WEBINAR: Linking Farmers to Land - Alternative Land Access and Tenure

Hosted by the New Farmers Initiative of FSC and FarmStart

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 17 1-2:30PM ET

Access to land is often cited as the largest challenge facing new farmers.  With the cost of farmland and interest rates as they are, existing farms are consolidating and new farmers are forced to seek alternatives.  Kathy Ruhf of Land for Good and Leslie Carbonneau of Banque de Terres joined us to discuss how land-linking organisations work outside the traditional avenues of farmland access, opening doors for new farmers to farmland opportunities. To view the recording of the webinar, click here.

Kathy Ruhf, Senior Program Director and Field Agent at Land for Good, is a recognized leader in farm entry, succession and tenure.  She began LFG’s work on farmland access, tenure and transfer in 2004 and most recently served as Executive Director (2013-14).  Kathy served as co-director of the New England Small Farm Institute for 17 years, on the USDA Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers for eight years, and coordinated a regional network, the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, from its founding in 1992 until late 2012.  She continues work on food and farm policy as a Senior Fellow with NESAWG.

Leslie Carbonneau brings her passion in social ecology, practices of ecological citizenship and alternative lifestyle to her work as coordinator of the Banque de Terres (“Bank of Land”) project for the Regional County of Brome-Missisquoi in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.  Banque de Terres is a unique initiative that helps the next generation of farmers access farmland and maintains the region’s dynamic agricultural.