Progress report for ENE23-183
Project Information
The service providers that benefited from this project are in the sectors of farm/land/conservation, law, climate resilience, real estate, nonprofits and land trust. The service providers in each of these sectors benefited by connecting more farmers and land stewards to land that might otherwise be sold to large scale development interests, thereby meeting their goals towards continued agricultural sustainability.
Several service providing organizations within the sectors of farm/land/conservation, law, climate resilience, real estate, nonprofits and land trust expressed interest in sharing new strategies and skills to mitigate farm/land disparities in the northeast and are beginning to acquire new skills to help the growing number of aging farmers transition land in ways that promote future sustainability.
Service providers opened themselves up to learning skills and tools to better facilitate land successions and transitions for and to land stewards who are people of color. The service providers developed greater awareness of land based inequities and methods key individuals, organizations are taking to utilize their agency and power to address the issues. The trainers of the trainers (service providers) have a proven track record of initiating intentional land access, transfer and land back projects. The process of intentional land succession and transfers requires adaptable methodologies and this proved to be true throughout the project. With the added pressures of climate change, disastrous floods and a shifting political landscape, flexibility in methodologies and approaches to facilitate the clients/farmers succession or transfer processes for intentional land transfers and access in the Northeast proved both challenging and essential.
15 service providers in the sectors of conservation, climate resilience, real estate, law and land trust will conduct educational succession planning programs that teach new strategies to a. 15 aging Farmers b. 30 Farmers of Color in the Northeast c. 15 additional service providers servicing the MA, CT, RI, VT region.
- These educational programs will equip aging farmers with the new strategies and the skills to succession plan with greater confidence, meet and engage potential farm successors, receive economic benefits from the transfer and ensure farming as a sustainability measure through their successors. ii. Farmers of Color will be equipped with new strategies and skills to meet and engage farmers looking to transition land, actively engage in negotiations during the succession process and gain the skills to finalize the succession process and uplift diversified agricultural practices as sustainability measures on the land. iii. 15 Service providers will adopt acquired skills and resources to complete succession plans and "close the deal" in ways that are mutually beneficial. 15 Farmers will show a willingness to engage these new strategies. 5-7 successions of farmland in the Northeast to Farmers of Color will occur within the period of this 3 year project.
The service providers that benefited from this project are in the sectors of farm/land/conservation, law, climate resilience, real estate, non-profits and land trust. The service providers in each of these sectors benefited by connecting more farmers and land stewards to land that might otherwise be sold to large scale development interests, thereby meeting their goals towards continued agricultural sustainability.
Several service providing organizations within the sectors of farm/land/conservation, law, climate resilience, real estate, non-profits and land trust expressed interest in sharing new strategies and skills to mitigate farm/land disparities along the lines of race and class in the northeast and opened themselves up the process of acquiring new skills to help the growing number aging farmers transition land in ways that promote future sustainability.
Cooperators
- (Educator)
Educational Approach
2023
- Service providers organizations were contacted and informed of the grant approval and funding award. Preliminary conversations took place in order to re-familiarize themselves with the project goals.
- We held our first virtual meeting among key individuals and service provider organizations- we discussed the project goals, shared our areas of experience/expertise. We initiated our first steps in the outreach process by creating a service provider resource and contact list. We gathered over 20 names and organizations comprised on a shared google outreach sheet. The momentum slowed as natural flood disasters in the Northeast and other tragedies impacted our groups morale and ability to meet until early January of 2024.
2024
- Key Individuals and the Advisory Team had second virtual meeting to hear ideas plan for recruitment to begin within their networks during the farming slow season. Starting large to go small, the initial reach out began with Land Trust, Land based organizations and Land based non-profits. We made plans to contact directors, board members and personnel that are responsible for land acquisition, matching and allocation. All of the essential service providers listed within these organizations worked with land succession and acquisition processes and were identified (attorneys, municipal agents, real estate agents, conservation agents, banks, boards and donors) to take part in the training.
