Welcome to a toolbox for farmers looking to access farmland. If you’re a beginning farmer exploring your options to get onto land, or an established farmer ready to expand, relocate or rethink your land situation, this toolbox offers guides, worksheets, articles and other resources to inform your decision-making and guide your planning and search for farmland. If you are not yet farming, you’ll want to prepare and develop a plan before you even begin searching for land. Materials are most relevant to farming and farms in New England, but many may apply elsewhere.
Where to Start if you don’t have (much) farming experience
AgPlan. Powerful website to help you generate a draft business plan with customized templates and sample business plans for ideas. University of Minnesota.
New Farmers Discovery Tool. Personalized search for new farmers, women in agriculture, young farmers, veterans, and new generation seeking land. USDA.
FarmAnswers.org. Programs, resources and comprehensive library to help you get started farming, as well as tools to help more seasoned producers succeed. University of Minnesota, funded by USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Grant program (BFRDP).
Develop your land access plan
Where Do I Start? Acquiring Land To Farm. Short worksheet focusing on big picture thinking and a framework to examine farming goals, current situation, and other considerations.
Acquiring Your Farm 2.0, Online tutorialfor farm seekers with lessons and worksheets on seven land access topics to help you assess your situation and systematically develop an action plan.
Farm Access Methods Guide. Decision guide that stands out in its organized and practical way of understanding and assessing land access methods.
Farm Access Decision Tool. Summary and companion piece to Farm Access Methods Guide to help you compare methods and make informed decisions.
Successfully Acquiring Your Farmland. Article focuses on what to consider to successfully acquire your land, written for the Beginning Farmer Network of Massachusetts.
Finding, Assessing, and Securing Farmland. Plain language guide to help you understand the process of locating and securing farmland with clear, simple, and easy to understand text to increase comprehension and reduce misunderstandings. New Entry Sustainable Farming Project.
Explore strategies to access farmland
Farmland Access in Urban Settings. Suggestions, examples, and innovative models to help farmers negotiate land to farm in and around cities.
Access to Land. Article about farmland tenure and access. The Natural Farmer (Winter 2002-2003)
Affording Our Land. Financial literacy guidebook on various land access methods for new farmers. Greenhorns.
Finding Farmland Calculator. Mortgage calculator for determining financing options and creditworthiness when buying farmland. National Young Farmers Coalition
Finding a Farm to Buy or Lease. Basic information with resources specific to New York State. Cornell Small Farms Program, Northeast Beginning Farmers Project.
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.
New England Farmland Finder. Free website to post or search for farm properties for sale or lease, covering all six New England states.
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 they offer.
New England Farm Link Collaborative. Organizations helping build awareness, farmer and landowner readiness, and connections among farm seekers, farmers and landowners of all types in all New England states.
Additional Strategies To Find Farmland. Tip sheet for preparing for your land search. Your chances of success are greater if you use a multi-pronged approach.
Vermont Natural Resources Atlas. Geographic information about the Vermont’s environmental features and sites. Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.
GranitView. New Hampshire’s Statewide Geographic Information System of topographic maps including soils, flooding hazards, water resources, and more. University of New Hampshire.