Farmland Preservation
- Darby Weaver
- Jun 25
- 8 min read
Updated: Jun 29
Succession planning for America’s Farms.
Narration by Aleeyah Frye
Across the United States, communities have been nourished by generations of dedicated farmers. Every season, the familiar rhythm of planting and harvesting unfolds in rural and urban communities across the country, each farm serving as a vital resource in its region. For many elder farmers, this hasn’t just been a livelihood; it’s been a legacy woven into the very fabric of their identity. Today, this cherished act of service is facing an unprecedented threat. Across the nation, farmland is being lost at an alarming rate, a quiet crisis that could unravel the future of our food systems.
Every year, countless acres of productive agricultural land are bought up for development, fragmented or destroyed by industry, or simply left in disarray as elder farmers retire without a clear succession plan. This isn’t just about losing natural spaces and important habitats; it’s also about jeopardizing local resilience, losing community access to beneficial “third spaces,” and losing the invaluable systems and knowledge of those who have built deep relationships with the land.
For elder farmers contemplating retirement, the question of what will happen to their land weighs heavily. Will it continue to nourish the community? Will their life’s work be honored? Similarly, for families inheriting farmland, the responsibility can feel overwhelming, especially if they don't have a farming background.
For many elder farmers, this hasn’t just been a livelihood; it’s been a legacy woven into the very fabric of their identity.
Planning Ahead
While the loss of farmland presents a significant challenge, including the loss of local farms and active farmers, it’s not an insurmountable one. Management of these vulnerable properties needs to shift from passive decline to active stewardship. Farmland preservation, in this context, isn’t about locking land away; it’s about making conscious choices to ensure its long-term viability for agriculture and community health.
By embracing conservation and preservation strategies, elder farmers and their families can ensure their land continues to contribute to the community, support local food systems, and provide essential ecological benefits.
Choosing the Right Path
For many elder farmers, the idea of stepping away from the land can be daunting. It’s more than a job; it’s an extension of the self. Navigating a brand-new reality without the defining identity of their life’s work can feel as though they’ve lost their purpose. Similarly, for families inheriting farmland, the path forward can feel unclear and emotionally charged. This moment—the transition of land from one generation to the next—is a critical juncture in the history of the farm and farmland itself, and it is wrought with the complexities of humanness, delving directly into very personal realms such as health, family dynamics, and finances.
The difficult conversations needed to fully realize a future vision for the land are often avoided, and this avoidance can have significant consequences. Without proactive and thoughtful succession planning, farmland becomes vulnerable. Uncertainty can lead to inaction, and inaction can open the door to development pressures, fragmentation of the farm, or even the slow decay of systems and infrastructure.
Succession planning isn’t just about who takes over the land and farm operation; it’s a holistic and oftentimes healing process that involves:
Open Communication. Honest conversations between the elder generation and potential successors (whether family or non-family) about desires, capabilities, and financial realities.
Defining Goals. Clarifying the objectives for the land’s future. Is the priority to keep it in farming? To ensure financial security for the retiring generation? To provide opportunities for the next generation?
Exploring Options. Investigating the various pathways for land transfer and possible conservation.
Seeking Professional Guidance. Engaging with legal and financial advisors and land trust representatives who can provide expert support and navigate complex issues.
While these conversations can be challenging, they are essential work. Addressing these issues proactively, even when it feels uncomfortable, empowers elder farmers to have a say in their land’s future and allows the next generation to step in with clarity and equity. It transforms a potentially chaotic moment into a deliberate and thoughtful transition, paving the way for the continued stewardship of the land.
For many elder farmers, this hasn’t just been a livelihood; it’s been a legacy woven into the very fabric of their identity.
Fortunately, there are many models for achieving farmland preservation, each with its unique structure and benefits. Understanding these options is the first step toward making an informed decision that aligns with the values and goals for the land. Three key preservation options discussed here are: Conservation Land Trusts, Community Land Trusts, and The Farmland Commons.
Conservation Land Trusts
Conservation Land Trusts are important estate planning tools that allow landowners to legally protect their property for conservation purposes. These agreements offer benefits like tax advantages and continued private ownership while ensuring the preservation of environmental values such as water quality, wildlife, and historical sites. Conservation Land Trusts have cultural and environmental significance as they protect land and natural resources against extraction, development, and degradation. They halt bad land use and detrimental land stewardship. Fifteen percent of the land entered into a Conservation Land Trust comes into direct ownership of the land trust itself, while the majority of the land remains privately owned.
For farmers and families, this works through a voluntary agreement where the landowner chooses to enter into a conservation easement, while often retaining ownership of the land to live on, sell, or pass on to their heirs. The easement limits development, restricting activities like subdivision and building, safeguarding the land’s ecological potential. There are also possible financial benefits, as donating a conservation easement can often result in tax benefits, including federal income tax deductions and potential state tax credits. In some cases, landowners may also receive payment for granting an easement. By establishing a conservation easement, landowners can ensure their land will remain undeveloped in perpetuity.