- Both retiring and new entry farmers were listed noting those with expressed interest in looking to transition land intentionally to Farmers of Color and those that only expressed a desire to transition land.
- The participants (service providers, farmers looking to transition land and farmers of color seekers) engaged in person and virtually consultations and site visits with service providers and the PI. Key Individuals meet with organizational Boards, working groups and committees to hear goals, challenges and concerns around real life scenarios involving land transfers/ successions from white farm owners to farmers of color land seekers. Insights were shared to help strengthen their awareness, analysis and language related to race and equity as well as materials on how to recognize the power and agency they hold as service providers. These materials were referenced throughout checkins and consultations and participants were mentored in their ability to apply a an equity lens to all aspects of their work.
- Relationship building and recruitment for farmers of color land seekers and invitations for aging land transitions to learn options for intentional farmers of color land succession were shared at conferences and at land based organizations equity trainings.
- Mediation between service providers, attorneys, neighbors, land owners and land seekers took place over 3 land succession cases in 2024. See case study descriptions for Group 1, 2 and 3 in the Milestones section. Each case having its own distinct process and outcomes, including successful land transition, committed land transition agreed to but in process and attempted land transition that failed. An evaluation tool listing the participants’ experience and engagement was not written formally but was conducted and held in a conversational, self reflective process between the with the PI and with input from some members of the Advisory Community.
In 2025 there will also be a cohort accountability and evaluation process where participants will share out success and challenges to learn from one another's experience and become more comfortable navigating real life scenarios. The information brought up in share outs and accountability circles as well as advisory committee input will be used to reshape the education plan in real time.
Milestones
Engagement:
Status: In process
Planned: 15 service providers in the sectors of conservation, climate resilience, real estate law and land trust will come together to help shape the educational materials that will be used to teach service providers new strategies to increase farmer of color land tenure in the NE. Beginning in January of 2024 the Key individuals will begin meeting to build relationship. They will share their experiences and the current projects and practices they are currently engaged in. They will share successes, pitfalls, beneficial check points, systems, the types of trainings that helped shape a lens towards racial equity on land and the personal and professional changes they and their organizations had to undergo in the process.
2 Cohorts of up to 15 service providers will be recruited over the 3 year period to undergo workshops and trainings based on the information recommended by the key individuals and the project advisory team. These cohort members will ultimately work to engage succession processes for 7 farmers of color looking for land and 7 transitioning farmers/land access/transfer opportunities in the NE.
Accomplishments:
2023-2024
Key individuals began meeting to build relationship, sharing their experiences, current projects and practices they are engaged in. They shared successes, pitfalls, beneficial check points, systems, the types of trainings that helped shape a lens towards racial equity on land and the personal and professional changes they and their organizations had to undergo in the process. A database of organizations, stakeholders, outreach platforms and individual service providers in the sectors of conservation, climate resilience, real estate law and land trust was created to help shape strategies to increase farmer of color land tenure in the NE. The PI began meeting with land trusts with potential land transitions in process to help bolster upcoming transitions to BIPOC farmers.
Service providers, transitioning land owners and farmer of color land seekers participated in workshops, trainings and strategy discussions as recommended by the PI, key individuals and the project advisory team. Instead of 2 cohorts, these service providers ultimately worked to engage 3 key succession opportunities for farmers of color looking for land and 3 transitioning farmers/land access/transfer opportunities in the NE. Key Individuals and service providers were able to identify an additional 5 intentional land transfer opportunities that will be explored in 2025.
Learning:
Status: in progress
Planned: Every November, December, January and February in 2023 and 2024 15 service providers placed in 2 cohorts will participate in monthly focus groups to support the implementation of BIPOC land transfer and farm land succession planning frameworks. Building off of awareness and experience, the workshops will be tailored to participant needs while pushing participants growing edges in the subject. In November of 2024 we will also incorporate out reach plans for service providers to begin recruitment of farmers of color land stewards, transitioning farmers and agency/service provider specific land acquisition opportunities. In late Feb, early March and late October of 2024 service providers will begin the ground work for intentional farmer of color transfers in accordance with the objectives of the verification and review tools. Between March and October the PI will meet with service providers in small groups on a one on one basis as their schedules allow. We will meet in person to help foster relationship. The PI will look for ways key individuals and the advisory committee can offer specialized support/mentorship. The PI will be available to assist in holding space during meetings with farmers, workshops and community discussions that the service provider holds.
