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Young Agrarians releases land access guide for Alberta

Young Agrarians (YA), a farmer-to-farmer educational resource network for new and young regenerative farmers, released of the first edition of their Alberta Land Access Guide last week.

The YA network includes a large range of farmers and food growers who share the goal of growing food sustainably and revitalizing local food systems for the future. The Alberta Land Access Guide is a one-of-a-kind resource, recognizing the challenging and intimidating process of finding land as a new farmer. It takes land seekers through the step-by-step process of accessing and evaluating land. It also provides insight to landowners looking for someone to come and farm their land.

Topics covered by the Alberta Land Access Guide include:

• Case stories of new farmers and how they got onto land;
• Overview of the nuts and bolts of leasing land: benefits, options, and agreements;
• Purchasing land: strategies for building equity;
• Attributes to consider when assessing potential land opportunities;
• Navigating farm business start-up; and
• Community farms and land-sharing.

“The Alberta Land Access Guide is full of case stories of people doing creative things to gain access to farmland,” says Dana Penrice, YA Prairies program manager. “This is going to be a cornerstone resource for new farmers in Alberta and will show that the farming journey and finding land is possible.”

The guide is available for free to the public and can be downloaded from the Young Agrarians website.