Right at the start of July, we gathered ourselves and headed into the fields of Groundswell. We were one of six organisations making up the newly formed and hugely successful Agroecology Tent, where we welcomed many new and existing landseekers and landowners for a chat. It felt like the audience at Groundswell really appreciated the need for a land matching service, with a steady stream of enquiries coming our way throughout the festival.
Of particular note was a visit from the Secretary of State, The Rt Hon Emma Reynolds, representing a follow up visit to our trip to see Dame Angela Eagle in London in April. Emma was receptive to each organisation’s policy asks, many of them bringing up the subject of access to land. At the forefront of the topic, Landmatch England illustrated our success in facilitating land sharing across England since launching in January and highlighted the need for secure funding to maintain the service, something the devolved governments have been providing to their respective land matching services for some time now.
On the rare occasion it was quieter at our stand we were able to sneak away and listen to a few talks. A highlight was ‘Landlords, Tenants, Nature and the Regenerative FBT’. The discussion really exposed how forward thinking Landmatch England are in supporting landowners and landseekers to collaboratively negotiate their lease terms together and to come to long term agreements that provide security. George Dunn shared an astonishing statistic that 80% of FBTs are for five years or less, this provides little confidence for landseekers making investments in the future of their regenerative businesses. Matt Morris, Exec. Director of Rural at the Duchy Estate, described how they had not only embedded a 25 year term in their Regenerative FBT but also sought to build in cooperation and collaboration as a way to support both thriving new businesses and the benefits for the wider farms. Notably Emma Chapman at Hertfordshire County Council shared their portfolio of Bio-diversity Net Gain Smallholdings with long term 20 year FBTs, and while long tenancies aren’t unusual for a County Council, the type of farmer they are seeking out has changed. Increasingly large land owners want tenants that are nature led and know how to integrate their farming operation with taking care of the land and the ecosystem that they are a part of.
We discovered at our panel discussion that regenerative farmers and landowners are hungry for insights as to how they can share land. Cordelia, Landmatch England Regional Coordinator, hosted landowner Tom Pearson and the landseeker he shares his farm with, Adrienne Gordon, who gave us a wealth of stories and anecdotes illustrating the ups and downs of how they had come to work together. Clearly one size does not fit all and landless farmer and land agent Holly Smith shared the various ways she has worked with landowners to be able to graze her flock of sheep and keep bees for honey. With a large audience, all sweltering in the heat, we really understood the demand for a land matching service. With any luck, you’ll find us at Groundswell again next year, in the Agroecology tent and talking once more about what it’s like to share land.
Written by Hannah Padgett, SW Regional Coordinator
Photo Credit: Sarah Whittick, Cider Apple Trees / Cordelia Hughes, Landmatch England
The Landmatch England team will be on hand to facilitate and share their expertise. There will be an opportunity to ask questions of the team directly at the start of each session. The conversation will begin with landseekers and landowners together in one online room, with the option to break out into separate rooms if there is a desire to do so.
Landseekers…
Are you worried about needing longer term security on the land?
Do you want to check in with other landseekers on their matches?
Are you looking for connections in your area for collaboration?
Would you like to discuss the challenges of moving to a new area?
Landowners…
Are you puzzled by how to proceed?
Want to discuss how to be equitable with your land share?
Need reassurance?
Want to hear how others are sharing their land?
These are just some of the many questions that you might bring to the session and if you just want to come and be part of the conversation then you are more than welcome.
This Landmatch England webinar is aimed at equipping you with the financial knowledge you need in the early stages of your land-based enterprise.
This session is for landseekers, especially those registered with Landmatch England, although anyone seeking to take on land for a new farming or growing enterprise will benefit.
We’re happy to welcome Richard Choksey, an advisor to community food growers and experienced grower. Richard has supported emerging food-growing enterprises and has practical experience of establishing a small-scale market garden himself with Black Rootz, a Black-led food growing project, as well as developing his own plant nursery business.
With over five years’ experience in London’s community food-growing network, and through his work with Social Farms & Gardens supporting new and developing projects, Richard will introduce the financial fundamentals you need to get started with growing your land-based enterprise.
In this session, we’ll explore:
What financial support is available to you as a landseeker – An overview of relevant government support and grants in England for new land-based enterprises.
How to approach grant funding – Learn how to approach grant funding applications, what evidence funders like to see, and how to maximise your chances of success.
Financial basics for getting started – An introduction to key concepts, including capital, revenue, profit, cash flow, budgeting, fixed and variable costs, and expenses.
There will be plenty of time for questions during the session.
This session is ideal for anyone currently seeking land through Landmatch England who could benefit from building their financial literacy to move forward with their next steps.
With the launch of the Landmatch England service underway, now is a good time to reflect on why the service is needed in the first place, a service so important to our food system it is already being supported by the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales.
