Farmland Community of Practice
For the (Farm)Land.
We’re convening 40 leaders in Indiana’s farming and land conservation community. Together, we’ll find a path forward for the future of Indiana’s farmland.
The problem
Land access is the biggest hurdle to beginning farmers nationwide, and beginning farmers in Indiana struggle to find and afford farmland in both urban and rural settings (based on Marion County Purdue Extension needs assessment as well as “Building A Future With Farmers II”). Additionally, current farmland owners struggle to find a way to keep land in agriculture when younger generations leave the farm. The entire country is struggling with these problems (based on American Farmland Trust “Farms Under Threat 2040”), but some areas are making headway.
Our strategy
We are helping bring together over 40 Indiana professionals whose work involves farming, farmland transfer, and/or farmland conservation. Together, we have formed a "Community of Practice" -- basically, a group that meets regularly to learn together. We are inviting speakers from neighboring states, to learn what they are doing to improve farmland conservation as well as farmland access for beginning farmers in urban and rural areas, and explore what strategies might work in Indiana. We are meeting monthly for a year, including two in-person meetings. Speakers include and trust staff, policy makers, researchers, Following this learning intensive 12-month period, a subcommittee will identify and make progress on 2-3 concrete, collaborative farmland access and conservation projects.
Our partners
This work is supported by Indiana SARE. We are coordinating the Community of Practice in close collaboration with Purdue Extension.
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: Facilitate landowners and seekers connections, networking, and farm succession planning.
Policy support: Introduce tax credits and other financial assistance for new farmers.
Agricultural easements: Expand eligible local ALE/ACEP partners, including land trusts, local government and state entities.
Proactive zoning: Adopt ordinances to protect farmland from sprawling development and boost urban farming viability.
What comes next?
Starting in June, a subset of the Community of Practice will be taking on a 90-day project(s) to put what we've learned to practice. Stay tuned to learn about what these projects will be and how we'll be using Strategic Doing to guide our work!
Click here to access previous meetings materials and resource library.