EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume Two, Number One September/October 1992 STEWARDS OF THE LAND ECUMENICAL GROUP ORGANIZES COMMUNITY LAND TRUSTS TO SUSTAIN FAMILY FARMS Responding to the destructive impact of industrial agriculture on the land and people engaged in farming, Stewards of the Land has been helping urban and rural people in Manitoba to bring about change in how food is grown and delivered to our tables. The project is sponsored by the Mennonite Central Committee, Anglican, United, and Catholic churches in Manitoba. Raymond Epp, Coordinator of Stewards of the Land, explained that the organization was formed to address 3 major issues affecting the survival of local farms and food production: sustainable agricultural practices, access to fair markets, and intergenerational security of land tenure. How does a rural community land trust (CLT) work? Local farmers join with others in their community to incorporate a not-for-profit CLT to hold title to their land. Debt ridden or retiring farmers, who want to see their farms continue, transfer title of their land to the land trust in return for a ground lease which can be passed on to their heirs. The CLT serves as an advocate for farmers in difficulty with lending institutions, and also raises capital to help pay off debts, allowing the farmers to continue farming. The CLT farmers still run their farms. They own their buildings, machinery, livestock, and a parcel of land on which the home and yardsite is located. In the first generation, instead of a loan payment to a bank, a farmer pays a ground rent to the CLT which owns the farmland. The CLT uses these payments to retire the debt against the land. In subsequent generations the ground lease can serve to operate the CLT, and provide a retirement fund for the farmer. The purpose of the CLT is to decommodify land, taking it off the speculative market forever. The control of land and money is in the hands of the local community rather than with those outside the community who have no interest in its survival. By removing the economic pressures that force the farmer into practices detrimental to the land and by creating incentives, the CLT enables the use of sound conservation methods. One community group is presently seeking to establish a CLT in Manitoba. SHARED FARMING FORGES URBAN/RURAL LINKS In a project that connects city dwellers to the farm, 210 urban Manitoba families this year purchased shares in the harvest of Dan Wien's Twin Creek Farm, thereby guaranteeing themselves fresh organically grown food this season. Dan received the necessary operating cash from his shareholders at the beginning of the growing season, which eliminated the need for an operating loan and gave him a guaranteed market. One share in the 1992 harvest of 20 vegetable varieties and raspberries cost $140. The buyer $10 worth of produce each week over 14 weeks. The project is similar to the Common Harvest Farm near Minneapolis (see Earthkeeping News, Nov/Dec 1991), which is one of over 200 Community Supported Agriculture programs in the USA, based on the Japanese model of consumer cooperatives and the European experience. For more, write Stewards of the Land, 134 Plaza Dr., Winnipeg, MB R3T 5K9, (204) 261-6381; or Raymond Epp, Box 271, Henderson, NE 68371, (402)7723-5333. For more on community land trust models, write The Institute for Community Economics, 57 School Street, Springfield, MA 01105-1331, (413)746-8660. Home     Table of Contents