The same soil that sustained our ancestors continues to hold the promise of sustenance for generations to come.
Key benefits of Conservation Land Trusts include their focus on conservation, with a primary mission to protect the land’s natural and agricultural values. Land trusts also offer expertise and guidance, with experience in navigating the legal and financial aspects of conservation easements and monitoring and enforcing the terms of the easement over time to ensure the land’s protection. However, it’s important to consider that conservation easements are permanent and run with the land, binding future owners. Conservation Land Trusts offer a powerful tool for those who want to see their land remain undeveloped and contribute to conservation efforts long after they are no longer actively farming it.
Examples
Community Land Trusts
Community Land Trusts are nonprofit organizations dedicated to creating lasting community assets and expanding access to affordable homeownership, guided by a board of residents, stakeholders, and experts in related fields. While addressing various community needs like agriculture and housing, their core mission is to establish permanently affordable homes for lower-income and working-class families. They offer a unique land stewardship model, where the trust owns the land, and individuals or families lease it through long-term, inheritable agreements, balancing conservation with community needs.
For families, this involves the Community Land Trust acquiring and holding land for community benefit. Families gain secure, long-term leases for residential or other uses, with terms promoting affordability and responsible land management. Perpetual affordability is a key goal, often managed through lease terms that control the resale value of improvements. Community Land Trusts benefit community members by allowing them to contribute to a lasting community asset. The trust ensures continued use of land through ownership transfer to a mission-driven trust and supports new people with affordable land access without the burdens of land ownership. Key benefits include affordability and access to land, community control over land-use decisions, and long-term stability in land stewardship.
Considerations include the transfer of land ownership to the trust, the importance of understanding lease agreements, and shared community decision-making, which may mean less individual control. Ultimately, Community Land Trusts are a great option for those who want to ensure their land serves agricultural purposes while contributing to broader community goals.
Examples
The Commons
The term “commons” is used to describe collectively managed resources, governed by community-defined rules. It encompasses a wide array of shared resources and diverse forms of capital, both natural and cultural, including forests, fisheries, waterways, agricultural and residential lands, and knowledge or skills. Applying these principles to farmland, The Farmers Land Trust has developed the Farmland Commons model, a community-centered farmland preservation approach using nested nonprofit structures to facilitate community land ownership and secure land tenure for farmers.
The Farmland Commons model employs a multi-tiered nonprofit structure involving 501(c)(2), 501(c)(25), and 501(c)(3) entities. By using a nonprofit structure, the Farmland Commons can access grants, philanthropic funding, and real estate donations. Privately held land is transferred to a community-centered nonprofit, often a limited-scope 501(c)(25) entity formed by collaborations between existing 501(c)(3) nonprofits with community ties. This land-holding affiliate leases the land to farmers at affordable rates, allowing them to focus on regenerative farming practices. Governance resides within a board composed of representatives from the community and parent nonprofits, and the active farmers.
This approach emphasizes long-term, multi-generational investments in soil health and provides farmers with secure lease tenure, often through 99-year agreements. The model promotes land stewardship, ensuring its active use by farmers who prioritize community needs and implement regenerative agriculture practices. The land is made permanently affordable to the farmers, and allows them to build private equity.
The Farmland Commons model offers a powerful pathway for elder farmers to ensure their land continues to contribute to the local food system they helped build, long after they retire. By entrusting their land to a community-centered ownership model, they can secure its permanent protection from development and support the next generation of farmers committed to sustainable practices by removing the burdens and barriers of land acquisition and ownership.
Examples
Read more about commons across the globe on our blog post.
Preserving Our Future
America’s farmland, the foundation of our communities and our sustenance, is slipping away at an alarming rate. The weight of this loss is felt first and most deeply by the elder farmers who have poured their lives into the land and by the families who may find themselves suddenly grappling with the responsibility of its future. The question of what happens next to these invaluable acres is not just an economic one; it’s a question of our future prosperity.
A possible future exists where farmland is not just preserved but actively cultivated by a diverse community of farmers, where the wisdom of experience can continue to evolve in place from one generation to the next, and where the connection between the land and people is never broken. This future is within our reach. It requires us to be informed and open-minded, to be proactive, and to embrace the possibilities that lie in collaborative and community-centered approaches to land stewardship.
By entrusting their land to a community-centered ownership model, they can secure its permanent protection from development and support the next generation of farmers.
The same soil that sustained our ancestors continues to hold the promise of sustenance for generations to come. By working together and seeking new pathways for preservation, we can ensure that the legacy of our farmland continues to flourish, carried forward by new hands and a shared commitment to its enduring vitality. The time to act, with both urgency and hope, is now.
If you are an elder farmer or have inherited family land and want to see it continue to be productive, serving as a community asset in your region for years to come, we’d love to talk with you about your vision and your options. Reach out to us today via email at info@thefarmerslandtrust.org or by calling us at (833) 432-7658.
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