Finding ways to secure better, long-term access for agroecological producers
Access to land for aspiring or experienced farmers can be a challenge. Land prices now outstrip the potential returns from small-scale farming so that fields which could be used for food production are often sold for housing, as an investment, for carbon off-setting or other more lucrative uses. This contributes to a widening gap between urban and rural areas, which is leaving whole communities disconnected from the land and dependent on an industrialised food system which is contributing to ill-health and climate breakdown.
Thankfully, many communities throughout the UK are finding creative ways to come together to protect our green, rural spaces for food growing and landscape recovery. Examples of this work taking place in the North include the creation of community land trusts, share farming, community buyouts and land matching pilots. However, more work is needed in terms of helping would-be growers and land owners to understand the different land access options available to them and how to finance and run these projects.
To address these challenges, our strategy outlines the following steps to better land access for farmers and growers:
Our goal: More agroecological producers have long-term secure access to land.
Desired outcomes:
- More agroecological enterprises are in share farming arrangements.
- More community/commons owned farms exist.
Example activities that were identified as supporting these immediate outcomes – and which should therefore be urgent priorities for funding – are as follows:
- Running a northern land matching service.
- Facilitating a progressive landowners working group.
- Offering training and support for collaborative grant funding and crowdfunding.
- Running training and support for existing landowners to help remove barriers to share farming arrangements
Some examples of what is currently being delivered by NFF network members:
- Land matching service pilot being coordinated by Tamar Grow Local and hosted by LESS for NW England
- A North Lancashire farm and the Biodynamic Land Trust working to explore succession of farm management
- Growing Knowsley’s Heritage Future is a Foodrise project highlighting the agricultural history of the region and providing an imagination space for future food and farming initiatives
- FoodFutures/LESS have acquired a community farm alongside local Claver Hill community food project and a review of allotment sites in the region
- Kindling Farm acquired a 78 acre farm via a community share campaign
Priority next steps identified by the NFF network in May 2025:
- Draw together learnings from existing initiatives and pilots
- Support communications around different approaches to land ownership and management to enable a greater number of people in being empowered to access land
- Raise awareness of the issue and complexities around it, e.g. access to housing, tenancy lengths