March of 2024 we will evaluate service provider attitude, ability make time for and center relationship, ways in which the service provider has adjusted, changed or adapted process, policy and procedures to deepen relationship and create room for more diverse perspectives and ways of being. awareness and adoption of race and equity lens in all aspects of their work, awareness and analysis of power and privilege and oppression, create an action plan utilizing the service providers agency held in their role. The review tool and cohort accountability groups will be routinely used throughout the 3 year scope of the project.
November of 2023 to March of 2025 service providers will be evaluated on the number of shifts in process, practices and policies that have lead to deeper relationship and community connection, farmer of color land access and transfer, number of land succession plans cultivated with farmer of color intentional transfers as core components, self-reflective evaluations, cohort accountability group evaluations, peer to peer reviews and farmer (service receiver) evaluations. The verification tool and cohort accountability groups will be routinely used throughout out the 3 year scope of the project.
Accomplishments:
Group 1: The board of directors and staff of a NE land trust attended virtual and in person trainings regarding the intersections of land and power. They identified retiring farmers that were looking to transition their land into conservation with a desire to see the land continue to be farmed. The land trust worked with the PI to identify farmers of color in the surrounding area to establish if the transitioning farm could meet their needs. The land trust representatives formed a connection with a collective of farmers of color looking for farmland with housing. The land trust representatives and the Collective met several times to discuss, raising funds, exclusion zones, zoning regulations and worked diligently to map out exclusion zones to allow for the collective to both farm and live on the land. The transitioning farmers working with the land trust, wanted ensure the future of the land would look the same as it always had, with 1 house and 1 barn with all remaining land placed in conservation. The land trust and their board met with both the transitioning land owners and the Farmers of Color collective to try and hear everyone’s needs. The collective desired to have 2 to 3 areas of exclusion zone to allow for up to 3 dwellings across the 27 acres for the farmers and for the future needs of their children or parents. The transitioning land owners were certain they only wanted to move forward with partnering with the land trust if the exclusion zone only permitted 1 dwelling and 1 barn.
The collective also reached out to a landscape designer to walk the land, observe the flow of water on land, identify potential environmental hazards and advise on the most sustainable areas to build and farm. The building would take place where the former house stood and on a small hill not to disturb the flow of water on the land as to have the least environmental impact on the land. The transitioning land owners and members of the collective came together to hear each others needs and reasoning. Isolation for the farmers of color, community-tending as a sustainability practice, learning from the landscape designer, struggles to farm alone and into elder hood without places for the next generation to be with the elders on land were discussed alongside nostalgia for what was and not wanting to see any further development on the land. Ultimately, the transitioning land owners felt like the land trust promised them in pervious conversations that they could make it so the land only had 1 dwelling and 1 barn on it. They stated they only wanted to move forward with partnering with the land trust if the exclusion zone only permitted 1 dwelling and 1 barn and they would make it known to the entire town if the land trust did not keep what they felt was a promise made to them by the land trust. Due to the threat of repetitional harm and differing needs between the transitioning land owners and the potential new care takers of the land, in the end, things did not move forward with the transition to the Farmers of Color collective.
In 2025 we will continue to see if the land as it is drawn out will fit a farmers’ of color needs. We learned that land trusts can face a conflict of interest between doing what is necessary to conserve land, and the interests of the current land owners. Land owners have a lot of power, and without clear policy or values and principles of operation, Land Trusts will struggle to make sustainable land transfers.
