Indiana Farmland Community of Practice

Community of practice: a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly

— Etienne & Beverly Wenger-Trayner

 

Between June 2023, we brought together 40+ Indiana professionals whose work involves farming, farmland transfer, and/or farmland conservation. This formed the core of our Community of Practice, a group dedicated to regularly meeting and learning together. 

Read on to learn about why we created this group what we've spent the last 1.5 years doing! 

(Curious about land access and farmland conservation? Check out our resources for cheat sheets, recordings from our speakers, and more!)

The Problems

  1. Land access is the biggest hurdle to beginning farmers nationwide. Beginning farmers in Indiana struggle to find and afford farmland in both urban and rural settings. Resources: National Young Farmers Coalition Building A Future With Farmers II; Marion County Purdue Extension needs assessment.

  2. Agricultural land loss. Agricultural lands, from row crops to forests to diversified farms, are facing development pressures while existing farm and ranch owners face challenges in transitioning land to the next generation of farmers. Resources: American Farmland Trust Farms Under Threat 2040.

Our Strategy

The Community of Practice is divided into 2 phases: 

  1. Year 1 (June 2023-June 2024): Learning Intensive. This is the learning portion of the initiative. The CoP gathered for monthly Zoom meetings with guest speakers to learn what they are doing to improve farmland conservation and access. The focus is then to explore how these strategies could work in Indiana. Speakers include land trust staff, policymakers, researchers, and land-link managers. See our previous meetings materials and resource library.

  2. Year 2 (June-October 2024): Strategic Doing: This is the action portion. After a year of learning, members will identify and make progress on 1-3 90-day projects. We're using a Strategic Doing approach under the consulting guidance of Jane Rogan. 

What We've Learned (So Far)

Through these monthly discussions, we've learned that solutions are abundant and diverse! 

Here are some recurring themes: 

  • State-Wide Land Link Program: These help facilitate landowners and seekers connections, networking, and farm succession planning, something that Indiana is lacking.

  • Policy Support: State and local policy measures can and have been taken to increase land access, including beginning farmer tax credits, incentives, other financial assistance for new and underserved farmers.

  • Agricultural Easements: Easements are ways to permanently conserve farmland AND make it more affordable by removing development rights. The Federal ACEP/ALE program helps eligible partners, including land trusts, local government and state entities, put land into easements. 

  • Proactive Zoning: Runaway sprawl is a major cause of farmland loss and fragmentation but municipalities can adopt ordinances to protect farmland from sprawling development and boost urban farming viability.

Pathfinder Projects

In July 2024, a subgroup of the Community of Practice began working on two "Pathfinder Projects," short-term, high impact projects meant to apply what we've learned and test a "path" for future more long-term projects to follow. 

Project 1: Creating a Federal Funding Roadmap

Indiana is missing out on major federal funding opportunities that could be used to protect farmland, increase the state and local land trusts' capacity to hold agricultural land easements. 

This group is working on laying out what funds are available, how they can be used, and why Indiana should be more seriously pursuing these opportunities! 

This will ultimately be distributed (and hopefully presented!) to policymakers, food system advocates, and organizations working on land conservation.

Project 2: Developing a Land Steward Succession Workshop

Land transfer is a critical part of the land conservation and access puzzle. It's also complex and the needs for small-scale, diversified, and differ from conventional, large scale transfers that stay within the family.

This group is developing a succession planning workshop tailored to small-scale farmers and ranchers, particularly those who plan to transfer land to non-family members. The interactive workshops will focus on a diversity of processes to transition land and healthy conflict management strategies.

We will host 3 in-person succession planning workshops in North, Central, and South, Indiana - keep an eye out for location, dates, and registration!

Relevant Community of Practice Acronyms

  • The IRA provides (NRCS) with $19.5 billion in additional funds over five years for its existing conservation programs, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). The IRA directs NRCS to use these additional funds specifically for climate change mitigation, activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve carbon storage. 

  • RCPP is a partner-driven approach to conservation that funds solutions to natural resource challenges on agricultural land. It funds RCPP Grants and RCPP Classive projects, each of which requires collaboration between ag producers, communities, and landowners to promote conservation projects. Learn more about RCPP.

  • ACEP is a federal program aimed at preserving agricultural land by providing financial assistance to landowners who voluntarily place conservation easements on their properties, safeguarding farmland from development and ensuring its continued agricultural use. Learn more about ACEP.

  • Agricultural Land Easementshelp private and tribal landowners, land trusts, and other entities such as state and local governments protect croplands and grasslands on working farms and ranches by limiting non-agricultural uses of the land through conservation easements. Learn more about ALE.

  • PACE programs generally focus on promoting renewable energy adoption and energy efficiency measures but can indirectly benefit farmland access by reducing energy costs for agricultural operations, making farming more economically sustainable and environmentally friendly. Learn more about PACE.

Our Partners

This work is supported by Indiana SARE. We are coordinating the Community of Practice in close collaboration with Purdue Extension.