Farm owners choose to make their land available for farming for many reasons. Whether it is a desire to continue a family farm tradition, maintain farmland assessment status, or develop a vision for the property that includes agriculture, the land and farm operations on the land can play important roles in the agricultural industry in New Jersey. The following resources may be able to help with finding farmers for the farming opportunity you have available.

 

Listings and local contacts

NJ Land Link - Online Listings – NJ Land Link helps connect farmers who are seeking access to land and farming opportunities, with farm owners who have farmland and business opportunities available. Farm owners can advertise the farming opportunities they have available (lease, sale, partnership, farm manager, apprenticeship and other opportunities) through the site’s free online listings, and they can browse the listings of farming opportunities sought posted by farmers

  • NJ Land Link - Create a free listing for yourself on the linking website.

Additional Websites - Online Listings – The following are some additional sites where you can post listings:

Print/Online Listings - Some farm owners advertise their farming opportunities in print publications, which also may post their classifieds online. Some of these include the New Jersey Farmer and Lancaster Farming.

Networking, local contacts, and word of mouth - Speaking with local farmers and agricultural organizations can be helpful for learning about farmers who are seeking access to land and farming opportunities. Using local contacts and word-of-mouth can also help to advertise what you have available. For information on local contacts, see the links below and more information on programs working with beginning farmers who may be seeking farming opportunities.

  • County Board of Agriculture meetings (monthly)/Rutgers Cooperative Extension - One way to expand your reach is by contacting a county’s Rutgers County Ag Agent and/or visiting a County Board of Agriculture. For more information on when a county board meets, contact your county’s Rutgers County Ag Agent.
  • NOFA-NJ Open Houses (online, monthly) – This virtual event, the last Wednesday of the month in the morning from 8:30 – 9:30 AM (or sometimes 9:00 – 10:00), provides a good opportunity to get to know other farmers and learn more about NOFA-NJ and its programs. From NOFA-NJ, the “Monthly Organic Open Houses are virtual meetings designed to offer an open, informal space for the community to gather, share knowledge and resources, solicit advice from fellow farmers, and discuss relevant news and community updates.” Contact NOFA-NJ for more information on their open houses and other events such as workshops and winter conference.
  • Additional local contacts - Some additional local organizations you could reach out to include the following (see more also:

 

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Types of farmers seeking farming opportunities

Farmers seeking access to land include established farmers and beginning farmers. Established farmers are often looking to expand or relocate an existing farm operation, or sometimes to partner with another person or work as a farm manager. Similiarly, new and beginning farmers are often looking for land in order to start or expand a new farm business, or to partner, manage, or work on a farm, in some cases as an apprentice, to gain experience. 

New farmers are a diverse group and have a range of backgrounds and experiences. This includes people who grew up on a farm; recent college graduates interested in farming but who do not have a farming background; people looking to transition to farming from a successful non-farm career; and farmers with agricultural experience from their home countries. Beginning farmers also include those who have worked on farms for several years to gain experience and who are now looking to start their own new farm businesses.

 

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Programs working with beginning farmers who may be seeking farming opportunities

NOFA-NJ's Exploring the Small Farm Dream is one program that supports beginning farmers in New Jersey. GrowNYC's Beginning Farmer Program is another effort that works with aspiring famers. GrowNYC's program is based in New York and often has farmers who are looking for farming opportunities. Rutgers coordinates its RU Ready to Farm program for new farmers, and NJ CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training) is a group of farms in New Jersey that provides workshops and farm tours for the farms' beginning farmer interns and apprentices. The NJ Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ag Professionals is a networking group for young farmers and professionals, and the Monmouth Conservation Foundation's Field to Farm Project and the Foodshed Alliance SAGE Propgram are working to help farm owners connect with beginnging and established farmers. 

Organizations such as these could be of assistance with finding farmers for a farming opportunity you have available (land for lease, farm manager position, apprenticeship opportunity, farm business succession, partnership, land for sale, etc.).

For more information on the access to land issues faced by new and established farmers, a few resources include Leasing Farmland in New Jersey: A Guide for Landowners and Farmers, and beginning farmer resource guides.

 

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Farmland Preservation

For owners of non-preserved farmland who are looking to sell their land and see it remain in agriculture, the NJ Farmland Preservation Program may be of assistance. By selling a farm's development rights through the preservation program, the land is preserved and the farm's cost to a potential farmer-buyer could be lowered.

In some cases, a farm owner may not be able to preserve the farm in a timely manner. Farmland Preservation's Fee Simple Purchase Program may be able to help in these situations. If the farm meets the program's eligibility criteria, the State Agriculture Development Committee (SADC) can buy the farm at the farm's unrestricted market value, preserve the farm by adding the program's farmland preservation deed restrictions, and then resell the now-preserved farm at auction. Local county agriculture development boards, municipalities, and non-profits may also be interested in purchasing and preserving farms in this way for agriculture.

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