Julia Freedgood directs American Farmland Trust’s (AFT’s) Technical Assistance and Land Protection divisions. In this capacity, she oversees AFT’s Farmland Information Center; Community Planning Services; Education and Outreach including AFT’s national conference, publications and training; and direct land protection including management of two farms and monitoring and enforcement of AFT’s agricultural conservation easements.

Freedgood is a national leader in providing services to communities that range from developing farmland protection programs to planning for agriculture. She was AFT’s program leader for the rural strategy as part of a consulting team that updated the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, growth management plan, Envision Lancaster, which was awarded the 2006 Outstanding Planning Award by the Pennsylvania Planning Association.  Other recent projects include Maryland’s Statewide Plan for Agricultural Policy and Resource Management, a Farming Program Plan for Agriculture and Endangered Species in San Diego, California and plans to support agriculture and protect farmland in the Suisun Valley, Maryland’s eastern shore, and Pennsylvania’s Berks and Schuykill Counties.

Another area of Freedgood’s expertise that has resulted in national recognition is a form of fiscal analysis known as Cost of Community Services (COCS) studies. She formalized the approach into a standardized methodology in the early 1990s and was the principal investigator of Does Farmland Protection Pay? The Cost of Community Services in Three Massachusetts Towns, which won several achievement awards. More recently, Freedgood has developed alternative approaches to evaluating the fiscal benefits of farmland including an approach to assessing the costs of preservation versus development and a capital spending study for the State of Delaware.

Freedgood has written, edited and produced numerous other publications, including Cost of Community Services Studies: Making the Case for Conservation, evaluating 15 years of COCS studies by AFT and others, a 334-page guidebook, Saving American Farmland: What Works and Your Land is Your Legacy: A Guide to Planning for the Future of Your Farm. She also produced AFT’s critically acclaimed video documentary, “Farmland Forever” and is the author of numerous articles on agriculture and farmland protection.

Before joining AFT in 1989, Freedgood was executive director of the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers’ Markets and a researcher for a project at Tufts University School of Nutrition Science and Policy called “Sustaining Agriculture Near Cities.” Prior to that, she worked at the New England Farm Center in various capacities from education and outreach to researching agricultural markets and managing a direct marketing program for lamb and wool products.

Freedgood received a Master’s degree from the School of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University in 1988 and a Bachelor’s degree in U.S. social and economic history from Hampshire College in 1978. Currently a member of the town of Chesterfield’s Conservation Commission, she also has served on the town’s Open Space and Community Development committee. Examples of other professional appointments include: faculty associate with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, officer of the Hilltown Land Trust and Advisory Council member for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program and the Sustainable Agriculture Network.