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 We are increasingly made aware that this model is outdated and unsustainable, not only for our pockets as food prices sky rocket, but most definitely for our climate and our food security.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.
1.https://landworkersalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/LWA-Manifesto-2023-Digital-.pdf
Photo Credits: Wild Tor Organics