Insights

Many existing farmland protection practices create barriers that leave out a variety of farmers, including those who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). In March, farmland conservation allies gathered in Southern Maine for the first time in several years to discuss trends and evolutions in farmland conservation and how the pandemic years’ pressures are shaping new approaches to make our work accessible for a wider variety of farmers. The Northeast Convening for Farmland Access symposium’s goal was for participants to share new tools, stories, and strategies with eachother to promote land access for people who have been left behind by existing farmland protection practices, including young, beginning, low-income, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) farmers.

Keynote Speaker Shirley Sherrod reminded conservation practitioners that today’s land ownership practices stem from colonialism, slavery, redlining, Jim Crow laws, and other forms of oppression against Black people. The co-founder of New Communities in Georgia, one of the country’s first community land trusts, explained how after more than 50 years of struggle against discrimination, New Communities is finally realizing its vision for community empowerment and farming education, welcoming Black, Indigenous, and all community members to join them.

At the convening, land trust leaders shared examples of their work to increase opportunities and farmland access for diverse farmer constituencies. For example, at Maine Farmland Trust (MFT), President & CEO Amy Fisher reflected on how feedback from farmers has spurred the organization to restructure its programs to build stronger, reciprocal partnerships with farmers and meet a broader set of needs. Under its old model, farmers shared they felt as if MFT and other land trusts cared more about protecting the land than about the farmers working it. Others pointed out the “Buy, Protect, Sell” model left farmers who couldn’t quickly access capital out of the picture, while the speed of the transactions left others with land that wasn’t fully suited to their needs. Many farmers preferred leasing the land before buying to determine whether the soil and infrastructure met their needs, which was not part of MFT’s previous offerings.

As a result of learning this, MFT shifted gears and reimagined its easement stewardship program to make its role with farmers more expansive, launching a farmer network to cultivate relationships with and between farmers. By reorganizing its stewardship, farm business planning, climate resilience, and other farmer support programs under one Farm Network umbrella, MFT now approaches stewardship visits as opportunities to learn about the challenges farmers are facing, connect them with resources for support, and build momentum to advocate for policies and programs that address systemic issues. Rather than seeing MFT staff as easement enforcers, farmers have begun to see stewardship staff more like reference librarians there to help them.

In addition, MFT works to find solutions and create new models to increase farmland access for farmers who have been left behind, including BIPOC farmers. By modifying its “Buy, Protect, Sell” program to include long-term lease-to-purchase options at farmland values, MFT can stay in communication with farmers to understand and support their needs as they establish their farm, while providing them with a less financially-risky onramp to ownership, Fisher says. Since a down payment toward the purchase of farmland creates a barrier to affordable farmland, removing that hurdle gives a broader and deeper pool of farmers access to land – along with support resources to help them succeed. For example, MFT worked with the Somali-Bantu farmers of New Roots Cooperative (pictured) in 2015 to help them find suitable farmland, which the farmers leased from the organization until they were able to complete the purchase in January 2022, receiving technical assistance and business planning support along the way.

Stacy Funderburke, Georgia state director of The Conservation Fund, developed the Working Farms Fund, which offers a three-to-five-year lease to farmers with the option to purchase after The Conservation Fund secures public funding to purchase an agricultural conservation easement. This makes buying farmland more affordable, and therefore, more accessible. The Working Farms Fund also expands market opportunities for farmers in the program, connecting them to local hospitals and universities with goals for sustainability and sourcing local food.  A key selling point to institutions was learning that their involvement increased local food and local farmers’ resilience, he said.

Another practice improves access to farming while addressing Vermont Land Trust’s (VLT) goal to help improve the economic viability of farming. In Vermont, more than 65 percent of agricultural sales are for dairy. In response to falling demand for cows’ milk, some dairy farmers are diversifying their operations or converting to other types of farming. VLT’s Farmland Futures Fund enables VLT to buy and hold farmland for three to five years. This approach prevents farmland from being lost, underutilized, or developed when transitioning from one owner to the next. If the land is already conserved for farming, VLT buys the land and leases it to farmers for three to five years at a reduced rate so the farmer can acquire conventional agricultural financing. If the farmland is not protected, VLT buys it, protects it, and then leases it to farmers, again with the goal of transferring ownership within five years.

People left the convening with a long list of ideas that are working, people to contact for guidance, and a deeper understanding of some of the barriers and strategies to promote access for a broader diversity of farmers. At Highstead, here are some of our takeaways on how conservation allies can support BIPOC farmers specifically:

When people with different skills and experiences approach collaboration with a willingness to listen and learn, farmland conservation work can benefit migrant and immigrant farm workers from a variety of cultures. This is the conclusion Mark Wamsley, who manages the Forever Farmland Initiative (FFI), a Regional Conservation Partnership (RCP), has come to as he is nearing the end of a long project that he hopes has a bright future. Coordinated by Kestrel Land Trust, FFI was established in 2009 with a mission to accelerate the pace of farmland conservation in Western Masssachusett’s Connecticut River Valley. The partnership has since expanded its work into improving access to farmland for farmers, increasing the region’s food security, and partnering with migrant, immigrant, and refugee farming communities.

