Our Good Work                                                                 Summer 2014 
We hope you're enjoying the fruits of your summer labors. Here at Land For Good, our mid-summer bumper crop includes resources and event reports on farm transfer planning and farm linking, as well as upcoming training and workshops.
 

Our staff continues to meet with farm seekers eager to apply what they have learned toward their land search or tenure negotiation. With a nine-organization consortium, LFG co-hosts the New England Farmland Finder website that is making it easier for hundreds of farm seekers and farm property holders to find each other.

 

In the first half of 2014, over 120 farm seekers, family farmers, and landowners have received individual help from our field agents at no-cost. And we trained over 425 people in a dozen workshops. We'll keep bringing you more training opportunities, stories and lessons from the field, along with tools that help get and keep more farmers on the land. 


If you value farmers, working farms and a resilient food system, please make a donation to support this work.

 

Together can we gain more ground for farmers and the healthy, working landscape that we all love.

 
Kathy  

Kathy Ruhf
Executive Director
Land For Good
kathy@landforgood.org

successionFarm transfer planning saves working farms
We help farmers create a working farm legacy.

Most farmers would agree they want to exit comfortably from farming and successfully transfer their farm to the next generation or to a non-family successor. Securing their farm legacy means finding the right advisors and making a thoughtful and timely transfer plan.

 

Read more about farm transfer planning in Passing It On (Farming) and Transferring a Farm from One Generation or Owner to Another (AgriView).

 

Last month over two dozen farmers attended a Farm Succession Info Night in Greenfield MA to learn the steps for planning their farm transfer. For several farmers, a major challenge is to identify a likely successor. Our staff, some of whom are farmers, have helped hundreds of farmers and farm families fashion innovative solutions that keep their farms in farming and provide a meaningful legacy. 

 

Read more in the full blog post

 

linking Maine farm linking event like speed dating?
Jo Barrett, 
Our Maine Field Agent

A top problem for the new wave of beginning farmers is access to farms and farmland. And while non-farming landowners already make up 90% of the 20,000 landowners that lease active farmland in New England, a growing number of non-farming landowners want to support farming and food security by making land available.

  

This summer, farm seekers got to meet face-to-face with landowners at a summer FarmLink Mixer in Benton, ME organized by the Maine FarmLink program of the Maine Farmland Trust (MFT). A panel presentation was followed by the "speed dating" portion of the event, which allowed land seekers and landowners to introduce themselves, share information about their farm, vision and goals, and trade contact information. 


 

Our Maine Field Agent, Jo Barrett, was one of three panelists. Jo works closely with MFT and the Journey Persons program of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) by participating in application screening, providing land access readiness training and support, and helping develop tenure arrangements and agreements.

 

landtrustsTraining opportunity for land trusts on farmland access and affordability
Peck farm 1

Protecting farmland for the next generation.

The innovation and leadership demonstrated by several New England land trusts have created new possibilities for helping the next generation of farmers succeed.

 

National Young Farmers Coalition and Equity Trust (Amherst MA) are convening a national training and working group to help land trusts adopt farmland affordability and access strategies.The one-day, in-person training will take place on September 21, 2014 from 8:30 am - 4:00 pm in Providence, RI before the annual Land Trust Rally. The training is aimed at land trust staff committed to protecting working farms and promoting affordability. Apply today! 

 

Read more in the full blog post 


A family-friendly event!

The Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) invites you to attend its 40th annual Summer Conference, August 810 at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. This iconic event features 200 workshops on farming, gardening, land care, nutrition and food politics.

 

Land for Good staff will conduct three workshops in the Farmland and Finance track on farm succession, innovative farm financing, and accessing farmland. Get more details about our workshops.

 

This is a family-friendly event that includes fun workshops for children, organic meals, and budget conscious accommodations, like camping and dorms. Over 100 exhibitors - including Land For Good - offer unique products and services. See you there!

 

For more information and registration, visit nofasummerconference.org. 

 

Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Field Days

The Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance (NODPA) Field Days comes to Stonewall Farm in Keene (NH) on September 25 - 26th. 

 

Kathy Ruhf will join the Stonewall Farm's Executive Director, Josh Cline, and Stonyfield Farm's new Farmer Relationship Manager Kyle Thygesen, in a workshop called "Creating Sustainability through Diversity, and Planning for the Next Generation."

 

This year's program focuses on improving the farm's financial bottom line and the organic dairy's bottom line: the cows. 

 

For more information and registration, visit nopda.com/fielddays. 

 
In This Issue
Have you seen?
How we help farmers gain ground.

Farmland Access in the Berkshires

 

Land access efforts are picking up steam in the Berkshires region of western New England. Watch these videos
to learn more, including Kathy Ruhf's keynote speech that's sophisticated primer on farmland access and why it matters. 
Spotlight

"Thank you for your help to keep our farm for future generations. We could not have succeeded without all the help we received from Land For Good."

June Girouard
Murdock Farm, Winchendon MA

Farm Transfer Tools

 

Check out our Farm Families Toolbox for many farm succession and transfer resources and tools, including a place to find advisors and guides for the junior generation and for farmers without identified successors.

70+ New England Farm Properties Available!

 

Over 70 farm properties are now listed on New England Farmland Finder, the free, regional farm listing site where farm seekers and property owners connect. 

Three new properties in New Hampshire , Maine, and Vermont just posted within the past week! For example, a Middletown farm (VT) seeks a highly qualified dairy farmer to take over the farm and business under a lease to own arrangement that includes housing, equity, and long-term tenure.  


 

 

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About Us
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Land For Good is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization supported by grants, fees, and your generous donations.  
 
Please donate now to gain ground for farmers and help keep farmland in farming! Thank you.

Land For Good | 603.357.1600 | info@landforgood.org| http://www.landforgood.org
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39 Central Square, Suite 306
Keene NH 03431

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