Images of Progress – 2014 Our Land Symposium
In April of 2014, the Our Land Symposium brought together farmers, thinkers, land and legal experts and those who do it all or anything in between. See some images from the gathering here and stay tuned for what’s next!
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) […]
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 […]
Educational Farm May Gain More Land: Voters Make Decision
By Scott Mitchell Johnson of the Presque Isle Star-Herald PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The approval of a special article at the May 14 district budget meeting would add 34 acres to the SAD 1 Educational Farm. According to Superintendent Gehrig Johnson, the district has been approached by a local investment group that is offering to […]
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 […]
Wood Colony Feels Urban Pressure
From The New York Times by Patricia Lee Brown MODESTO, Calif. — Farmers and other residents of the rural district known as Wood Colony refer to the 110-year-old arboreal landmark in their midst — a gigantic walnut tree of Grimm’s fairy-tale proportions — as, simply, the Tree. To many people in this unincorporated community, settled […]
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 […]
Video: Wes Jackson Speaking at OUR LAND Symposium
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 […]