Farm Trust
Community Farm Trust
David Harper
www.landincommon.org
Spence Dickinson
www.spencesfarm.com
A new form of Land Trust is emerging; a Community Farm Trust. These trusts offer an important strategy for communities dealing with the root cause of the loss of their productive farms and productive farm land.
Farms in the past were owned in name by one individual but effectively were owned and operated by all the members of the family farm. There were typically 10 to 15 children in an extended family with aunts, uncles and the grandparents living on one farm. One of the children would take over each aspect needed to maintain these independent and sustainable farming communities. Stable rural communities were made up of networks of these family farms lasting for many generations. As shifts in agricultural markets and technology and growing development pressure lead to the breakdown of these communities, land ownership was divided between the aunts & uncles of a family.
By the late 20th century, these farming families started having only 1 or 2 children, and community farms and community farming ended. Farming became a business, not a way of life, and the land and equipment became the farmer’s retirement fund. Because few children of farmers want to continue farming as their business, farmers are forced to sell out in order to secure the funds they need for their retirement and to pay off debt. Entry into farming today is severely limited by prohibitively high land values, equipment and labor costs, and changing markets for farm products.
*photo by Doug Jones
Community Farm Trusts are non-profit organizations established for the purpose of re-establishing, preserving and protecting the “Community Commons.� To be truly sustainable, communities need to value their remaining operating farms, productive farm land and regional forests as irreplaceable resources. By acquiring operating farms, removing them from the speculative market, networking and maintaining them together, a Community Farm Trust can make farms available to a new generation of growers for affordable and sustainable use. This approach benefits the whole community and the individual farmer.
A “Triangle Food Commons� part of “the Piedmont Farming Commons� would offer viable long-term, low-cost leases to its current and future farmers and producers. Many of our local organic and sustainable produce and meat and dairy farms have been developed by and are still being run by the same individuals, many of whom are in their late 50’s or early 60’s and approaching retirement. They care about their land and the community resources they have created. Many are aware that selling development rights and conservation easements, while preserving the rural character of the land, does not preserve the operating farm after they will be gone. They need and want to know that the community benefits they created will be preserved and that the community will take responsibility for the training and the success of its future farmers.
After forming a board, establishing non-profit status, preparing a Strategic Conservation and Maintenance Plan, and raising funds, a Triangle area Community Farm Trust would begin networking with landowners and farmers in the region to acquire land through donation, bargain sale, fee-simple purchase, leases and other strategies. A variety of grant funding options are available to support the protection of local farms as important community assets for food production. This land base for local food production will become vitally important as increasing energy costs and climate change affects national and international food production and distribution. Indian Line Farm CSA/CLT in the Berkshire Mountains of western MA is an important model (www.indianlinefarm.com/history.html).
