Facilitating Farm Transition With the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust – 2021 Virtual Annual Conference

This session recording focuses on a dual need: Iowa landowners and farmers need savvy strategies for transferring their farms, while new and beginning farmers require access to affordable acres for regenerative farming.

Landowner Lyle Luzum and farmers Will Lorentzen and Adrian White describe their farm transfer experiences with the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust, a nonprofit intended to keep land in affordable, sustainable food production in perpetuity. Joe Klingelhutz, SILT farm specialist, will moderate the session.

• Joe Klingelhutz is a farm specialist with the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust. A graduate of Iowa State University, Joe has a wide range of experiences related to conservation and farming. Joe consults with landowners about sustainable food production and how to permanently protect their farms.
• Lyle Luzum is a PFI member and landowner who donated his 170-acre heritage farm near Decorah, Iowa, to the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust in 2017 after investigating other options including sale, conservation easements and other nonprofits.
• Will Lorentzen and Adrian White co-own and operate Jupiter Ridge Farm near Garber, IA. As part of a 20-year lease with SILT, Will and Adrian rent their farm at a discounted rate while building equity in infrastructure and equipment. They grow 70+ crops, including shittake mushrooms.