Land Access: 127 Easy Steps to Finding Farmland

Discover creative and community-oriented solutions to land access. Whether you’ve identified the land you want to farm on or are just starting your search, this session will share tools and best practices to help you in the process. Kate and Brett will cover assessing the farmability of a piece of land; whether buying or leasing is the best option for you; resources for finding land; and what to know about financing.

You’ll also learn more about the Land Access Hub, an initiative created to help new farmers navigate the increasingly difficult process of finding affordable land to farm in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. The hub includes many partners working to provide new farmers with an integrated, supportive process to help them gain affordable and secure access to farmland. The hub offers workshops, day-long boot camps, and one-on-one coaching with farmland access navigators. Technical advisors include attorneys, real estate professionals, financial experts, and seasoned farmers. More information is at gotfarmland.org

Kate Edwards is a CSA farmer near Iowa City, growing food for 200 families each week of the growing season. Kate is entering her eighth year of farming and currently works as a farmland access navigator in Iowa.

Brett Olson is the co-founder and creative director of Renewing the Countryside, a Minnesota non-profit focused on strengthening rural communities. He provides individualized technical assistance and designs strategic communication campaigns and publications on issues important to rural America. Brett is a farmland access navigator in Minnesota.