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The Land Connection linking farmers in Illinois

The Illinois Farmland Access Initiative is working to connect beginning farmers with land.

The Land Connection Executive Director Jacquelyn Evers tells Brownfield the effort will expand the Northeast Illinois Farmlink Program.

“At this moment in time, Illinois does not have a single place for farmland seekers and farmland owners to find each other,” she shares.

She says the Land Connection is collaborating with The Conservation Fund and Liberty Prairie Foundation as part of the initiative to improve land access across the state.

“To purchase land as a first-generation farmer when costs are $16-20,000 an acre is really difficult, especially if you don’t have farming experience, you don’t qualify for a lot of loans,” she says.

Evers says regionally located navigators will also help guide people through transitions.

“To make sure that if they are interested in farming that we find a way to continue Illinois’ agricultural legacy rather than letting that farmland go under development,” she explains.

Brownfield interviewed Evers during the recent Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day in southwest Michigan.