This toolbox is for the many educators, advisors and other service providers who work with farm seekers, transitioning farm families and farmland owners. There is a wealth of useful information and tools.
Resources are organized by category of provider to help you narrow your search.
Farm seeker advisors & educators
Farm succession advisors & educators
Landowner advisors & educators
Attorneys
Real Estate Professionals
Farm link programs
Research and policy (New England)
Research and policy (U.S.)
Related Links
Farm seeker advisors & educators
Farm Access Methods decision guide stands out in its organized and practical way of addressing and assessing land access methods- Farm Access Decision Tool summarizes the methods and likely partners to help you compare methods and make informed decisions
- Build-A-Lease Tool to learn about farm leases and craft a working lease document to share with others including landowners, tenants, and advisors
- Farmland Advisors: Land Access archived webinar
- Farmland Advisors at American Farmland Trust
- New England Farmland Finder free posting site for properties for sale or lease to help farm seekers and farm property holders find each other
Farm succession advisors & educators
- Succession Planning Assistance: Filling the Gap (2018) presentation slides from the National Risk Management Education Conference
- A Team Approach to Farm Transfer Planning guidebook
- Farm Succession Advising: Attorney Training Compendium provides solid legal background material and technical tools to use in assisting farmer clients to develop their succession plans
- Farmland Advisors: Farm Succession webinar
- Farm Transfer Network of New England an online searchable directory of experts along with information and resources by topic. Find other providers. List your services.
Landowner advisors & educators
- Build-A-Lease Tool to learn about and craft a working farm lease to share with others including landowners, tenants, and advisors
- Farmland Advisors: Landowner webinar recording
- New England Farmland Finder free posting site for properties for sale or lease to help farm seekers and farm property holders find each other
- 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.
Attorneys
- Farm Succession Advising: Attorney Training Compendium provides solid legal background material and technical tools to use in assisting farmer clients to develop their succession plans
- Farm Transfer Network of New England a searchable list of farm succession advisors. Add your name or firm here. And look for other providers for your advisor team.
Real Estate Professionals
- Tools & Resources for Working with Farms with Commercial Agricultural Potential
- New England Farmland Finder website
Farm link programs
- New England Farm Link Program Guide explains our region’s farm link programs that help connect farm seekers and farmland owners interested in putting or keeping land in active farming
- New England Farm Link Collaborative builds awareness, readiness and connections among farm seekers, farmers and landowners of all types in all New England states
- NewEnglandFarmlandFinder.org free posting site for properties for sale or lease to help farm seekers and farm property holders find each other
- How to Create Effective Online Property Postings for Farm Link Websites guide walks you through the typical components of a farm property posting and describes key information most relevant for farmers
- Developing & Strengthening Farm Link Programs Guide (or print version) for practitioners and advocates of compiled lessons and successful practices from the National Farm Link Clinic (April 2019)
Research and policy (New England)
- Policy Options for Strengthening Farmland Mitigation in Massachusetts and other New England States (2016) Produced through the New England Land Access Policy Project
- Investigating the Possibility of a Beginning Farmer Loan Program or Tax Incentive in Connecticut (2016) Produced through the New England Land Access Policy Project
- State-owned Land for Farming (2016) Produced through the New England Land Access Policy Project
- Analysis of State Estate Taxes in New England (2016) Produced through the New England Land Access Policy Project
- Current Use Valuation and Tax Incentives for Urban Areas (2016) Produced through the New England Land Access Policy Project
- Farmland Investment Models: Innovative Land Access in New England (2016)
- 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
- Gaining Insights, Gaining Access Project webinar archive (Nov. 2015), American Farmland Trust and LFG
- Land, Chapter 1 in New England Food Policy: Building a Sustainable Food System (2014) by American Farmland Trust, Conservation Law Foundation, Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG)
- Farmland Investors: An Exploration for New England and Beyond (2013)
- Farmland Access and Tenure Innovations: Policy and Program Suggestions to Promote Land Access for New England’s Beginning Farmers (2013)
- Does the Option at Agricultural Value Protect Farmland for Beginning Farmers? A Policy Analysis (2013)
- Farmland Access and Transfer in New England (2013) presentation slides of findings from the Land Access Project Phase 1
- Land Access: Updates on Regional Efforts
Research and policy (U.S.)
- Access to farmland: A systems change perspective by K. Z. Ruhf. In the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (2013) *
- Farm Land Access, Succession, Tenure and Stewardship Project, Farm LASTS Project (2007-10)
- Agricultural Land Tenure Curriculum, Farm LASTS Project (2007-10)
- Online Manual, Farm LASTS Project (2007-10)
- Research Report and Recommendations (2010), Farm LASTS Project
- Conference Proceedings, Changing Lands Changing Hands (2009), Farm LASTS Project (2007-10)
Related Links
- Preserving Affordable Working Farms with Equity Trust
- 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. - Cooperative Holding of Land, Chapter 5 in Cooperative Farming, a Greenhorns guidebook
- Land, webpage by New England Small Farm Institute
- International Farm Transition Network website
- Farmland Tenure and Leasing, Chapter 3 from A Legal Guide to the Business of Farming by The UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture*
- Northeast Beginning Farmers Project Learning Network, Cornell University
- Holding Ground: A Guide to Northeast Farmland Tenure and Stewardship, available for purchase at New England Small Farm Institute
- A New Lease on Farmland: Assuring a Future for Farming in the Northeast (1990), article by Schumacher Center for a New Economics
* Special thanks to the editors of the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems,and Community Development and The University of Vermont Center for Sustainable Agriculture for their permission make these documents available on our website.
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