Sarah Moorehead, Executive Director of TCD [Thurston Conservation District], said South Sound FarmLink gives retiring producers an option to lease their land instead of selling it. It also facilitates opportunities for younger farmers who can’t afford to buy land. “If there’s nobody in a family to take (an established farm) on, it’s really hard to transition that to an up-and-coming farmer when land prices are astronomical,” Moorehead said. “There’s no way that a new farmer, with the slim margins that farmers live on, will be able to access the capital to purchase large amounts of farmland.”
The matches TCD have made are helping keep farmland in active use and creating new opportunities for local growing.
Read more at: https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article280519534.html