Photo Credit: Brendan Bullock

Looking for farmland? Looking for someone to farm the land you steward?

Here are some programs to look into ranging from the hyperlocal to those covering New England. Each helps make a match between farmers and farmland owners.

Bowdoinham Community Development Initiative - Farmland Inventory (Bowdoinham)

The Bowdoinham Community Development Initiative (BCDI) has launched a website for linking farmland owners and aspiring farmers in the town of Bowdoinham. The website is part of a larger Farmland Inventory Project aiming to help map the availability of farmland in town (current use, use restrictions, etc.) and identify and support landowners interested in making their land available for farming.

If landowners want to make their property available for use by a farmer, then with this website, they are able to set-up their own property listing with the support of Land For Good. Likewise, farm seekers are invited to create a profile where they can detail the type of farmland they are seeking. Our goal is to make this searchable database a match-making site, connecting needs while preserving farmland. Maine Farmland Trust’s program, Farm Link, connects non-farming landowners with farmers seeking farm land. Our project complements the Farm Link program by offering a hyper-local point of connection for land owners and land seekers. We expect our Farmland Inventory to serve as a model that could be used by other farming communities across the state. Check out our Farmland Inventory web page for more details! https://www.bcdimaine.org/farmland-inventory

Farmland succession, and use of all farmland in Bowdoinham, creates immediate opportunities and challenges. If we are to maintain the character of our town, continue to be a provider of healthy food, and a steward of the environment, it is essential that we help provide landowners the tools necessary to manage the future of their land. The Farmland Inventory Project aims to do this by facilitating the connections of landowners and farmers. By increasing the land base in production, we support the creation of new jobs, increase access to healthy local food, and strengthen the health of our local economy.

https://www.bcdimaine.org/farmland-inventory

https://farmland.bcdimaine.org/

Land in Common (Statewide)

Maine Land Share Project, a land access effort organized by Land in Common, Presente! Maine and the Resilience Hub. The Land Share project connects people seeking land to grow food with people who have growing space or farmland to share.

If you are in need of land, we'd be happy to help! We can also provide seeds, tools, transportation, soil amendments, and other supports for growers participating in the project. For more information: Land in Common.

Maine Farm Link (Statewide)

A program of Maine Farmland Trust, Maine Farm Link is a linking service that helps connect people who are seeking farmland seekers, with farmland owners (or their representatives) who are looking to sell, lease or work out non-traditional tenure arrangements based on their respective interests, needs and goals. FarmLink works with each party to fully understand their interests and needs. Our personal contact and customized support, combined with the assistance of our program partners, has helped FarmLink to become an effective program. info@mainefarmlink.org

New England Farmland Finder (New England)

New England Farmland Finder’s website was created to help New England’s farm seekers and farm property holders find each other. For many new and established farmers, simply finding available land is a huge challenge. On the other side of the equation, more and more private, public and organizational landowners want to make land available for farming. They want farmers to find them!

Interested in learning more about how or why you might make your land available?

Land for Good is a great resource and their Maine Field Agent, Abby Sadauckas, (also of Apple Creek Farm in Bowdoinham) can help you think through goals for your land! For some tools to help you think through whether you are interested in making your land available, there are a lot of resources in their Toolbox for Landowners to help you get started (https://landforgood.org/resources/toolbox/toolbox-landowners/).