story lost, for the most part, to so-called progress.
This October, Agrarian Trust is spotlighting the farmers and ranchers who put food on our plates, the advocates who support equitable land tenure and community commons based ownership, and the collaborations that are creating the local Agrarian Commons across the U.S.
Agrarian Commons closely resemble community land trusts, but they are unique in that they work collectively to provide long-term affordable and equitable access of small and mid-sized farms.
We hope your season has been as full of growth and sweetness as a burgeoning garden or a buzzing beehive. We’ve been just as busy developing relationships and making new connections to build the framework for an Agrarian Commons.
The Creation of Local Agrarian Commons In the next two decades alone, it’s estimated that across the US, over 400 million acres of farmland will change ownership. The Agrarian Trust is a nonprofit organization that works tirelessly to ensure that tomorrow’s farmers have access
“Agrarian Trust, a nonprofit committed to supporting land access for the next generation of farmers, is experimenting with community-controlled land commons to collectively and democratically own the land, while giving 99-year leases to regenerative farmers. This model prioritizes broader community involvement and investment in local farms, while giving farmers long-term land security and equity interests so that they can fully commit to restoring the land over many decades.”
Our founding board member Severine von Tscharner Fleming inspires us to consider the question, “What does the land want?” in her latest talk as a Fellow with the Edmund Hillary Fellowship based in New Zealand.