Terre de Liens

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= "civil society organization focused on securing land access for agroecological farmers".

URL = https://www.terredeliens.org


Description

In English

Terre de Liens was created in 2003 by the convergence of several movements linking popular education, organic and biodynamic agriculture, ethical finance, solidarity economy and rural development. In order to enable citizens and peasants to mobilize and act on the ground, the movement has invented new working tools capable of checking the disappearance of land and facilitating access to agricultural land for new peasant installations . These tools are available to everyone, so that everyone can get involved in the future of our farms and our agriculture.

The originality of Terre de Liens comes from a triple articulation

  • An associative network mobilized throughout France: it welcomes and accompanies farmers to their access to land, informs and brings together the public around land and agricultural issues, and anchors the Terre de Liens project in a dynamic citizen and local.
  • La Foncière, a solidarity investment company open to citizens, allows everyone to invest their savings in a project with high social and ecological value. The accumulated capital is used to purchase farms for diversified agri-rural activities. La Foncière leases these farms to peasants engaged in local, biological and human-sized agriculture.
  • The Foundation, recognized as a public utility, is entitled to receive bequests and donations from farms. It also buys land that risks losing its agricultural use. In all cases, the Foundation guarantees on this land agricultural practices respectful of the environment in the very long term. Terre de Liens is thus involved in agricultural succession and facilitates intergenerational transmission by installing new farmers.

It is this combined action that allows:

  • To acquire agricultural land and thus avoid their disappearance Long-term preservation through ecological and responsible use
  • To lease these land to farmers for organic or peasant production
  • To share the fruits of these experiences with all interested actors
  • To invent new responses to the agricultural land crisis and to bring together citizens, decision-makers and agricultural actors around these perspectives

En français

Example

Sjoerd Wartena and Véronique Rioufol:

"In 2006, villagers started to work with Terre de Liens, a recently established civil society organization focused on securing land access for agroecological farmers. Everywhere in France, high land prices and intense competition for farmland and buildings have become a major obstacle for young farmers. Obstacles are even higher for those doing organic agriculture, direct sales or other “alternative” forms of agriculture, which usually are not deemed profitable enough by banks or worthy of public policy support.

So when a farm goes for sale in Saint Dizier, everyone is ready. In just a few months, the small group approaches the owners and all relevant institutions with a stake in the transaction. Above all, they start raising money among local residents, family and friends. And it works. Through word-of-mouth, public events and fairs, they soon manage to raise 50,000 euros locally. Then, Terre de Liens, through its national network of supporters, raises another 100,000 euros. People choose to invest in the project because they want to promote organic agriculture, to preserve mountain farming, to protect the environment, or to give young farmers a chance. Soon, Ingrid and Fabian start to graze a herd of 160 ewe and to produce cheese; they also develop a microbrewery, work on an agrotourism project and lease part of the land to a fruit grower.

The group continues to meet regularly. They discuss the terms of the lease and the protection of the environmental assets of the farm; they plan for the repair work needed on farm buildings; they support Ìngrid and Fabian in developing direct sales; and they facilitate exchange of equipment and services between local farmers. When another farm goes for sale, they repeat the operation and, after two more years of mobilization, they are met with success. In just over five years, this small village of thirty-five inhabitants has gained three new farm businesses. Four new families with children have settled permanently.

Throughout France, Terre de Liens fosters similar dynamics for preserving agricultural land and supporting a new generation of farmers. Participants are driven by the conviction that agriculture is everybody’s business. They recognize that the way land is used and distributed is key to improving the quality of local food production, not to mention ecological forms of farming and livelier rural areas." (http://www.arc2020.eu/farmland-as-commons/)

Source: This article by Sjoerd Wartena and Véronique Rioufol first appeared in Patterns of Commoning. It is licensed under creative commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International.