Resources

Advising & Supporting Farmers

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How To Find, Assess and Secure Farmland

Plain language guide provides clear, straightforward, and accessible text to help you confidently act upon what is learned. LFG and New Entry Sustainable Farming Project.
By Land For Good PDF

Cómo Encontrar, Evaluar y Conseguir Tierras de Cultivo

Una guía de lenguaje llano. LFG and New Entry Sustainable Farming Project.
By Land For Good PDF

Where Do I Start? Making My Land Available for Farming

Short worksheet focusing on big picture thinking and a framework to examine land goals, current situation, and other considerations.
By Land For Good Worksheet

Where Do I Start? Farm Succession Planning

Use this workbook to explore what you already know, consider the bigger picture, and get ready to take action.
By Land For Good Worksheet

Farmland Leasing for Private Landowners

Brief introduction to the issues you need to think about and the issues involved in renting land to a farmer.
By Land For Good PDF

Successful Farm Transfer Planning for Farmers Without an Identified Successor

Handbook that addresses farm succession and transfer when there is no identified, agreeable, and well prepared successor.
By Land For Good PDF

Leasing Land to Farmers: A Handbook for New England Land Trusts, Municipalities, and Institutions

Guidebook for organizations that own farmland and want to bring that land into production by leasing it to a farmer.
By Land For Good PDF

Webinar Series: Make Your Land Available for Farming, Part 1

Focus: Discover the benefits of making your land available for farming.

Understand your land’s potential for farming, learn what goes into a good farming arrangement, and explore strategies for making any amount of land available to a farmer. Hosted by Land For Good together with the New England Farm Link Collaborative.
By Land For Good Webinar

Farm Succession and Transfer: Strategies for the Junior Generation

Guidebook for the next generation that presents the issues from the perspective of the incoming farmer.
By Land For Good PDF

Webinar Series: Make Your Land Available for Farming, Part 2

Focus: Learn different methods & approaches to making your land available for farming.

Understand your land’s potential for farming, learn what goes into a good farming arrangement, and explore strategies for making any amount of land available to a farmer. Hosted by Land For Good together with the New England Farm Link Collaborative.
By Land For Good Webinar

Mediation services for farm succession

State listing of no-cost or low-cost programs that offer dispute resolution through mediation to agricultural producers. USDA Agricultural Mediation Program.
PDF

Farm Access Methods Guide

Decision guide that stands out in its organized and practical way of understanding and assessing land access methods.
By Land For Good PDF

Farm Access Decision Tool

Summary and companion piece to Farm Access Methods Guide to compare methods to access land and help make informed decisions.
By Land For Good PDF

Herramienta de decisión sobre el acceso a las granjas

Comparar formas de acceder a las tierras de cultivo.
By Land For Good PDF

Conducting a Farmland Search

Webinar to help understand the process, strategies, and tools available as you search for farmland including farm linking sites, soil analysis, affordability calculations, and methods for evaluating land and infrastructure.
By Land For Good Webinar

Accessing Farmland Together

Guidebook and decision tool if considering group farming.
By Land For Good PDF

Adquiriendo terreno para cultivar. ¿Por dónde empiezo? 

Breve hoja de trabajo para pensar en sus objetivos agrícolas.
By Land For Good Worksheet

Obteniendo Tierras Juntes

Guía útil si se considera la agricultura en grupo.
By Land For Good PDF

Where Do I Start? Acquiring Land To Farm

Short worksheet to think about your farming goals.
By Land For Good Worksheet

Acquiring Your Farm 2.0

Online course with lessons and worksheets to help answer the most critical questions facing all farmers seeking to access farmland. Learn how farmland is acquired and held, how to determine financing, as well as the pros, cons, and implications of owning farmland, plus alternative ownership approaches, and more.
By Land For Good Course

Toward Land Justice: Actions White Farmland Owners Can Take

A guide for landowners who want to do something with their land to advance social justice, and promote equity and opportunity. The guide offers historical context, guiding questions, and explores options for making farmland available. It is one contribution to the evolving exploration of how farmland access can be made more equitable. While not directed at farmers, they may also benefit from the guide’s ideas and resources.
By Land For Good PDF

Tips to Prepare for a Farmland Search

Do some planning before you start your farm search. Consider these tools and strategies to find farmland. Your chances of success are greater if you use a multi-pronged approach.

