Beyond Protection: New River Land Trust Builds on Conservation Successes to Pave the Way Toward Farmer-Led Stewardship
The New River Land Trust has been protecting parcels of land in the New River region of southwest Virginia for two decades. The primary mechanisms it has leaned on are conservation easements, which are restrictions put on how land can be used in perpetuity via voluntary contracts entered into by landowners. The land trust has […]
Foodlands Cooperative of British Columbia
If you drive east from Vancouver for about an hour and a half on a Saturday morning, you can join the group of city dwellers, expats, artists and others gathering for the weekend harvest at Abundance Community Farm. “We call it the farmily,” chuckled Amir Niroumand. He purchased the land for Abundance in 2016 as a place for intentional community and collective farming. It was a risky investment – an experiment in communal responsibility – and it worked. Now, Niroumand is thinking about the future.
Agrarian Trust featured in Catalytic Capital and Agriculture
The team at Agrarian Trust is thrilled to see the Agrarian Commons model of community-held farmland featured in a new report on innovative models for agriculture. As the report’s authors explain, “Catalytic capital is traditionally defined as the use of blended finance tools to improve projects’ risk-return profiles to match the requirements of market rate […]
How we fundraised $367,000 in 8 weeks for land justice
Together, we’ve just finished our first farm acquisition fundraiser at Agrarian Trust in support of the Little Jubba Central Maine Agrarian Commons, a new model for community-centered farm ownership.
Agrarian Trust’s First Farm Fundraiser
Agrarian Trust, with the support of our incredible community has launched ten Agrarian Commons, and made significant progress on our first farm fundraiser. We are proud to report that we raised $324,000 in just over one month to support the Little Jubba Central Maine Agrarian Commons…
Could Putting Farmland in the Commons Support Land Justice and Sustainability?
The Agrarian Trust aims to help farmers access land and stay on it, while fostering a system of community supported, environmentally sustainable agriculture.
New Report: “Driving Dispossession: The Global Push to “Unlock the Economic Potential of Land”
Driving Dispossession: The Global Push to “Unlock the Economic Potential of Land,” sounds the alarm on the unprecedented wave of privatization of natural resources that is underway around the world. Through six case studies—Ukraine, Zambia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, and Brazil—the report details the myriad ways by which governments—willingly or under the pressure of financial institutions and Western donor agencies—are putting more land into so-called “productive use” in the name of development.
Agrarian Commons: A New Model for Community-Owned Farmland
On May 4th, 2020, Agrarian Trust announced the launch of a transformative new model for community-based farm and ranch ownership and tenure, the Agrarian Commons. After several years of development and collaborative input, the Agrarian Commons launches in 10 states across the country. Co-founded with 12 farms representing 2,400 acres of diversified agriculture serving local foodsheds […]
How to Win Land Justice in a Decade
By Neil Thapar, Food and Farm Director, Sustainable Economies Law Center Originally posted on the Sustainable Economies Law Center blog This is part two of #DemocratizeDecolonizeDecarbonize, a three-part essay series exploring the Law Center’s work on housing, land, and energy. ICYMI, click here to read the first essay, “Social housing is the only way forward.” This is the […]
Struggles and Strategies of the Farmland Trust Movement Across Europe
In September, I participated in a convening on land access alongside a group of 90 participants from 16 European countries in Chaussy, France and presented on our local Agrarian Commons model. The event was facilitated by Access to Land, a grassroots network of organizations that secures land for agroecological farming. Participants from across Europe attended the […]