NOFA-VT is deepening its support for collective land access and cooperative and alternative business models. After spending time in 2025 conducting dozens of one-on-one conversations with farmers around the state and holding conversations with partner organizations, this spring, we launched the Land Together Learning Network. This learning network is a ten-month-long cohort program designed to support land seekers and those with land to share in building financial, legal, and relational skills for successful collective projects. At the same time, we’re strengthening our own capacity to support farmers in these efforts and are conducting a research-based landscape analysis of existing models, structures, and tools for collective projects. Our goal is to leverage NOFA-VT’s organizational resources—both time and money—to expand long-term land access, while advancing strategies to increase equity in land access, decommodify land, remove it from the speculative market, and keep it in agriculture.
Along the way, we have learned from many innovative organizations, farms, funds, and lenders across the Northeast and nationally. As we evaluate the viability and utility of various tools and structures, and continue learning alongside the Land Together Learning Network over the coming year, we will keep you updated on emerging opportunities and ways to get involved.
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