Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

Spring 4-30-2024

College/Unit

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department/Program/Center

Geology and Geography

Faculty Sponsor

Bradley Wilson

Abstract

New Roots Community Farm (NRCF) came to life through the purchase of a piece of land by the Fayette County Farmland Protection Board in a buy-protect-sell model. NRCF then partnered with The Agrarian Land Trust, a New England based organization experimenting with land commons models across the United States, to purchase the property and create the West Virginia Agrarian Commons (WVAC), an entity that could advance land access for the next generation farmers in WV. The experience of NRCF and the WVAC and the vision for its operation and extension of the buy-protect-sell model in partnership with county farmland protection boards (FPB’s) remains an interesting model to support land commoning in a region that has a long history of dispossession. In Fall 2023, NRCF requested the support from the Center for Resilient Communities (CRC) in a process of action research and data collection on the state of farmland protection, conservation, and land trusts in West Virginia. An interview process following a snowball sampling method ensued to discover the organization and governance of farmland protection; the goals of farmland protection board members; the benefits and drawbacks of a landowner conserving their property; the relationship between land conservation, economic development, and community-based food systems; and the potential for farmland protection to contribute to the West Virginia Agrarian Commons. This process of collective inquiry will lay the groundwork for a longer-term action research process on farmland protection and land access for the next generation of farmers.

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