Meeting on farmland conservation and access

New Hampshire Coalition for Sustaining Agriculture
Monday, March 7th
9am to 11am

Located at:
The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests
54 Portsmouth Street
Concord, NH 03301

The focus is on farmland conservation and access.

First on the agenda is a discussion of the recently concluded Installment Purchase Agreement study and what needs to be done in order to make this land conservation tool available to farmers and municipalities in NH.

Second, learn more about the Land Access Project, a multi-year, multi-state, multi-organizational effort to facilitate farmer access to farmland in our region.  (see note below)

The Land Access Project

Access to land is one of the most pressing challenges facing New England’s beginning farmers. Land Here! Assuring Access to Land for New England’s Beginning Farmers (the Land Access Project) tackles the land access issue from all angles.  This 2.5-year project, funded by a grant to Land for Good from USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, brings collaborating partners from agencies and organizations in the six New England states to:

1. Prepare and support beginning farmers to acquire land (increase “readiness”);
2. Help farmers and landowners find and engage each other;
3. Help landowners (individuals, families, corporations, land conservation organizations) and farmers develop rewarding tenure agreements;
4. Make more agricultural land available;
5. Help exiting farmers successfully transfer their farms and farmland to new farmers; and
6. Create, test, and encourage innovative secure and affordable acquisition and tenure arrangements and partnerships.

The Land Access project is organized into task forces to:

1. Improve the way farm seekers and farmland holders find one another,
2. Increase successful farm transfers from retiring to entering farmers,
3. Increase the amount of land held by private, institutional and public non-farming landowners available for beginners to farm,
4. Expand the use of innovative tenure models and agreements to enable more beginning farmers to access secure and affordable land and housing.

For more information contact SPNHF.