Transferring Farms and Improving Access to Farmland: A Training Program for Northeast Agricultural Service Providers

Transferring Farms and Improving Access to Farmland: A Training Program for Northeast Agricultural Service Providers

Summary

Current and prospective farmers face significant challenges in securing access to affordable farmland in New York and New England. Nearly 25 percent of the farmland in the seven-state region where this project focuses (New York plus the six New England states) is owned by farmers aged 65 and older; this land will likely transfer to new ownership in the next decade and is at the highest risk of being developed. Continued land loss and increased farm real estate values have made leased land an appealing interim and even longer-term alternative to buying land, yet connecting farmers with landowners willing to lease is often complicated and negotiating successful tenure agreements is complex.   

To address this problem, American Farmland Trust (AFT) has launched, with support from the USDA Northeast SARE program, a multifaceted, targeted training program called Farmland Advisors that will help 80 Extension staff and other agricultural service providers gain mid-level or advanced knowledge about farm transfer and farmland access options. Traditional agricultural service providers need more knowledge and skills to be able to advise farmers fully on potential land transfer strategies. These providers tend to have little interaction with non-farming landowners (NFLOs), who control a significant portion of farmland. While land trusts can be an important link to NFLOs, most land trust staff is not knowledgeable about farm transfer strategies, farmland leasing, or linking and matching resources that may facilitate land transfer.   

The training program consists of a series of progressive learning and networking opportunities, including webinars (to address basic knowledge needs for those who need it), a regional gathering, and advanced problem-solving and peer-to-peer exchange in the form of follow-up conference calls. The direct beneficiaries of this program are Extension personnel, other agricultural service providers (e.g., Farm Credit, state departments of agriculture, farm organizations), and land trust staff in New York and New England.  

The program outcome is that, over the course of the project, 40 agricultural service providers and land trust staff will use the knowledge gained from this program to educate 400 farmers and/or NFLOs who own or manage 20,000 acres of farmland about farm transfer and farmland access tools. Twenty of these service providers or land trust staff will work intensively with 30 farmers and landowners that own or manage at least 1,500 acres to adopt specific farmland access or farm transfer strategies. 

• Beneficiary Form

Objectives/Performance Targets

During the program period, 40 agricultural service providers and land trust staff (beneficiaries) will use the knowledge gained from this program to educate 400 farmers and/or non-farming landowners who own or manage 20,000 acres of farmland about farm transfer and farmland access tools. Twenty of these beneficiaries will work intensively with 30 of these farmers and landowners that own or manage at least 1,500 acres to adopt specific farmland access or farm transfer strategies.

Accomplishments/Milestones

During the 2014 project year, AFT continued to disseminate farmland transfer and farmland access information while also encouraging networking among Farmland Advisors participants via a series of networking calls in April, May, and June of the past year. These calls were very well attended. In fact, while 57 different Farmland Advisors participated, because many participated on multiple calls, the total number of participants on all of the calls was 124. AFT and our project partner, Land for Good (LFG), also conducted a survey of the Farmland Advisors to assess knowledge gained and to solicit feedback on the networking calls and the project. Forty-eight Farmland Advisors responded to the survey. The survey’s results indicated that participants in the Farmland Advisors program have improved their professional connections and support networks, and are more prepared to provide assistance to farmers and non-farming landowners on issues related to farm transfer and farmland access. A full analysis of the survey will be provided in AFT’s final report on this project.

Lastly, AFT and LFG have designed, developed, and collected input on nine fact sheets on farm transfer and farmland access. These fact sheets are in their final stages of review and will be completed by summer 2015.  They will be distributed to the Farmland Advisors, as well as stored and shared on AFT’s Farmland Information Center website at www.farmlandinfo.org. The fact sheet topics include: Beginning Farmer’s Guide to Conservation Easements; Determining Rental Rates on Leased Farmland; Elements of a Good Farm Lease; Facilitating Farm Transfers with Agricultural Conservation Easements; Farm Leasing: Success for Landlords and Tenants; Farmland Access: The Basics, Farmland Owners: Leasing Your Land to a Farmer; and Finding the Next Generation for Your Farm and Fundamental Considerations in Farm Transfers.

Original Milestone:

11/1/13 – 2/28/14: All beneficiaries participate in one or multiple sub-region conference calls (New England or New York) to discuss the tools described at the regional convocation and how to best use them with landowners in their locality. 

Revised Milestone:

The timeline for this milestone was shifted from November 2013 through February 2014 to April 2014 through June 2014. In total, 12 networking calls were offered. The call topics were developed with input from the Farmland Advisors, which was collected via a pre-conference call survey. The call topics offered included: Agricultural Conservation Easements: A Tool to Support the Next Generation; Fostering Good Landowner-Tenant Relationships; Farmland Affordability: Tools, Methods and Challenges; Farm Transfer and Planning Between Generations; and Engaging Non-Farming Landowners and Farm Access and Transfer Policy.  Registration information for all the calls is attached to this report along with emails with discussion questions for each call. 

• Generational Networking Call
• NFLOs Networking Call
• Easement Networking Call
• Policy Networking Call
• Affordability Networking Call
• Relationships Networking Call
• Networking Calls Registration

Collaborators: