Published: 3/15/2022 4:21:24 PM
Modified: 3/15/2022 4:21:11 PM
The New Hampshire-based nonprofit Land For Good is hosting a series of free webinars on understanding land’s potential for farming, learning what goes into an ideal farming arrangement and exploring strategies to make any amount of land available to a farmer.
“There may be landowners who have inherited land and don’t have an interest in farming it, or they may be landowners who are retiring from their farming activities but would like to see their land in farming,” explained Land For Good Program Coordinator Rachel Brice. “We’re also seeing an increase in purchases from folks outside the region, who maybe lived in the city and are looking for a rural living situation but don’t want to farm. That’s an opportunity for farmers to get access to land, because these landowners may want to rent or lease to … people who are looking to farm.”
The three-part webinar series will take place March 23, March 30 and April 6, each from noon to 1 p.m. Brice said the information that will be presented has been shared between partner organizations, but this will be the first formal virtual series to reach attendees from across the region.
The workshop aims to answer questions including what the primary motivations are to making land available to a farmer; what different types of land may have to offer; how to have land farmed; and who might be interested in farming an individual’s land.
Brice said the panel is made up of farmers and people who have made their land available to farmers.
“We hope that (attendees) can understand their land itself better,” Brice said. “It’s a much-needed part of the puzzle for landowners, even if they’re not farming actively themselves. ... They can support farming activities, even though they themselves aren’t farming, by making their land available to someone who wants to farm on it.”
For more information and to register, visit conta.cc/3MlhQtH.
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne