Shared Assets has been working with Stir To Action, Ecological Land Cooperative and the Community Supported Agriculture Network on a project funded by Farming the Future, to explore how community ownership models such as Agroecological Farmland Trusts could provide farmers with an alternative to sale or inheritance.

The work is divided into four streams:

• Financial mechanisms and ownership/governance structures that would enable the purchase of land for food production.
  
  
• Factors that support successful community buyouts of farmland, drawing upon a range of examples and approaches.
  
  
• The issue of housing for farmers and farmworkers, how this is impeding both experienced farmers and new entrants into farming, and impacting negatively on the growth of farmland trusts.
  
  
• Collective Enterprise (sometimes known as Enterprise Stacking): whether those farms which host different enterprises on its land with a number of potential stewards and to become a Collective Enterprise, make a move towards more democratic forms of land ownership more likely.

This work has resulted in promising developments. For example, it has opened dialogue between Agroecological Farmland Trusts and Community Land Trusts. Where previously

they were seen as distinct entities with separate concerns, this project has recognised the common challenges around housing, farming and nature restoration, and the opportunities for joined-up approaches. This has already paved the way for further collaboration.

You can access the project report and briefing papers here.