By Land For Good PDF

Farmland Access in Urban Settings

Guidebook with suggestions, examples, and innovative models to help farmers negotiate land to farm in and around cities.
By Land For Good PDF

Farm Succession Planning: What’s Needed

Analysis and recommendations to improve succession planning assistance. (2017)
By Land For Good PDF

Affording Farmland

Webinar highlights 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.
Webinar

Finding Farmland: A Farmer’s Guide to Working with Land Trusts

A farmer’s perspective on negotiating good agreements. National Young Farmers Coalition.
PDF

Farms for the Future

Workshop recordings and resources for municipalities, land trusts, and non-profits to support farms and farmers in northern New England. American Farmland Trust
Website

Farmland Advisors: Land Access 

archived webinar
Webinar

Farm Succession Planning webinar series, Part 1 – Getting Started

A four-part series for transitioning farmers and junior generation farmers to learn the basics of succession planning, how to get started, where to find advisors and additional resources. Watch the full series or choose what support you need, and refer back to these as you work through your succession planning process.

By Land For Good Webinar

Farm Succession Planning webinar series, Part 2 – Legal Considerations

A four-part series for transitioning farmers and junior generation farmers to learn the basics of succession planning, how to get started, where to find advisors and additional resources. Watch the full series or choose what support you need, and refer back to these as you work through your succession planning process.
By Land For Good Webinar

Farm Succession Planning webinar series, Part 3 – Financial Considerations

A four-part series for transitioning farmers and junior generation farmers to learn the basics of succession planning, how to get started, where to find advisors and additional resources. Watch the full series or choose what support you need, and refer back to these as you work through your succession planning process.
By Land For Good Webinar

Farm Succession Planning webinar series, Part 4 – Live Farmer Panel

A four-part series for transitioning farmers and junior generation farmers to learn the basics of succession planning, how to get started, where to find advisors and additional resources. Watch the full series or choose what support you need, and refer back to these as you work through your succession planning process.
By Land For Good Webinar

Farmland Access Legal Toolkit

An improved understanding of legal options and resources for farmers who need land in order to farm or want to transition their land to another farmer, as part of their estate planning. Helps farmers to be better prepared to talk to an attorney about their individual situation. Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School.
Website

A farmer’s personal reflection on transferring the farm

Read this farm transfer reflection written by Janet Woodward of Cordelia’s Farm (MA).
By Land For Good PDF

A Team Approach to Farm Transfer Planning

The purpose of this handbook is to build successful team-based approaches to succession planning assistance. No one expert can know all the ins and outs of succession planning; there is just too much specific technical knowledge for one person to manage. Advisors who work on farm succession stress the importance of taking a whole systems approach.
By Land For Good PDF

Farm & Ranch Succession Guidebook

One of the most comprehensive collections of materials on farm succession, organized by topic. Center for Land-Based Learning, California Farm Link, University of California Cooperative Extension.
Website

Make Your Farm Available to a Successor

Webinar overview highlights ways that farm or land owners can make their property available to a successive farmer, particularly one who is not currently a part of the farm operation. UNH Extension.
Webinar

Farmland Information Center

Directory of landowner options for farm transfer planning including information on how to get started. American Farmland Trust.
Website

Retirement Planning for Farmers

Webinar offers some important considerations for farmers of all ages about retirement planning.
By Land For Good Webinar

Retirement Budgeting Worksheet

(PDF version) A first step toward planning your retirement. Examine your current and expected budget.
By Land For Good Worksheet

Retirement Budgeting Spreadsheet

(Excel version) A first step toward planning your retirement. Examine your current and expected budget by filling in this spreadsheet.
By Land For Good Worksheet

Farm Succession Checklist

Questions to consider in four steps. Pennsylvania Farm Link.
PDF

Maine Farms Podcast

Explores farm succession through candid conversations with Maine farmers – including Jo Barett, retired field agent for Land For Good. Maine Farmland Trust.
Webinar

Farm Transfer Stories and Lessons

A farmer panel discusses how to work through the farm transfer process with a multi-generational farm succession, a transfer between unrelated parties, and a cooperative model that creates a pathway for succession. LFG and Maine Farmland Trust.
Webinar

International Farm Transition Network

The IFTN is a network of service providers from different professional backgrounds (e.g., accountants, lawyers, farm managers, ag lenders, extension educators, etc.) working to assist farm businesses with their successful transition to an identified successor(s). 
Website

Farmland Advisors Webinar: Farm Transfer and Estate Planning

webinar
Webinar

Farm Succession Advising: Attorney Training Compendium

Legal background material and technical tools to use in assisting farmer clients to develop their succession plans
By Land For Good PDF

Succession Planning Assistance: Filling the Gap

(2018) presentation slides from the National Risk Management Education Conference
Website

Transferring the Family Farm: What Worked, What Didn’t for 10 New Jersey Families

Poignant and educational stories that apply anywhere. New Jersey State Agriculture Development Committee.
PDF

Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program

Business advising for eligible farmers, agriculturally-related businesses, forest products enterprises, and forest landowners. Vermont Housing & Conservation Board.
Website

