The model is built on gifting land
For Neighborhood Economics
In a country where Black farmers lost an estimated 90 percent of their farmland over the past century — through discriminatory lending, forced sales, and outright theft — a young woman in Bangor, Michigan just secured something rare and durable: 99 years of affordable, equitable access to land she can farm, invest in, and call her own.
Alita Kelly, founder of Jade Rabbit Farm and a leader of the West Michigan Young Farmers Chapter, has become the first 99-year leaseholder of The Farmers Land Trust — and the first farmer to hold land through the Farmland Commons model. The farm, located in Bangor in southwest Michigan, was the first property ever gifted to the Trust.