Strategies: As a result of this experience, the land trust deepened their commitment not to over promise future land use commitments and worked very hard to correct this blind spot. The land trust committed to allowing room at the table for people of color and future farmer voices to be heard before promises are made to potential land owners looking to place land into conservation.
Group 2: Outreach was made to retiring farmers that were looking to transition their land into conservation with a desire to see the land continue to be farmed. The land trust worked with the PI to identify farmers of color in the surrounding area to establish if the transitioning farm could meet their needs. The land trust representatives formed a connection with several farmers of color looking for farmland with housing and farm owners seeking intentional transitions. A meeting was established between the farm owners and the farm land seekers.
The landowner has maintained relationship and has consistently opened the land up to the future farmers for their use until the deed is ready and able to transition. Both the future farmers and the transitioning land owner feel in partnership together and look forward to an easeful transition when legally possible.
Strategies: Developing a clear timeline and understanding of legal aspects has set a strong foundation for this land transfer.
Group 3: Continuing a process that began in 2021, key individuals began meeting to build relationship, sharing their experiences, current projects and practices they are engaged in. They shared successes, pitfalls, beneficial check points, systems, the types of trainings that helped shape a lens towards farmland for farmers of color, and the personal and professional changes they and their organizations had to undergo in the process.
Strategies: to be reported on in 2025.
Engagement and Evaluation
Status: In-progress
Planned: Out of the 30 service providers taking part in the project, 15 will adopt practices, policies and procedures into the daily practices of their role/organization. 7 farmers of color and will acquire land and 7 aging farmers will go through succession planning processes that include measures for completing sustainable land transfers. Out of the 30 service providers taking part our hope is that 15 will begin to more comfortably talk about what they have learned with their clients and co-workers and invite people to use their agency to engage in addressing this issue. Evaluations of project success will likely occur a few years into each project. Having the time for the lived experience of this project towards land connection for farmers of color to develop and be respectfully communicated out is essential to this process and must be based on the timeline of those involved.
Accomplishments:
2023-2024
The service providers taking part in this process adopted practices, policies and procedures into the daily practices of their role/organization. They identified potential farm successions likely to happen within their area, they did not make promises to solidify land transferred to them and into conservation, they were willing to step back and allow for a direct farm succession if everyone was amenable to it, they spoke with land owners about their goals related to land equity/justice, inviting them to engage and participate, they slowed down when people were not ready or had hesitations. Similar processes will be held for the remaining potential properties. In 2025 the service providers will evaluate their comfortability talking about what they have learned with their clients and co-workers and invite people to use their agency to engage in addressing this issue.
January of 2025 we will evaluate service provider attitude, ability to make time for and center relationship, ways in which the service provider has adjusted, changed, or adapted process, policy and procedures to deepen relationship and create room for more diverse perspectives and ways of being. Awareness and adoption of what they learn in all aspects of their work, awareness and analysis of land and power, create an action plan utilizing the service providers agency held in their role. The review tool and cohort accountability groups will be routinely used throughout the 3 year scope of the project.
Milestone Activities and Participation Summary
Educational activities and events conducted by the project team:
Participants in the project’s educational activities:
Performance Target Outcomes
Performance Target Outcomes - Service Providers
Target #1
15
15 Service providers will adopt acquired skills and resources to complete succession plans and "close the deal" in ways that are mutually beneficial to aging farmers, Farmers of Color in the NE looking for land access with agricultural sustainability in mind.
15
greater than 50 acres
none verified yet still in process
- 6 Consultations
- 2 On-farm demonstrations
- 2 Online trainings
- 2 Tours
- 4 Webinars/talks/presentations
- 6 Workshops/field days
Due to the floods and natural disasters that took place in our region, the start of the project was delayed. I was unable to use my evaluation tools during the first year of the project. Progress in the form of consultations, relationship building through site visits, webinars, conferences, land based sustainable transition work and farm field days with both farmers and service providers became the primary focus of 2023. As a result reporting for this section is still in progress.
Performance Target Outcomes - Farmers
Target #1
none yet still in process
greater than 50 acres
none yet still in process