Discover Our Newest Chapter
After twenty-one months of dedicated, steady focused work, The Farmers Land Trust has reached a momentous milestone: we are an independent, IRS approved 501(c)(3) nonprofit! 
We have expanded our team, and this fall, we are excited to share the first group of incubating Farmland Commons—land-based projects that reflect a broader movement for land justice, care-centered stewardship, and affordable, equitable access for farmers in perpetuity. Stay tuned!
In less than two years, with your partnership we have accomplished building a strong, sturdy, and sustainable organization, and have seeded Farmland Commons throughout the country. To reach these goals and complete these objectives, our annual budget revenue has grown by over 100% every year. Thank you!
Thank you for joining The Farmers Land Trust on this journey—your support has helped bring us to where we are, and together, will bring us where we are going!
This calendar year, to launch the Farmland Commons and grow our organizational capacity, we made a bold commitment to raise just over $680,000. With the support of donors like you, we have reached over 80% of our goal. Wow– thank you again! As close as we are to meeting this goal, we still need your help. Please consider a tax-deductible, one-time or monthly gift to support the growth, vision, and long-term sustainability of The Farmers Land Trust.
Partners In Purpose
With our new 501(c)(3) status, we seize the opportunity and the moral obligation to build an organizational foundation that fully reflects our values and vision, care, extreme professionalism, transparency, trust and deep wisdom-guided innovative action. From banking to bookkeeping to bylaw drafting, we’ve chosen partners who share our commitment to, and action for, community-centered regenerative stewardship, ownership, access, equity and relationship. The Farmers Land Trust believes in and embodies the saying, “You are the company you keep.” We also value transparency and are honored to share our business partners with you.
A primary focus of The Farmers Land Trust is the transition of farmland and money to foster new ways of valuing and holding relationships with both. Through the Farmland Commons model we are creating a model for farmland ownership, access and tenure, equity and stewardship. The access to, stewardship of, and equity in money is very important to us. This is why we are so inspired by and grateful for our collaboration with Walden Mutual Bank.
We see the Mutual Bank model as deeply aligned with the Farmland Commons model and we are grateful for Walden Mutual’s innovation to found and incorporate the first Mutual Bank in the United States in over 50 years! Walden Mutual Bank is also values-driven and built to serve the food and agriculture community for a more just and sustainable food system. They are a FDIC insured, Fossil Fuel Free Certified B-Corp with all of their assets invested and loaned in alignment with their sustainable and regenerative community-centered values. We are grateful for this incredibly aligned partnership and the layers of positive impact we are creating.
Based on our 2025 budget, Walden Mutual’s holding and stewarding of The Farmers Land Trust’s funds:
Reduces our carbon footprint by 115+ tons equal to preserving 141 acres of sustainable healthy carbon sequestering forest, driving 304,000 fewer miles, and flying 1,147,367 fewer miles. Wow!
While the commons model for holding farmland and the mutual model for holding money are important, all of this work comes down to the people and organizations and our aligned partnerships. Here are values-aligned organizations helping us manifest integrity, efficiency, experience and growth of The Farmers Land Trust.
Jitasa, which means “The Spirit of Serving Others,” is an accounting firm dedicated exclusively to nonprofits. With Jitasa’s support, we’re able to focus more fully on the work of land access and stewardship, knowing our financial foundation is in good hands.
Land Clinic, is our legal synthesizer, creator, guide and provides support with Farmland Commons. They are centered to recompose property, contract, estate planning and real estate law practices to and focus on the systems, tools and processes that are supportive of connecting people to the ecologies and histories of place.
Plus, to form the Farmland Commons we also partner and collaborate with the community farm, food systems, education and activist organizations, local community lawyers, and farmers in local communities across the country.
We are supported, inspired, grateful and humbled knowing The Farmers Land Trust is in such good hands.
Building Our Team
Operations Manager, Aleeyah Frye
Aleeyah is based in Richmond, Virginia — a vibrant city with a rich culture of community connection, farmers markets, and food justice — she stays grounded through mindfulness, yoga, cooking, and spending time in nature with her fiancée.
She’s passionate about supporting local farms and prioritizing fresh, seasonal food in her daily life, and is proud to work for The Farmer’s Land Trust, supporting a model of land access and stewardship that prioritizes equity, sustainability, and care for both people and the planet.
We are thrilled Aleeyah has joined us!
The recent article, “Women Have Always Been Farmers” by staff member Darby Weaver, emphasizes that empowering women in agriculture is not only a matter of justice but also essential for environmental stewardship and societal balance.
“Land Cooperatives vs Farmland Commons” delves into the differences between two innovative land ownership models. Although they are quite different, they can also be complementary. In today’s realities, we see cooperatives and commons models as desperately needed.
Thanks to the generous partnership of New Society Publishers, The Farmers Land Trust receives 15% of all purchases made by customers who enter their website from our shop page! Browse their over 600 titles on ecological and sustainable growing, living, and stewardship, all printed on post-consumer recycled paper!
We value your partnership as we continue our direct action to protect, transition, provide access, and ensure sustainable stewardship of farmland around the country!
The path ahead is urgent, but it’s also rich with potential. Every parcel transitioned, every farm sustained, is part of a larger shift toward stability, equity, and belonging. When those who feed us can remain connected to the land, communities are better equipped to weather what’s next.
This is where transformation begins. Thank you for standing with The Farmers Land Trust and helping us to shape what’s possible.