Preserving Affordable Working Farms

An article about what it means to preserve farms. LFG with Equity Trust
By Land For Good PDF

Farmland Advisors Webinar: Non-Farming Landowners

webinar recording
Webinar

AgPlan

Generate a draft business plan with customized templates and sample business plans for ideas. University of Minnesota.
Website

Farm Evaluation Checklist

Checklist of considerations for location, land, infrastructure, climate and housing.
By Land For Good PDF

New Entry Sustainable Farming Project

Resources, workshops, apprentice programs, and trainings in Massachusetts.
Website

Equity Trust

National non-profit organization helping communities to gain ownership interests in land and other local resources, as well as alternative ownership structures for farms.
Website

How to Determine the Right Farm Rental Rate

A guide to support farmers and landowners through the process of determining a fair cash rental rate for farmland, equipment and infrastructure in Vermont. The same methods might apply to other states. UVM Extension New Farmer Project, (2014).
Website

Tools & Resources for Supporting BIPOC Farmers in Your Community

Webinar for municipalities, land trusts, and non-profits working to become a stronger ally for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and advance equity-based land access partnerships and projects. Maine Farmland Trust, American Farmland Trust, Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust, Southeast Land Trust NH, Vermont Housing & Conservation Board.
Webinar

Tools & Resources for Working with Farms with Commercial Agricultural Potential

Guidance on how to market farms or farmland with commercial potential
By Land For Good PDF

Faithlands Toolkit

Guide to transformative land use that supports partnerships between farmers, faith communities, and food systems in celebration of our interconnectedness to one another. Faithlands is an interfaith collaboration led by Agrarian Trust.
Website

Successful Farming on a Land Cooperative

One farmer’s story of a successful cooperative venture.
By Land For Good PDF

Policy Options for Strengthening Farmland Mitigation in Massachusetts and other New England States

An examination of policies geared to protecting farmland. (2016)
By Land For Good PDF

Investigating the Possibility of a Beginning Farmer Loan Program or Tax Incentive in Connecticut

A study of similar programs in Nebraska, Iowa and Delaware with implications for Connecticut. (2016)
By Land For Good PDF

State-owned Land for Farming

This report examines policies and programs to make state-owned land in New England available for agriculture, including parcel identification and program administration.(2016)
By Land For Good PDF

Analysis of State Estate Taxes in New England

This analysis identifies estate tax policy barriers and opportunities for farm access and transfer. (2016)

By Land For Good PDF

Current Use Valuation and Tax Incentives for Urban Areas

This research compares the application of state laws in New England and select other states, to promote urban farming. (2016)

By Land For Good PDF

Farmland Investment Models: Innovative Land Access in New England 

This report shares findings and analyses on “values-based” farmland investment companies, including reviews by farmers and farmer-investor dialogue. (2016)
By Land For Good PDF

Keeping Farmers on the Land: New Research Underscores Need To Address Farm Transition in New England

(2016) State and region reports from the Gaining Insights Project by American Farmland Trust and LFG
By Land For Good PDF

Gaining Insights, Gaining Access Project

Gaining Insights, Gaining Access project (2014-2016) held focus groups across New England of older farmers with no identified successors to learn more about this large, influential farmer subset. LFG and American Farmland Trust.
PDF

Farmland Investors: An Exploration for New England and Beyond

Employs a framework of principles to explore and evaluate several US farmland investment models and companies. (2013)
By Land For Good PDF

Farmland Access and Tenure Innovations: Policy and Program Suggestions to Promote Land Access for New England’s Beginning Farmers

The suggestions focus on encouraging private landowners, promoting government programs and services, and engaging private investors. (2013)
By Land For Good PDF

Does the Option to Purchase at Agricultural Value (OPAV) Protect Farmland for Beginning Farmers? A Policy Analysis

This policy analysis examines the impact of OPAV restrictions on land affordability and access for beginning farmers in Massachusetts and Vermont. (2013)
By Land For Good PDF

Access to farmland: A systems change perspective

An argument for a systems approach to addressing contemporary challenges around land access, drawing from the author’s experiences at Land For Good. 
By Land For Good PDF

Farm Land Access, Succession, Tenure and Stewardship (FarmLASTS) Project: Executive Summary

This document summarizes the research, findings and recommendations from the national FarmLASTS Project. (2007-2010)
PDF

Research Report & Recommendations from the FarmLASTS Project (Land Access, Succession, Tenure and Stewardship)

This report details research and evaluation of farmland access and succession challenges, and the impacts of tenure and succession arrangements on land use and the environment. (2010)
PDF

Agricultural Land Tenure Curriculum

A comprehensive, structured curriculum for use in both classroom and non-academic settings. Modules include case studies, links and exercises.
PDF

