Land Innovations Trainings
For farmers
NYFC works with local partners across the country to offer full-day, in-depth trainings for farmers on the process of accessing land and partnering with a land trust, as well as brief single-issue workshops on topics including:
- Using NYFC’s Finding Farmland Calculator
- Searching for and evaluating farmland to buy or lease
- Working with a land trust
- Financial and business planning
- Lending programs for beginning farmers
- State agricultural land policy
Since 2014, we have provided tools and training to over 800 farmers and ranchers around the country.
If you are interested in working with us to hold a training in your region, contact our Land Access team.
For conservation professionals
Access to farmland remains one of the biggest barriers that beginning farmers face, but innovation and leadership demonstrated by a number of land trusts has opened up new possibilities for helping these farmers succeed. NYFC believes that these groups have enormous potential to make farmland across the country more affordable and accessible for the next generation of farmers.
Since 2014, we’ve teamed up with experts in farmland conservation to offer a series of Land Access Innovations Trainings for land trust staff and other conservation professionals with a high degree of commitment to protecting working farms and keeping land affordable for farmers. The trainings provide an opportunity for participants to learn from land trust staff, lawyers, and appraisers about innovative strategies and tools being used to ensure farmland stays in production and in the hands of farmers.
Following each training, all participants have access to our Dropbox folder of resources along with our Land Access Innovations listserv—an email discussion group we facilitate to connect organizations and individuals that are implementing working farmland conservation projects. The Dropbox and listerv provide access to information on funding strategies, monitoring and enforcement, legal considerations, and model documents on working farm easements and ground leases.
Since 2014, NYFC has trained over 100 land trusts and other conservation organizations across the country. You can read a post about our first national Land Access Innovations Training for land trusts here, and find more information about the tools and strategies we discuss in our case studies here.
If you are interested in working with us to hold a training in your region, contact our Land Access team.
Want more?
For more information on holding a Land Access Innovations Training (for land trusts or farmers) in your region, joining our Land Access Innovations listserv, accessing model documents and resources on this topic, or getting connected to our past presenters, email our Land Access Program Director, Holly Rippon-Butler.
Past Trainings
For Conservation Professionals
Providence, Rhode Island | September 21, 2014 [National Training] | Read more
Sacramento, California | October 11, 2015 [National Training] | Read more
Denver, Colorado | March 16, 2016 [Regional Training]
Grand Rapids, Michigan | May 19, 2016 [Regional Training]
Mills River, North Carolina | March 8, 2017 [Regional Training]
Burlington, Vermont | April 26-27, 2017 [National Training] | Read more
Portland, Oregon | September 18-19, 2017
Columbus, Ohio | February 14, 2018
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | October 10, 2018
For Farmers
Hudson, New York | March 16, 2015
Placerville, California | October 7, 2015 | Read more
Gunnison, Colorado | March 11-12, 2016
Alexander, North Carolina | March 9, 2017
Eugene, Oregon | September 17-18, 2017
Dayton, Ohio | February 15, 2018
Prospect, Pennsylvania | March 20, 2018
Land Access Innovations Partners
Land Trusts
Lead Mentor | Equity Trust is a national organization devoted to helping farmers achieve long term and affordable access to farmland. Since the mid-1990s, Equity Trust has been a pioneer both in developing tools for addressing this need and in educating the land trust community about the issue. With a mission to “change the way people think about and hold property,” they have worked with the land trust and farmer communities to create some of the most innovative affordable farm partnerships in the country. In 2014, Equity Trust launched an exciting regional program to promote and finance farm affordability in the Hudson Valley of New York State. Learn more at equitytrust.org.
Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) | California
Colorado Open Lands | Colorado
Colorado West Land Trust (Mesa Land Trust at time of training) | Colorado
Land Trust of the Upper Arkansas | Colorado
Palmer Land Trust | Colorado
Athens Land Trust | Georgia
Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust | Massachusetts
Leelanau Conservancy | Michigan
Peconic Land Trust | New York
Black Family Land Trust | North Carolina
Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy | North Carolina
Conservation Trust for North Carolina | North Carolina
Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy | North Carolina
Black Swamp Conservancy | Ohio
Countryside Conservancy | Ohio
Tecumseh Land Trust | Ohio
Western Reserve Land Conservancy | Ohio
Greenbelt Land Trust | Oregon
Nehalem Valley Farmland Trust | Oregon
Triangle Land Conservancy | South Carolina
Vermont Land Trust | Vermont
PCC Farmland Trust | Washington
South of the Sound Community Farm Land Trust (SSCFLT) | Washington
Attorneys, Appraisers, & Consultants
Jessica Jay, Attorney at Law, Conservation Law, P.C. | Colorado
Ellen Fred, Attorney at Law, Conservation Partners, PLLC | Michigan
Andrew Branan, Lawyer, The Branan Law Firm, PLLC | North Carolina
Nancy Duhnkrack, Pro Bono Program Manager, Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts | Oregon
Lindsey Jacobs, Lawyer | South Carolina
Jessica Jensen, Lawyer, Jessica Jensen Law | Washington
Scott Carlson, Farm Programs Manager, Carlson Appraisal Company | Michigan
Jim Waterhouse, Appraiser, Farm Credit East | New York
Tom Morgan, Appraiser, Duncan & Brown | Oregon
Kendra Johnson Katz, Farm Preservation & Land Access Consultant | California
Farmers
Jered Lawson, Pie Ranch | California
Jen Smith, Crimson & Clover Farm | Massachusetts
Ben Brown, Sonny’s Farm | Michigan
Sasha Miller, Purplebrown Farmstead | Ohio
Deanna & David McMaken, Rose Ridge Farm | Ohio
Rick Reddaway, Abundant Fields Farm | Oregon
Emily Cooper, Full Cellar Farm | Oregon
Organizations
Guidestone Colorado | Colorado
Greater Lansing Food Bank | Michigan
Heart of the Lakes | Michigan
Blue Ridge Forever | North Carolina
Organic Growers School | North Carolina
WNC Farmlink | North Carolina
Coalition of Ohio Land Trusts | Ohio
Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association (OEFFA) | Ohio
Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts | Oregon
Friends of Family Farmers | Oregon
Headwaters Incubator | Oregon
Pinchot Institute | Oregon
Rogue Farm Corps | Oregon
Intervale Center | Vermont
Washington Association of Land Trusts | Washington
The Conservation Fund
The Land Trust Alliance