Farm Aid has been a reliable supporter of Land For Good since 2013, when we first expanded our services to offer no and low cost assistance to retiring farmers and farm seekers. Their gift this year will support us in our goal to help 30-50 New England farmers gain or improve secure tenure on farmland in 2025.
We’re grateful to be part of this “bigger we” – a growing movement of organizations and individuals committed to keeping farmland in the hands of farmers for generations to come.
Farm Aid was started forty years ago, in 1985, by Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp. The purpose of this fundraising concert was to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on the land. Every year since then, the nonprofit has held a concert to raise money for farmers and organizations who support farmers. In total, Farm Aid has raised over $80 million dollars towards these efforts.
This past September, I had the privilege to attend Farm Aid’s annual concert and pre-festival events in Saratoga Springs, NY. Thursday was full of farm tours. Friday was the all day Farmer Forum, themed A Rural Call to Action for All. The Farmer Forum featured panels addressing key challenges facing family farms: climate change and disaster relief, land access and heirs’ property, and strategies for building rural power through media and coalitions.
Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, delivered a powerful keynote address at the forum, reminding us that we must “build a bigger we – that is how we all get free.” His words perfectly capture both the challenge and the opportunity in farmland access work today.
Land For Good is proud of our work helping New England farmers gain secure land tenure. We also know we’re just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Throughout the forum, I was inspired by the many organizations tackling farmland access from different angles.
Kenya Crumel shared how the National Black Food and Justice Alliance is working to reclaim 15 million acres through their Resource Commons, a non-extractive loan fund helping farmers acquire land. The Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust, represented by Robert Chang, is building new models for community-controlled land access. Angela Ferguson described how her organization, Braiding the Sacred, has facilitated the return of farmland to Indigenous communities, with some farmers choosing to give their land back to tribal nations rather than see it developed or corporately owned.
These organizations, and many others, remind us that ensuring equitable farmland access requires multiple approaches and deep collaboration. Whether we’re helping retiring farmers plan for succession, supporting new farmers in accessing their first parcels, preserving Indigenous agricultural traditions, or preventing land loss in communities of color, we’re all part of expanding farmland access to more farmers.
Farm Aid’s support of this diverse ecosystem of organizations shows their understanding that building rural power requires all of us working together.
