Land Trusts and Beginning Farmers’ Access to Land: Exploring the Relationships in Coastal California

Abstract

This paper examines relationships between beginner farmers and land trusts in coastal California. Set within the context of land consolidation in agriculture and increasing land values, some beginner farmers have created innovative land tenure relationships with land trusts in order to gain access to affordable farmland. To examine the relationships between land trusts and beginning farmers, we ask: how do conservation land trusts and agricultural land trusts view their mission in relation the intersection of conservation and agriculture? Findings suggest there is a spectrum of positions that conservation and agricultural land trusts have taken in regards to the coexistence of agriculture and conservation on their land. The increasingly popular concepts found within the local food movement may be influencing a shift in the portrayal of land trust position and mission. However, differences between how land trusts act internally and how they portray themselves publicly emerged in farmer interviews. While there may be great deal of potential for land trusts to work with beginner farmers and thereby connect a new swath of the public to conservation through agriculture, both land trusts and beginner farmers need to wade carefully into relatively uncharted waters.

“Profitability” vs. “Making It:” Causes and Consequences of Disembedding Beginning Farms’ Finances

“…The structural conditions channeling returns away from farm households and toward corporations are the result of a series of “largely deliberate” policy decisions (Beckett and Galt , 21), and are responsible for many of the challenges facing new farmers. Studies repeatedly indicate that beginning farmers running many types of operations find reliable access to land and capital difficult to secure (Ackoff, Bahrenburg, and Shute ; Gillespie and Johnson ; Shute ), and, like other entrepreneurs, struggle to afford and access healthcare (Inwood et al.…”

After the Incubator: Factors Impeding Land Access Along the Path from Farmworker to Proprietor

“…Nevertheless, when smaller-scale farmers secure farmland tenure at scales meeting their production needs and capacity, previous rounds of agricultural land valorization typically influence their land rents or mortgage costs. These factors frequently exclude new-entry farmers with little access to start-up capital (Beckett & Galt, 2014).…”

Diversification, Yield and a New Agricultural Revolution: Problems and Prospects

“…If it takes several years to realize the financial benefits of transitioning, a farmer with a five-year land lease will be unlikely to transition. In places like the Central Coast of California where most farmers have short-term leases, land converted to organic predominantly comes from larger industrial farmers who have the acreage and capital to wait for the financial benefits of transitioning [94]. These newly organic farms, however, often chose to substitute inorganic chemical inputs with their organic counterparts to gain certifications without incorporating diversification practices to limit the need for such inputs [95].…”

“…These farms are thus not truly transitioning from industrial agriculture. Organic farmers entering the region need to find an existing organic lease, rent fallow land, or convert small rural residential parcels to agriculture [94]. Thus, new farmers in these areas do not have the tenure to make large strides in transitioning land to alternative agriculture.…”