Farmland Information Center for Policy Makers and Professionals

at American Farmland Trust
Website

Cooperative Holding of Land

Cooperative Farmland Holding (chapter 5 in the Greenhorns guidebook entitled Cooperative Farming) explains the methods by which farmers can hold land together highlighting legal and social considerations, tenure options, leasing scenarios, and ownership.
PDF

A New Lease on Farmland: Assuring a Future for Farming in the Northeast

Article by Schumacher Center for a New Economics
Website

New England Food Policy: Building a Sustainable Food System

The chapter on Land addresses affordable land access, farmland protection and urban agriculture, produced by American Farmland Trust, Conservation Law Foundation and the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group. (2014)
PDF

Developing & Strengthening Farm Link Programs Guide 

Guide for existing/aspiring farm link programs and advocates to explore the wide range of services and activities conducted by farm links across the U.S. Presents challenges, examples of success, and lessons learned.
By Land For Good PDF

New England Farmland Finder

The region’s largest farm link website with more than 4,000 subscribers and growing. Farm seekers can search property postings and subscribe for weekly updates of new postings. Landowners can post a property at no charge.
Website

Buscador de tierras agrícolas de Nueva Inglaterra

El sitio web de enlaces agrícolas más grande de la región, con más de 4000 suscriptores y en aumento. Quienes buscan propiedades agrícolas pueden buscar anuncios y suscribirse para recibir actualizaciones semanales de nuevas publicaciones. Los propietarios pueden publicar una propiedad sin costo.
Website

How to Create Effective Online Property Postings for Farm Link Websites

Guide for landowners to create accurate and appealing online farm property postings specifically focusing on how to convey information most relevant for farmers.
PDF

New England Farm Link Collaborative

Organizations that help build awareness, farmer and landowner readiness, and connections among farm seekers, farmers and landowners of all types across New England.
Website

Maine Farm Link

A linking service with customized support that connects farm seekers with Maine farmland owners who are looking to sell or lease their land. Maine Farmland Trust.
Website

Vermont Land Link

A linking service with individualized technical assistance to help farm seekers and Vermont farm property holders find each other. Intervale Center.
Website

Connecticut Farm Link

A linking service with individualized technical assistance that connects farm seekers with Connecticut farmland owners who are looking to sell or lease their land. Connecticut Department of Agriculture, Connecticut Farmland Trust.
Website

New England Farm Link Program Guide

Guide explains New England’s four farm link programs – Vermont Land Link, Maine Farm Link, Connecticut Farm Link and New England Farmland Finder – and what each program offers.
PDF

National list of farm link programs

If you are looking for property outside of New England, visit American Farmland Trust’s national list of farm link programs.
Website

Using the NRCS Web Pages to Get Soils Information

Guide for using NRCS website, the nation’s most comprehensive source for soils information. Maryland FarmLINK Guide.
Website

GranitView

New Hampshire’s Statewide Geographic Information System of topographic maps including soils, flooding hazards, water resources, and more. University of New Hampshire.
Website

Vermont Natural Resources Atlas

Vermont’s geographic information about environmental features and sites. Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.

Website

Vermont Natural Resource Atlas Mapping Tutorial

Blog introduction about how to navigate this natural resource atlas with link to the full tutorial.
By Land For Good Website

RIDEM Map Room

Interactive map resources viewable through the ArcGIS Online map viewer. Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
Website

RIDEM Environmental Resource Map

Rhode Island’s interactive map resources viewable through the ArcGIS Online map viewer. Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
Website

UC Davis SoilWeb

Interactive map explores USDA-National Cooperative Soil Survey data for locations throughout most of the US. UC Davis, NRCS. For additional support refer to Land For Good’s introduction tutorial.

Website

UC Davis SoilWeb Tutorial

Introduction to the SoilWeb tool with tips from Land For Good staff.

By Land For Good PDF

NRCS Web Soil Survey

Authoritative source of soil survey information. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Website

How to Determine Land Area and Distance With Your Smartphone

Article from On Pasture about how to use GeoMeasure, an app for iOS and Android smartphones.
Website

Area Calculator Tool

Useful tools to calculate the area of a parcel or field. Google Maps or PlaniMeter by ACME.
Website

Google My Maps tutorial

Tips from our staff to create custom maps and easily calculate acreage to assess properties, look at boundaries, etc.
By Land For Good PDF

Finding Farmland Calculator

Mortgage calculator for determining financing options and creditworthiness when buying farmland. National Young Farmers Coalition.
Website

Guide to Farming in New York State

Basic information with resources specific to New York State. Cornell Small Farms Program, Northeast Beginning Farmers Project.
Website

PO Box 625
Keene, New Hampshire 03431
Phone: 603-357-1600

Contact