Across the UK, 84% of fruit and 46% of vegetables consumed are produced abroad (1), often shipped thousands of miles to the supermarket shelves, providing an homogenised choice year round. We are increasingly made aware that this model is outdated and unsustainable, not only for our pockets as food prices sky rocket, but most definitely for our climate and our food security. The only alternative is to grow more food here, ideally as intensively, regeneratively and as locally as possible to the people who will buy and eat it. But we have a problem. Land treated as a commodity has pushed the opportunity to buy even an acre or two out of reach for those who would love to grow. In the current economic system the true cost of food is still largely shouldered by the farmer leaving them in no position to service a loan or a mortgage. So what can we do to make a change?
A land trust model establishes security for growers to work and sometimes live on the land through a landlord – tenant relationship founded in solidarity, leasing plots of land to those who can afford it at affordable rates. More casually, across the country, growers seek out plots of land from neighbouring farmers, with varying degrees of legal security and cost. Somewhere in the middle ground there is an opportunity to support growers who might not have the experience or money for a leasehold but need better support and security to take the plunge in starting their own land based business.
I spoke with Ellis and Kris at Wild Tor Organics who have been on their own four year journey to find land. They finally settled on a ten acre plot with the Ecological Land Coop where they live and work with their two year old daughter Olwen. The family are currently renting while they wait to prove the success of their organic veg business in order to gain permanent planning from Cornwall Council. A precarious position to be in, but following a very fruitful first season, one which should hopefully bring them success.
Throughout their land search, Ellis and Kris went from land based education to volunteering on farms and smallholdings, to being trainees, running someone else’s market garden, then being farm workers and most recently farm caretakers & site managers. All the while dreaming of having an acre or two of their own to live and grow on. They got really far down the line developing a farm project with friends only for it to fall through because of complications buying the land. They’ve been to land auctions, looked at land matching possibilities in Wales with Our Food 1200 and considered buying an already-existing market garden business as well as viewing parcels of land via estate agents. The sheer amount of energy and focus required to maintain such a search is astounding when you factor in the long hours and labour of working on the land to gain experience and earn money for the land savings pot.
To give some idea of the scale of the challenge in purchasing land, Ellis and Kris reported the following; ‘Any plot that we could in theory afford outright (i.e. <5acres at ‘average’ per acre prices) would in reality sell for massively inflated prices, either as pony paddocks, ‘amenity land’, or speculative development opportunities. One auction we attended had a 0.7acre field with a guide price of £10k which sold for £51k, and a 1.6ac rundown former plant nursery listed for £35k sell for £135,000! Also multiple other 1-acre plots sold for c.£40k, and a 12 acre field for nearly £0.5million. This was the most disheartening part of our searching because you inevitably get excited and start making plans for each possible plot that you find.’
Clearly the barriers to accessing a small plot of land simply to start your own business are extremely high and the tenacity required to eventually provide what is in effect a public service is extraordinary. Thankfully there are many land owners that understand this challenge and at the same time recognise their own responsibility to regenerate their land. A land share solution is an obvious win win for both the land owner and land seeker. With a service such as Landmatch England supporting both parties to manage much of the perceived risk early on, the potential for swathes of productive land to be opened up across England is really great. Maybe this is the piece of the puzzle that can support our local food system to thrive.
Of particular note was a visit from the Secretary of State, The Rt Hon Emma Reynolds, representing a follow up visit to our trip to see Dame Angela Eagle in London in April. Emma was receptive to each organisation’s policy asks, many of them bringing up the subject of access to land. At the forefront of the topic, Landmatch England illustrated our success in facilitating land sharing across England since launching in January and highlighted the need for secure funding to maintain the service, something the devolved governments have been providing to their respective land matching services for some time now.
A land trust model establishes security for growers to work and sometimes live on the land through a landlord – tenant relationship founded in solidarity, leasing plots of land to those who can afford it at affordable rates. More casually, across the country, growers seek out plots of land from neighbouring farmers, with varying degrees of legal security and cost. Somewhere in the middle ground there is an opportunity to support growers who might not have the experience or money for a leasehold but need better support and security to take the plunge in starting their own land based business.
Throughout their land search, Ellis and Kris went from land based education to volunteering on farms and smallholdings, to being trainees, running someone else’s market garden, then being farm workers and most recently farm caretakers & site managers. All the while dreaming of having an acre or two of their own to live and grow on. They got really far down the line developing a farm project with friends only for it to fall through because of complications buying the land. They’ve been to land auctions, looked at land matching possibilities in Wales with Our Food 1200 and considered buying an already-existing market garden business as well as viewing parcels of land via estate agents. The sheer amount of energy and focus required to maintain such a search is astounding when you factor in the long hours and labour of working on the land to gain experience and earn money for the land savings pot.
