Guide to Creating an Agrarian Commons (or more generally, community-based land stewardship)

The Agrarian Commons is a model of land stewardship and access that allows for community ownership of farmland. In partnership with the nonprofit Agrarian Trust, which established several Agrarian Commons across the US in 2020, CAFS created the following legal guide for anyone interested in establishing one. The guide contains sample land donation agreements, bylaws, an equitable lease, and more. While focused on Agrarian Commons, we hope that the guide will be used to assist those looking to establish similar legal structures, such as community-based ownership/stewardship of land, or equitable leases based on long-term tenure and regenerative practices.

The process of creating the legal documents that are the legal structure of the Agrarian Commons was a collaborative one.  Following are the relevant documents.

When Agrarian Trust (AT) first began looking at legal models for the Agrarian Commons, the organization believed that most of the Commons would be formed as nonprofit 501(c)(2) or (c)(25) community land trusts.  That changed, and the Commons can form a variety of legal structures. 

The more we learned about the limits of the (c)(2) and its multi-parent corollary, the (c)(25), the more challenges became apparent. We learned that the structure may work when the goal of the commons’ is limited to leasing to individual farmers or groups dedicated exclusively to farming. The types of activities a (c)(2) or (c)(25) can do are too narrow for a nonprofit with a broader mission.

Congress designed the 501(c)(2) structure for a single purpose: to hold property for a single non-profit parent organization. Doing educational programming, on-farm events, or other activities could cause a nonprofit organized as a 501(c)(2) to lose its tax-exempt status. In addition to the limits on types of activity, the parent organization is required to maintain control of the (c)(2) by holding the majority (at least 51%) of board seats. This is at odds with AT’s goal of supporting a local community to have local control over the commons.

The (c)(25) structure is slightly more flexible in that it allows for multiple parent organizations, but it is subject to the same limits on its activities.

AT had hoped to use these structures to accomplish its mission.  Now, however, AT has a much broader view, and is supporting local organizations to create whatever type of nonprofit entity is best for that local organization.  The needs of the organization should drive the choice of entity, not the other way around.

Below are links to sample by-laws for a variety of organization types that can be used to create an Agrarian Commons:

501(c)3 Sample Bylaws

Ecological Stewardship & Farm and Ranch Standards and Comments/Discussion

A key value of all Agrarian Commons is ecologically regenerative stewardship of the land by the farmers leasing the land.

Equitable Lease Sample

Here's is a sample Agrarian Commons lease.

Sample Land Donation Agreement

This is a sample donation agreement that covers the donation of land from one person or entity to another.

Legal Entity Choice Comparison

This chart is not a comprehensive list of the ways that farmers and farming organizations can hold land. It is an ongoing exploration of how to use existing legal entity choices to preserve land for agricultural use, permanently remove that land from the speculative market, and lower barriers to access for people who face challenges getting secure, long-term tenure to farmland.

Agricultural Lease Terms by State

Finally, state law governs how long a farm lease term can be. Some states have no set limits while others only allow a lease to be a maximum of 10 years long.

Coming soon!