Q: LEASING LAND FOR FARMING

I have a farm with about 100 acres of crop land and approximately 400 acres of forest land. I am not a farmer. My interest is in having someone who is interested in developing and operating a farm like this. How do I find such a person and more information on how to do this.

A: Although it has often been discussed, to the best of my knowledge there is not a central location for connecting landowners with people who would like to farm but don’t have land. There are, however, several networks that we use in North Carolina to help facilitate such activities.

First make some phone calls to the following agencies and organizations to ask if they know of anyone looking to farm:

• Your county extension office. Ask an Expert to speak to the agent working with field crops or horticultural crops
• Carolina Farm Stewardship Association and as if they know of anyone looking to farm
• Your local Farm Service Agency office
• Farm Incubators (where people learn to farm, then must find land to do it on). Some are:

1. • Breeze Farm Incubator, Orange County
   • Maverick Farms, Watauga County
   • Raft Swamp Farms, Hoke County
   • Lomax Incubator Farm, Cabarrus County

Second, there are several online listservs and classified that do a great job of connecting people. Here are some I use frequently:

• Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project listserv
• Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project classifieds
• Carolina Farm Stewardship Association has a listserv for its members.
• Asheville Craig’s List. I know that might sound funny, but amazing connections are made that way.

Third, I would be happy to put a notice out on my Twitter, Blog, and Facebook.

Fourth, here are links to information that you might find useful about organic farming, farm preservation, and new agriculture enterprise selection:

• NC Organic
• The Farm Prosperity Project