Creation of Agrarian Commons Webinar

The NH Food Alliance is hosting our next webinar on The Creation of Agrarian Commons on Tuesday June 11, 2019 from 12:00PM-1:00PM. We’ll be hearing from Ian McSweeney, Executive Director of the Agrarian Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that tomorrow’s farmers have access to farmland.

Over the next twenty years, more than 400 million acres of farmland is expected to change ownership. The Agrarian Trust is working to make sure this farmland stays in production through the growth of Agrarian Commons, their project to purchase farmland then lease the land under fair terms to new farmers while protecting the land with easements and restrictions to support sustainable practices. This idea is an innovative solution to the challenges of farmland succession!

Agrarian Trust is creating a local Agrarian Commons through establishing 501(c)(2) land-holding entities to support land access and tenure for the next generation of farmers. They see this model as a necessary and innovative approach to address the realities of farmland owner demographics, wealth disparity, farm viability, and all who are excluded and marginalized from equity in land, food, and community. The local Agrarian Commons will hold farmland to: (1) support ecological restorative agriculture and community, (2) convey 99-year lease tenure and equity interest to farmers, (3) share in ecological stewardship investment, and (4) support farm viability and local agrarian economies.

This webinar will be recorded, but we would love to have you tune in live so that you can engage with Ian and ask questions! Please register on Eventbrite to watch the webinar on a live Zoom call. If you cannot attend, please still register for the webinar so that you will be notified when the recorded video is on our website!