Starting in 2017, representatives from All Farmers, an organization founded with a goal to provide land, training, and representation for refugee and immigrant farmers, began attending FFI meetings. All Farmers works with farmers from various African and Asian countries like Somalia, Kenya, Bhutan, and Vietnam, and wanted to find points of synergy with the land trust community. As she attended the meetings, Hannah Spare, executive director of All Farmers, noted that land trusts were skilled in land transactions and searching for and conserving farmland. Realizing these were essential services that could help secure land for the farmers they represented, All Farmers began a working relationship with FFI. This newly formed partnership challenged FFI to shift its perspective and look at land and collaboration in new ways. They reached out to new communities, connected with local colleges to enlist GIS-mapping students in helping with land searches, and more. Initially, FFI had trouble finding and securing the type of property All Farmers needed in suitable locations, but the setbacks allowed the two groups to look at a number of other properties they hadn’t previously considered.

They first succeeded in securing the Dewey Street Property in West Springfield, seven acres of farmland located on a bus line. Though it was small, had some wetlands, and was certainly not the “end-all-be-all” land All Farmers was looking for, Spare realized the land was easily accessible, fairly secluded, primed for small family garden plots, and could be ideal for meeting the needs of some of the farmers. The funds needed to purchase the land were secured when a representative from Eversource Energy reached out to Wamsley to inquire about a mitigation project. Eversource was looking to conserve property with wetlands, and Wamsley informed the representative about All Farmers and the Dewey Street Property. After several conversations between Wamsley and Eversource, the company offered All Farmers the funding needed to acquire and conserve the property. Following this success, FFI and All Farmers were also able to find the type of prime property they had originally set out to secure in a nearby town. Though initially not for sale, persistence brought progress, and they are hoping to close on the land by Summer 2023. 

Wamsley attributed the evolution of the relationship between Kestrel Land Trust and All Farmers – which was forged through FFI – to putting in the effort. “It’s taken a lot of persistence, a lot of hours, a lot of collaboration, and a lot of learning,” he said. Overall, the land trust movement has not equitably and appropriately served urban communities whose landscape and policies can be vastly different from the more suburban and rural communities that many are used to working with, he said. 

During the early stages of their partnership with All Farmers, Kestrel had the opportunity to collaborate with another organization that had similar goals. The land trust was fortunate to acquire a small piece of farmland in Hatfield, Massachusetts through a donation. Hoping to secure land for the food industry and migrant farm workers they serviced, a representative from Pioneer Valley Workers Center (PVWC) reached out to FFI and inquired about the land. PVWC’s mission involves building community and affecting real change in the lives of low-wage and immigrant workers, primarily from Mexico and countries throughout Central America. The organization leased the farmland through Kestrel, which helped them license an adjacent city-owned parcel in Northampton, and together with a group of farmers, called Riquezas del Campo, developed La Colmena Community Farm. This community farm, consisting of a farm co-op, community garden, and more, is used by PVWC to grow more than 30 types of culturally appropriate vegetables, berries, flowers, and perennial native plants. While building a relationship with PVWC, one of the main benefits that stood out to Wamsley was equity and accessibility.  

“Many of the farmers had previously worked on high-end, local, organic farms, but they weren’t able to afford the crops they worked so hard to produce,” he said. “So having their own farmland where they could grow and harvest their own crops was critical.” With access to this property, at least 20 families will be able to grow the majority of their family’s vegetables for the whole year. As the organization has grown in capacity, Riquezas del Campo is now looking ahead to its own, sustainable future on the land and has begun negotiating to take over as the farm’s lease holder.

Partnering with PVWC, All Farmers, and the diverse communities they serve has been a valuable learning process, Wamsley said. “We are constantly faced with the question of, ‘What are the different needs and abilities of the communities we’re working with?’ Some have cars; some don’t. Some are happy to drive 45 minutes to farmland; others don’t have that type of time available. Some want to grow food to feed themselves and their families; others want to grow a business and build equity,” he said. “There are differences in languages, cultures, perspectives, and goals, and we’re learning what it looks like to take time and learn about the communities we’re serving so we can all do the best work possible.”

While partnering to improve food and farmland security for these communities is still a fairly new endeavor for FFI, Wamsley’s humble advice to RCPs interested in land justice work is to make sure your meetings are welcoming before you reach out. “RCPs provide a great forum for people and groups with a variety of interests to come together, but don’t expect everyone to come to you. Find groups and communities you think could benefit and see if they’re willing to start engaging in conversations with you. Work on pursuing and building those relationships, with listening playing an important role,” he said. “Once you begin understanding the needs and goals of different communities, which is a process, it enables RCPs to begin assessing where common ground exists and how their technical assistance can prove useful.”