“Farmland is most at risk of conversion during generational transition,” said John Piotti, AFT’s president and CEO. “With the wave of land transfer that is coming, we risk converting far too much farmland into low-density housing, subdivisions and strip malls.

Land Transfer Navigators aims to build bridges between exiting and incoming farmers, leveraging land protection to facilitate successful, affordable land transfer. Over the next four years, AFT will train three dozen land protection organizations and their staff to serve as “Navigators” in communities across the country, using a collaborative, capacity-building approach.

The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy is one such program, and the organization’s Farmland Protection Director Jess Laggis is hopeful about the potential impact.

“We sit at kitchen tables with our farmers, discussing their hopes and dreams for their land as we work together to secure their conservation legacies,” Laggis said. “Farm transfer is a natural progression of that conversation, and a critical next step to ensure protected lands stay in production.”

The project will also offer regional support for landowners and land seekers, building and expanding communities of practice for service providers ranging from attorneys to appraisers who specialize in agriculture. AFT staff and Navigator partners will work directly with landowners and land seekers, as well as distribute grants to farmers, ranchers and landowners to help them develop and implement farm transfer plans. An online “Land Transfer Resource Hub” will become a one-stop shop for resources helping landowners and land seekers in the earliest stages of the transfer process.