Commons Connection Between Land, Food, and Money

Discussion

On The Commons:

"On the Commons is exploring the question of what could commons-based investment in farmland and local food enterprise look like. Weaving direct, mutually supportive relationships among farmers, households, and businesses by transforming our thinking about security, money, investing and our connection to land and food is our focus during this project.

We are partnering with co-ops, community banks, investors, organizations and regular commoners to imagine and pilot new (as well as build on values-aligned existing) investment mechanisms to deepen our relationship and connection to local food sources and increase the flow of currency and connections for our food system.

We are also thinking about farmland and the larger question of what is security – and how can we have security when land ownership is concentrating into the hands of a few? On the Commons convened a national gathering of farmers, investors and sustainable agriculture and land trust leaders for a conversation fostering new ideas, tools, strategies and partnerships to convert more land to ecological forms of production, increase farmer access to the land, and transform our thinking about the nature of land ownership.

We are now looking at how to create new methods for community members to financially invest in a local and sustainable food economy as an alternative to a traditional IRA. Such a model could not only provide food security to a growing body of people but also stop the corporate land grab underway across the country." (http://onthecommons.org/sites/default/files/OTC_Update.pdf)