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Events and Training

Upcoming Events

Land For Good staff continue to host online mixers, workshops and training across the region with local and regional partners. For Q&A or individual assistance, check our virtual office hours available below. We remain committed to carrying our shared work and mission forward while taking necessary health and safety precautions amid COVID-19 to protect our team and the communities in which we live.

National Farm Viability Conference – Virtual
October 2021
Learn more or Register

  • The conference features an array of virtual programming throughout the month of October focused on strengthening farm sustainability, building more resilient local food systems and supporting the long term profitability of farming and agri-entrepreneurs from start-ups to generational businesses. The conference is also hosting the 10th annual national FIELD School track for incubator and apprenticeship training programs. Originally established by the Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program in 2008, the conference is being hosted virtually for the first time. Who should attend? The conference is geared towards professionals in farm and food business planning, financial planning, agricultural financing, farmland conservation, agricultural market development, and food hub management. The FIELD School track offers professional development for service providers supporting incubator and apprenticeship training programs. Co-hosted by Oregon Tilth and Oregon State University’s Center for Small Farms and Community Food Systems.
  • Land For Good staff will be presenting on creative approaches to farmland access and tenure, farm linking, and ways farmers could approach and finance retirement. Conference registration is required.
  1. Affording Farmland on October 18th. This session dives into the mechanics behind accessing and affording farmland, from the most basic lease or purchase, to some of the more innovative methods farmers are using to secure their land tenure. We discuss capital purchases and financing, collaborative models of farming, and the benefits of a range of farmland access methods. We will also discuss the eight forms of capital to encourage participants to look beyond their financial means as potential resources in the search for accessible, affordable land. This workshop will be most useful for service providers who are not financial professionals themselves (like me), but whose work around land access navigates the “soft skills” end of farmland affordability. Presented by Will O’Meara, Connecticut Field Agent, Land For Good.
  2. Farm Succession Scenarios on October 20th. Discussion of land access options and different farm succession scenarios. Join panelists Benneth Phelps, Director of Farmer Services, Dirt Capital Partners; Jack Hornickel, Esq., Staff Attorney, Pace Law School Food & Beverage Law Clinic; and Mike Ghia, Vermont Field Agent, Land For Good.
  3. Let’s Talk Farm Linking on October 21st. Jae Silverman of Land For Good and New England Farmland finder will be joined by Mallory O’Steen of Georgia Farmlink and Liya Schwartzman of California Farm Link to answer in-depth questions about Farm Linking services. The panelists will share extensive knowledge about their farm linking sites, focusing on common threads and differences between them, and addressing nitty-gritty technical issues as well as big picture programmatic design depending on the audience’s questions. Resources, including Land For Good’s Developing & Strengthening Farm Link Programs guide, will be shared and discussed with audience participants.
  4. Ways Farmers (could) Approach and Finance Retirement on October 27th. The farm succession process is often heavily influenced by the retirement approach of the older generation and their financial ability to consider retirement. When a farmer has not saved for retirement, the sale of farm assets at full market value becomes more important towards the farmer being able to fund retirement. This can limit the options towards making the farm transfer affordable to the new successor farmer. Whereas, farmers who have planned for retirement often have more options and often a longer window to transfer assets. But, like most Americans, farmers often don’t think about retirement until they are on the brink of retiring, and therefore miss opportunities to save long-term. This workshop will look at the ways that farmers approach and finance retirement, typical challenges that come up such as housing for multiple generations and health care, and discuss how to encourage farmers to think and plan for retirement as early as their 20’s and 30’s rather than much later in life. Presented by Mike Ghia, Vermont Field Agent, Land For Good.

NESAWG’S Annual It Takes A Region Conference – Virtual
November 8 – 11, 2021
Learn more or Register

  • This year’s theme is Resistance and Healing Amidst Crisis and Injustice. The conference features an array of virtual programming for anyone doing food system change work in any Northeast state. Hundreds of practitioners convene not only workshops, plenaries, and networking, but to roll up their sleeves and do the real work needed to create a just and fair regional food system. Youth, academics, farmers, advocates, entrepreneurs, and organizers all welcome. Hosted by Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG).
  • Land For Good will be presenting at Plenary 2: Advancing Farmland Ownership and Tenure into the Future; Helping Farmers Gain the Ground They Need to Succeed Through Policy
    The Northeast has some of the most expensive farmland in the country and was the original site of land dispossession. Today, access to land for farming remains especially challenging for new and beginning farmers, Black Farmers, Indigenous Farmers and other Farmers of Color. Taking a concrete look at farmland access policy efforts that are being led at the municipal, state, and federal levels, participants will learn from activists and advocates who are working on the ground to increase farmland access opportunities through policy. Panelists will share perspectives on how to shift the composition of who owns and controls our nation’s farmland. Presented by Chelsea Gazillo, American Farmland Trust; Latha Swamy, City of New Haven; Beverly Little Thunder, Seeding Power VT; Holly Rippon-Butler, National Young Farmers Coalition; and Jim Hafner, Land For Good.

Where We’ve Been

Selected Presentations

  • Sponsor, Facilitator and Opening Remarks, Farmland Access and the Importance of Networks for Service Providers, Beginning Farmer Network of MA (BFN/MA) Fall Forum, Charlton MA, Nov. 2013.
  • Farmland Access, Tenure and Transfer: Conservation Tool and Context, Panel on Working Lands Conservation, 5th Regional Conservation Partnership Gathering, Nashua NH, Nov. 2013
  • Affordability (panel presenter and moderator), Farmland Access and Affordability Forum, Wethersfield CT, Oct. 2013
  • Co-Sponsor, organizer and presenter, New England Farmland Convening, Portsmouth NH, May 2013
  • Agriculture Trends in MA and New England and Land Conservation, Mt. Grace Conservation Land Trust, Athol MA, 2013
  • Land For Good’s Approach to Farmland Access, JUST Land national gathering, Land Stewardship Project, Rochester MN, 2012
  • Access to Land for Beginning Farmers, National Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program Annual Conference, Rochester MN, 2012
  • Leasing Your Protected Farmland for Agricultural Use, Rhode Island Land and Water Summit, Kingston RI, 2010
  • Land Access, Leasing, Land Trusts and More, Drake Agricultural Law Center Forum on Beginning Farmers, Washington DC,, 2010
  • Farm/Ranch Succession Education, Programs and Services, Changing Lands, Changing Hands national conference, Denver CO, 2009
  • Farmland Access and Transfer, Georgia Organics, Atlanta, GA 2009
  • Annual conference, Massachusetts Association of Agriculture Commissions 2009.
  • What’s the Plan for the Farm?, Michigan Land Use Institute, Traverse City MI, 2007
  • Challenges and Opportunities for Small and Beginning Farmers, Small and Beginner Farmers of NH conference, October 2007