The Best Ground for Triangle Land Conservancy’s Good Ground Initiative: Assessing North Carolina Lands for Conservation and Agricultural Value

Abstract

Land access is a critical part of maintaining our nation’s food system and fostering the growth of a new generation of farmers. Access to farmland has long been an issue for farmers of color, along with affordability and generational and long-standing institutional biases. The Good Ground Initiative was formed by the Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC) to pair high-value conservation land to historically underserved farmers in the Triangle region. Using the buy- protect-sell approach, TLC purchases land, puts it under conservation easements to protect it from development (which decreases the price of the land below market value), and resells the land to underserved farmers. As a result, this initiative will help increase access to land while conserving rapidly depleting farmland in the area. This project examined the criteria to find high-value land for conservation purposes, as well as social and economic criteria for retention of marginalized farmers. Components of this template include assessment of farmland production suitabilities, neighbor land use, conservation benefits, and more. The approach can be replicated in other regions to foster both farmer diversity and farmland conservation across the United States.