FARMLAND FOR PUBLIC GOOD #2

FARMLAND FOR PUBLIC GOOD #2 “Join us on the farm!” Event Report

On May 28 and 29, some 30 participants from local governments and the Access to Land network attended our #FarmlandForPublicGood « Join us on the farm! » event. This is the second in a series of encounters between civil society organisations and local authorities interested in working for access to land in Europe.

Why is it important to work on land with local authorities?

Local governments are key allies to implement an agroecological transition in Europe. In Europe, quite a few of them still own or manage substantial amounts of farmland, which can be used to fulfil public good objectives. Even if they don’t own land, local authorities can use their legal and facilitation competences to regulate land use (town planning, environmental protection, etc.) and support sustainable food and farming systems. Furthermore, some local governments act as pioneers within the dominant land systems, experimenting with innovative projects to support agroecology and access to land. We must support and showcase the efforts of those taking action within institutions to change the broader land paradigm.

What have we learned during the « Join us on the farm! » event?

Our event articulated different work sessions: a film screening and debate, a roundtable discussion, and – highlight of the programme – a visit to an emblematic farm on public land in the South of Paris. We share below a few of our learnings.

Diverse and inspiring projects of local authorities across Europe
During the roundtable discussion, we were impressed to learn about the systemic actions taken by local authorities from the farm (working on farm succession, farm training, zoning policies, renting public land, changing farm practices, etc.) to the fork (developing local labels and markets, implementing responsible public procurement, raising awareness of consumers…). A non-exhaustive list of the land projects that retained our attention includes : the farm incubators set up with city help in Granollers (Spain) and Brussels (Belgium), the strong and long-standing zoning policies to protect agricultural land in Malgrat de Mar (Spain), the work to rent out public land to sustainable farms in Brussels, Ghent, Wommelgem (Belgium), the effort to inventory public land and improve access to it in Paris (France), the creation of holistic strategies on Food and Land Use in Sheffield (UK), Ghent (Belgium), and Pays Terre de Lorraine (France). You can find out more about specific actions presented in the event’s presentation below.

What does it take to establish local land strategies?
Closing the roundtable, participants reflected around three key aspects of establishing local land strategies, discussing what could be the opportunities, trade-offs, and needs for local authorities to (1) invest in farmland, (2) know and intervene in the local land market, and (3) to involve citizens in local land policies. A few cherry-picked takeaways from this discussion:
• Regarding investing in farmland, participants underlined that local authorities could perhaps work with land trusts or land cooperatives like members of the Access to Land network to help reduce costs and bring in more ethical private investment in farmland. Nevertheless, this would require deepening our knowledge on (or inventing new models of) public-private acquisition and management of farmland.
• Involving citizens in building and implementing local land policy appeared as an opportunity to bring farmers and the general public closer together. However, it was underlined that it can also slow down policy processes and would perhaps require better technology to facilitate transparency and dialogue in public policymaking.
• Finally, to “know (and intervene in) the land market” participants highlighted the need for a dynamic monitoring of data, as “one shot” land diagnoses do not allow sufficient reactivity to intervene when farms are actually being sold, transferred, or abandoned. This raised questions around what partners to put around the table to organise a dynamic monitoring of local land markets and what would be the best scale to implement a territorial land watch system.

Know your Landmarket

++++Invest in Farmland

++++Involve Citizens

“Ferme de l’Envol” and Coeur d’Essonne’s “Sésame”: a comprehensive strategy to work on agricultural development in the South of Paris

Our field visit took us – under heavy rainfall! – to the Essonne County (département in French), in the South of Paris, to discover the “Ferme de l’Envol”. This farm was created in 2019 on land from a former military base. It boasts an innovative governance model articulating two structures:
• A producers’ co-operative (SCOP in French), which gathers the three associates working on the farm and runs the farm business.
• A social cooperative (SCIC in French) with five colleges: producers, partners, public bodies, investors, and citizens which holds the farm infrastructure (e.g. the SCIC holds the lease with the local authority) and provides strategic guidance and backing for investments (organises the fundraising).

Ferme de l’Envol is gradually becoming one of the levers for deploying the region’s agricultural and food policy. It has significantly increased the supply of organic produce locally with almost 200 tonnes of vegetables sold per year, 40% of which are delivered to local restaurants and businesses, the rest being sold in baskets – CSA with 400 families – or directly on the farm, at railway stations or at markets... The farm also welcomes trainees from agricultural schools and farm incubators, organises awareness-raising visits, and develops innovative approaches (eco-responsible buildings, preserving biodiversity, horizontal governance, etc.).

Coeur d’Essonne Agglomération is a grouping of 21 municipalities in Essonne. This authority rents the land to Ferme de l’Envol and is also a member of the SCIC and investor in the cooperative. Beyond this, the agglomeration has developed a holistic farm to fork programme called “Sésame”, which combines a focus on the transition in farming practices (1), in eating habits (2), as well as cross-sectoral actions on training for stakeholders along the food chain (farmers, caterers, retailers), research, and digital technology systems (3). The Sésame programme highlighted the urgent need for action on agricultural land in Essonne. With very large farms, farmers nearing retirement, and high land prices making it difficult for young people to invest, the local agriculture could soon become the sole domain of large firms and farm corporations. A partnership was established between the local authority and Safer (rural land agency) to facilitate a multi-partner “Land Task Force”. This “Task Forces” gathers a variety of organisations with agriculture and land focus [1] to play a role of land watch and land match, identifying land opportunities and finding successors/new entrants to farm them. It meets every six weeks, alternating between face-to-face meetings and videoconferences. A charter defines its governance, committing partners to participation and confidentiality. A dedicated GIS tool, “WebSésame”, enables land transactions to be studied and listed collectively, and a database is available to all stakeholders. The “Task Force” is a lever for identifying new entrants in agriculture and consolidating their applications for the Safer technical committee which makes the final decision on agricultural land attributions dossiers. Furthermore, the existence of the “Task Force” helps to convince mayors, landowners and farmers to make land opportunities known, and acts as an obstacle to land speculation thanks to Safer’s ability to intervene when a land transaction is deemed above market pricing. The Task Force covers the whole of the Coeur d’Essonne and Grand Paris Sud perimeter, but can also examine land opportunities in neighbouring areas.

Going forward, what would we like to do?
Our first priority is to keep reinforcing the capacity of Access to Land members to use their expertise – as organisations that own land and support agroecological farmers – to better advise and collaborate with local governments. We will continue facilitating a “local authorities working group” where members can meet, exchange practices, learn about concrete cases of collaboration with local authorities, and find peers with whom to grow their capacity. We will also reflect on building a European project to scale up this work and, if possible, fund some pilot land projects we would like to implement with local authority partners. Finally, we will continue organising exchanges of practices between civil society and local governments to inspire and tool up many to take action at the territorial level. Stay tuned for FARMLAND FOR PUBLIC GOOD #3 next year!

Ressources

• Programme of the “Join us on the farm!” event
• Presentation from the roundtable discussion
• Pictures and notes of the event(access restricted to participants)