Land Trust
The Land Trust is a new initiative combining the energy and resources of its founding partners, the Soil Association, Land Heritage Trust and the Paget Estate, to safeguard land for organic and sustainable farming, in perpetuity.
Land Trust mission
To acquire organic and traditionally managed farms and land through gifts, bequests and purchases, and to safeguard their future by managing them in trust in perpetuity, organically and sustainably to:
- Protect and conserve the countryside
When farms are sold, often the house and the land are sold separately, frequently to non farmers. By accepting and holding land in trust, we protect countryside which otherwise would almost certainly be lost.
- Nurture the next generation
The Trust can provide opportunities for new and young entrants to farming to get on that vital first rung on the ladder.
- Support succession and stewardship
Farmers or landowners passionately committed to the ongoing stewardship of their land will be able to ensure their life's work continues by leaving it in trust, helping to safeguard landscapes, rural culture and jobs.
- Engage the public
Under the Trust’s stewardship farms will be open to the public, helping to reconnect them with nature, with farmers, with the origins of their food and with our rural heritage.
- Support our farming future
Climate change, fossil fuel depletion, food security and the need for more localised food systems are all issues vital for our farming future to address. The Trust will help support our farming future by ensuring that land in its care is managed organically and sustainably.
The Land Trust farms
The first four farms of the Land Trust have been gifted by Land Heritage. All the farms have been taken on under their existing tenancy agreements apart from at Summerhill Farm where the Trust has set up a share farming agreement, giving a young couple the opportunity to run and manage their own farm for the first time.
The objectives for the management of Land Trust farms will include:
- supporting existing tenants and land users
- securing suitable tenants for newly acquired holdings
- ensuring that land and buildings of the holdings are maintained in good order
- attracting new land donors and investors
- promoting the wider aims of the Soil Association through the Land Trust farms including encouraging community involvement
Structure and governance
The Land Trust is a registered charity and constituted as a company limited by guarantee. A Board of Trustees direct and manage the Trust made up of representatives from the founding partners. As its parent body, the Soil Association, through its Council, is charged with overall responsibility for ensuring that the stewardship objectives of the Land Trust are fulfilled and maintained.
The Trust is governed by its Memorandum and Articles which are also guided by a Code of Practice which has been agreed among the founding partners. For further information please email rcurtis@soilassociation.org or call 01647 24511.