This report investigates alternative models for the ownership of farmland in the UK and makes recommendations based on deep research, practitioner experience, and interviews with numerous stakeholders across the UK’s community-owned farming sector. It has been co-produced by four organisations: Stir to Action, Shared Assets, The Ecological Land Co-op, and the Community Supported Agriculture Network UK. We have worked together to explore the strengths and weaknesses of available models and to begin mapping the alternatives.
The report arose from an initial phase in which we examined how family farm succession – the process by which family farmers retire and contemplate selling – might play a key role in preserving agricultural land and opening up new channels for democratic ownership. Report recommendations will be useful to those with an interest in, as well as finance and funding for, the development of agroecological farming using community and democratic ownership models.
The report also provides helpful information for organisations seeking to secure farmland through a community buyout, and Community Land Trusts (CLTs) who wish to secure land for food production and/or for housing. The common thread that runs through the exploration is the role and idea of Land Trusts (formal or informal), and their potential for increasing the amount of farmland held, sustainably and in perpetuity, under democratic ownership..
The work is divided into four streams, each of which is covered in more detail within a separate Briefing Paper, each of which can be accessed here.
