One of the most pervasive and persistent challenge beginning farmers in NJ face is finding, affording and negotiating appropriate farmland to lease or to own

The Foodshed Alliance, a New Jersey nonprofit corporation, was awarded $384,665 under the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) of the US Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The three-year project grant aims to increase access to long-term farmland leases for beginning farmers and ranchers through the Sustainable Agriculture Enterprise program.

Specifically, the Foodshed Alliance will identify preserved farmland parcels suitable for beginning operations and facilitate minimum 10-year leases between landowners and qualified beginning farmers. The Alliance provides stewardship and connects farmers to technical assistance and training resources to promote success in diversified vegetable, fruit, flower, poultry, livestock and value-added agricultural enterprises using sustainable and regenerative methods. The grant expands an existing pilot program and provides ongoing business, marketing, food safety and production skills training to participating farmers. Outreach targets underserved communities to promote diversity and equity in agriculture.

New jersey has the most expensive farmland in the U.S. At $12,900 an acre, according to the USDA. Yet, there are more than 2,611 easements in new jersey preserving 233,526 acres of farm land, according to the NJ state agriculture development committee (sadc), which administers the new jersey farmland preservation program. This equates to the preservation of about 31.8% of available agricultural lands (the highest percentage of any state in the nation.)easement-based farmland preservation programs seek to help make farmland more affordable to farmers by removing the development value from the land; however, even deed-restricted farmland may be expensive for farmers in markets where there is competition from non-farmers interested in the land for lifestyle reasons.farmers unable to purchase land often turn to leasing. Short-term leasing (usually 1 year) is the norm in new jersey on deed-restricted farmland, which works extremely well for commodity crops. Short-term leases are problematic for farmers who want to grow healthy food to feed their communities, since IT inhibits investment in infrastructure and long-term improvement in soil health (critical especially for beginning farmers/ranchers using sustainable/organic/regenerative methods to produce food).the long-term goal this project, "launching beginning farmers: long-term preserved farm leases and farm success training" is to significantly increase beginning farmers/ranchers' access to long-term lease agreements on preserved farmland. The project proposed here greatly expands an innovative land-access pilot program and provides extensive training and technical assistance for beginning farmers and ranchers in both urban and rural new jersey communities to succeed in their farm businesses.late in 2018, the foodshed alliance launched the sustainable agriculture enterprise (sage) pilot program to give beginning farmers and ranchers access to affordable, long-term (10-year) leases on preserved farmland. The program now features two sites and 10 new farm enterprises. The project's strategies include: 1) preserved farmland parcels owned by land trusts, municipalities, counties, etc. That are suitable for beginning farmer/rancher operations are identified; 2) easement-holding entities lease (minimum of 10 years) or transfer preserved parcels to the nonprofit foodshed alliance for a nominal fee; 3) beginning farmers/ranchers who wish to raise food sustainably are identified; 4) the foodshed alliance leases preserved parcels to the beginning farmers/ranchers at affordable rates; 5) the foodshed alliance provides stewardship services for the leased preserved parcels; 6) the foodshed alliance connects farmers to resources they need to succeed and provides technical assistance and training.criteria to become a sage farmer is to have 2+ years commercial farm management experience and/or 3+ years commercial farming experience, and provide a detailed farm management plan, business/marketing plan, and a financial plan. They must be dedicated to regenerative agriculture through the use of sustainable, organic and/or biodynamic methods (organic certification is not required as long as national organic program-NOP guidelines are used). We are recruiting farmers in the following categories, as appropriate to the land available: diversified vegetable, fruit, flowers, herbs, poultry (meat and/or eggs), swine, goat, orchards, and woodland products.because diversity and equity are values of our organization and this program, we work with our urban agriculture partners to do special outreach to beginning farmers/ranchers from bipoc and socially disadvantaged communities to make sure they are informed of the program's opportunities.besides providing affordable access to land in a 10-year lease, we provide guidance and support to help these beginning farmers be successful by connecting them to resources. Through this grant, this guidance will be expanded to on-going training for beginning farmers/ranchers who have launched their farm enterprise. Surveying our existing farmers, we identified topics they would be interested in, including but not limited to: financial management (quickbooks training, access to funding – grants, loans, etc.; info on taxes, workers' comp, business filings, insurance, etc.); business management (hiring best practices, h-2A visa program, managing employees, apprentice/intern programs, risk management, cooperative purchasing opportunities); safety (fsma compliance, safety tips on the farm); marketing (effective digital marketing, ecommerce strategies); direct-to-consumer sales (farmers' markets, farm stand, csas); farm-to-institution sales (food hubs, restaurants, wholesale); surplus food management (value-added products, working with gleaning organizations); on farm skills (no-till farming, organic pest management, organic disease management, using cornell climate smart farming tool kit i.e. growing degree days, etc., equipment maintenance and repair).on april 22, 2021, the NJ state board of agriculture approved the transfer of ownership of the sussex sage site to the foodshed alliance. NJ secretary of agriculture doug fisher said the sage program was "trail blazing and extraordinary and will set the pace for how we can help farmers in the future."