New Free Guide Helps CT Farmers Lease Farmland

"Farmland ConneCTions: A Guide for Towns, Institutions, and Land Trusts Using or Leasing Farmland" is a new guide published by the American Farmland Trust (AFT) and the University of Connecticut that aims to help local towns, institutions and land trusts successfully complete the process of leasing land to farmers or managing it themselves for agricultural use. The guide can be downloaded here. With the third highest farm real estate values in the country, Connecticut's farmland is often too expensive for local farmers to purchase, so a better option rests in leasing. As a result, farmland owned by towns, institutions and land trusts represents an important source of land for farmers and for local food production. Cris Coffin, New England Director for AFT elaborates, “We hope this guide will serve to connect those looking for farmland with those with farmland to lease. Whether it’s five acres or 100, farmland leased by communities, land trusts and institutions to farmers, or used for community farms, can help grow Connecticut’s farms, food and economy.” The guide aims to help make these farmland “connections” by walking through the legal and practical considerations involved in leasing farmland and providing information and case studies of successful community farms that have been established around the state.

To read more about the American farmland Trust, go here.