A Pathway to Land Access for Farmers

Walking through the fields of Viva Farms in Washington State’s Skagit Valley, the smell of strawberries is strong in the air. The rain that came down hard the week earlier spells the end of strawberry season, says farmer Francisco Farias, but he still has raspberries, one of his favorite crops to grow.

Farias explains all this in Spanish, while Viva Farms farm viability director Anna Chotzen translates.

Farias has farmed a parcel of land here at Viva Farms since 2017—as do dozens of other farmers. Viva Farms is a farm business incubator and training program. It educates beginning farmers on sustainable practices, and provides them with land to start their business. Farias completed the program in 2016, and together with his brothers started Farias Farm in 2017. 

In recent years, Viva Farms realized it needed to expand its land access work to help more mature businesses launch beyond Viva Farms. Not only is land access a critical barrier to new farmers, it’s also something that has been exacerbated by patterns of discrimination by the USDA and agricultural lenders. Access to land is an even higher barrier for communities that are statistically underserved or denied loans. 

“We see that the system is not working for farmers, and we’re really committed to pushing the envelope so that it can [work],” says Chotzen.

Farias, who now operates his farm in partnership with his wife, wanted to pursue this goal as well. And this summer, that dream became a reality.

Working with Viva Farms and Dirt Capital Partners, an agricultural investment company, Farias now has locked in a financing deal that puts him on track to own a parcel of land a few miles away from Viva Farms, within just a few years. He has a 10-year lease and is hoping and planning to purchase it sooner than that. 

“It’s always been a dream and a goal of ours to find a place that we could really grow our business, and that can be a stable place where we know we can stay,” says Farias.

Incubating a dream

Farias grew up farming in Mexico, and worked for a short time on a conventional farm there. When he came to the US in 1996, he worked for an organic farm in Washington state. 

When he connected with Viva Farms and began its Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture, it gave him the tools to start his own business.

After his brothers completed the practicum as well, the three of them began farming together on land from Viva Farms. Farias Farm grows broccoli, cauliflower, strawberries, blueberries, carrots, and other vegetables, all organic.

“In organic production, I feel free,” says Farias. “I can just be out in the field and know that everything is really healthy. I have kids, and they can come out and they can eat food off the farm, and I don’t have any worries.”

As they grew, they had success. They established themselves at regional farmers markets, and sold produce through Viva Farms. Farias’s brothers left to pursue other careers, and his wife Lorena joined him as co-owner. They expanded from just half an acre to having 10 acres at Viva Farms and 10 acres on a nearby piece of land. 

And then that nearby land went up for sale.

The final piece

The number of farms in the US decreased by 6.9 percent between 2017 and 2022, according to US Census of Agriculture Data. Washington State sees this pattern mirrored in agricultural areas such as the Skagit Valley—the state lost 3,717 farms between 2017 and 2022. 

This speaks to the trend of consolidation—a rapid squeeze on small farmers across the country that shows no signs of letting up. While established farmers get forced out, new farmers struggle to take their place due to a smattering of high barriers, principle among them access to land.

Viva Farms has been operating since 2009, and provides new farmers with the tools to incubate their farm business, including capital, marketing, bilingual education, and more. One of the most important things it provides is land: Viva Farms operates more than 100 acres, and members of its incubator program can access certified organic parcels to farm.

But Viva Farms’ land is not intended to be the forever home for any of the farms it incubates. “In recent years, it’s become really clear that for us to be committed to farmers’ success, we have to help them with this final piece,” says Chotzen. “It sounds nice on paper to just say you build your business for a few years at Viva and then launch off-site, but the reality of finding a long-term home for your farm is much more challenging.”

Land ownership provides individual farmers with stability and security—it gives them more freedom to make decisions about their operations and to plan long-term. Broadly, a system of diversified farms is more resilient to pests and climate shocks than monoculture operations.

And so Viva Farms worked with Farias and Dirt Capital Partners to set up terms that could result in a pathway to ownership for Farias. The model they used allows farmers to get a secure lease, with the option to purchase at a later date. This permits them to get on land right away without the requirement of an immediate down payment, and with a 10-year runway to figure out their financing. 

It’s a good first step, says Chotzen, and she believes it is replicable for other investment firms. Dirt Capital Partners is a leader in the space among venture capital and impact investment firms, she says, and she hopes the process evolves to further reduce interest rates and the final amount farmers owe.

“I just think that if we as the farmer support community, whether that’s us at Viva or the finance space, if we really want to support the farmers who’ve been historically excluded, and build the food system we want using the ecological practices that we all think are essential, we have to be willing to be flexible on what we are expecting in terms of financial return,” says Chotzen. “The risk can’t land with the farmer all the time.”

In the last two years, Viva Farms has received $6 million from the USDA to support this work. More regulatory mandates to fund this work would help, such as in the Farm Bill.

A farm stand

Having his own place to farm opens up new opportunities for Farias, and makes space for new goals. Washingtonians can find Farias Farm at regional farmers markets; he hopes to open a farm stand on the property next year. He’s doing other future planning, too: He hopes to build his own cooler, so they don’t have to depend on Viva Farms’ refrigeration capacity anymore. There’s also a house on the land they will own, and they’ll be moving in soon, so they can live where they farm. 

Walking back to the parking lot from the fields, Farias talks about getting to plant more blueberries now. When you rent land, you have to think short-term. Season to season. Broccoli, carrots, and other things that don’t require multi-year tending. But now that he has his own land, he has the stability of getting to plan for the future. 

“There are a lot of opportunities, and I’m hoping to achieve them,” says Farias. “Just being able to plan for the long term is a big one.” 

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