Farmland Preservation & Veteran Land Access Initiative
America loses working farmland every day to development and stalled succession — while the farmers who want to work it can't afford an acre. This initiative works both ends of that problem: protect the land, then put it in the hands of producers who will farm it.
Land access support prioritizes veterans and transitioning service members and is also open to beginning and historically underserved farmers.
Keeping working land working
Initiative Overview
Farmland Protection
Work with landowners, land trusts, and county programs to keep at-risk working farmland in agricultural use through conservation easements and succession planning.
Land Access Pathways
Match veterans and beginning farmers with affordable leases, lease-to-own arrangements, and incubator plots on preserved and partner-owned farmland.
Legal & Technical Assistance
Plain-language help with leases, easements, title and heirs' property issues, farm entity formation, and USDA program paperwork.
Capital & Cost-Share
Connect participants to farm loans, grants, equipment cost-share, and infrastructure support so land access turns into a working operation.
Landowner Legacy Program
Help retiring farmers and heirs transition their land to the next generation of producers instead of to development.
How it works
Identify at-risk farmland
We map working farms facing sale, subdivision, or succession gaps and open conversations with the landowners and heirs.
Secure the ground
Conservation easements, donations, partner land trusts, and long-term lease agreements keep the acreage in production.
Match a producer
Veterans and beginning farmers apply, are screened for readiness, and are matched to land that fits their operation.
Support the operation
Technical assistance, mentorship, capital connections, and check-ins through the first years of production.
The land access pipeline is being built — matching isn't open yet.
We're building relationships with landowners, land trusts, and county preservation programs, and lining up the legal and funding partners needed to make transfers real. Landowner conversations are open now; producer matching opens once the first parcels are secured.
Join the notify list to hear first when land opportunities and applications open.
Get notified when land opportunities open.
One email when the first parcels and applications are ready.
“Land that stops being farmed almost never goes back.”
If you own farmland and want it to stay farmland — whether you're planning retirement, settling an estate, or sitting on heirs' property — we'd like to talk. No cost, no obligation, and no pressure to sell.
Help us keep farmland in farming.
Your donation funds easement costs, legal assistance, and the groundwork that puts veterans and beginning farmers on secure land.
Donate today