Welcome to Working Lands Alliance

The Working Lands Alliance is a coalition of individuals, businesses and organizations whose policy, education and advocacy work has led to the protection of thousands of acres of productive Connecticut farmland.

We are a project of American Farmland Trust. Founded in 1980, the mission of American Farmland Trust is to save the land that sustains us by protecting America's farm and ranch land, promoting environmentally sound farming practices and ensuring an economically sustainable future for farmers and ranchers.

If you are interested in learning what you can do to protect Connecticut's most valuable and vulnerable resource -- our farmland -- then join the Working Lands Alliance!

The Working Lands Alliance 11th Annual Meeting and Luncheon

Each year we gather our supporters and constituents for a CT-Grown meal and an overview of our work for each year to come. We are grateful to those who joined us this year. If you were unable to attend, please view our Farmland and Farmfacts powerpoint to learn more about the importance of agriculture in Connecticut.

A Guide for Connecticut Towns, Institutions and Land Trusts Using or Leasing Farmland

Land is an essential element of farming, and, after a century of significant farmland loss around the state, access to affordable, productive farmland is one of the greatest challenges that Connecticut farmers face. Farmland owned by towns, institutions and land trusts represents an important source of land for farmers and for local food production.

Whether it’s 5 acres or 100, a community’s, land trust’s or institution’s willingness to lease land to a farmer, or to create its own community farm, can make an important contribution toward growing Connecticut’s farms, food and economy. This guide is intended to help make these farmland “connections” by walking through the legal and practical considerations involved in leasing farmland and providing information and case studies of successful community farms that have been established around the state. We hope that this guide is a useful resource for both those seeking land to grow food and other agricultural products and those seeking to ensure that the farmland they own is put to productive and sustainable agricultural use.

Download the Farmland ConneCTions Guide