Transitioning land to a new generation

Sustaining local farms and farmland is a sound community investment, as it ensures the public will continue to receive the multiple benefits of agriculture. This involves protecting a strategic land base, providing property tax relief for farmland owners, supporting the business of farming and investing in agricultural and community economic development.

New Project Aims to Keep New England's Farmland in Farming
Building on work done through the New England Commission on Land Conservation and its Farm and Food Security Initiative, American Farmland Trust is bringing together farmland experts from around New England to explore ways in which the region might work collaboratively to keep farmland in farming. The six New England state “Chief Agricultural Officers” and the six state USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Offices are key partners in this effort, as is Land For Good. The project will include a “shop talk” for farmland protection practitioners and a convening for farm and conservation stakeholders, federal and state agencies, and public and private funders. Cris Coffin, New England Director at American Farmland Trust, believes that regional collaboration is critical to retaining and growing the region’s farmland base. “Every state in the region is in some stage of farm and food system planning and, not surprisingly, land access and availability are emerging as key and common needs,” says Coffin. “We will be better able to tackle these challenges at the state level if we learn and work together as a region.”

Farmland Advisors Training Program
The transfer of farms to a new generation is one of the biggest challenges facing agriculture in New York and New England.  Farmland Advisors is a training program to help agriculture and conservation professionals become an effective resource in helping farmers and farmland owners as they seek access to land and navigate the complexity of farm transfers. “Participants will learn about everything from farm succession planning to farm linking, lease options and land conservation as a farm transfer strategy,” said Diane Held, Senior New York Field Manager for American Farmland Trust. “Land access and availability are increasingly impacting farms and food systems in the region,” added New England Director Cris Coffin, “Working with professionals across the Northeast will help to meet these challenges at the state level.”  Applications are now being accepted. The deadline to apply is October 31.

Sustaining Agriculture in Urbanizing Counties
Led by Dick Esseks at the University of Nebraska, we conducted a study that identified what it takes to create viable agriculture in areas facing substantial development pressures.  The report features detailed county case studies that include chapters on farmland protection, marketing, production inputs and the outlook for the future.

Farms for the Future
In 2008 we released Farms for the Future: Massachusetts’ Investments in Farmland Conservation.  The report includes a review of state programs that are saving farmland, protecting the environment and helping improve farm viability. It recommends a number of actions to improve and complement these programs.  The report provided the basis for a Statewide Farmland Protection Forum where over 60 farmers, legislators, representatives from farm and conservation organizations and state agency officials discussed new land protection and conservation finance tools.

Demonstrating Fiscal Benefits of Farmland
Farmland and open space are positive contributors to local government budgets. We developed the Cost of Community Services (COCS) method to determine the fiscal contribution of existing community land uses. More than 130 COCS studies conducted by American Farmland Trust and others nationwide provide compelling evidence that farm, forest and open lands generate more local tax revenues than they require back in public services.


  Cost of Community Services Studies: Making the Case for Conservation

Keeping New England Farmland in Farming
The New England Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission has issued a report recommending ways to ensure the future of the region’s agriculture.  We will be working with the Commission and the six state Departments of Agriculture to move these valuable recommendations forward.