NH Farm Future Fund Opens Seventh Year With $100,000 in Grants Available

The New Hampshire Farm Future Fund opened its seventh grant cycle on March 9 with approximately $100,000 available to help land trusts pair conservation easements with farm viability planning, including for farms right here in Sullivan County.

Awards will not exceed $25,000, and the fund is open to land trusts seeking to work with New Hampshire farms to conserve land and strengthen farm business operations. The program is privately funded and administered by the Cheshire County Conservation District on behalf of the NH Association of Conservation Districts, with Land For Good and the NH Community Loan Fund serving as key technical assistance partners.

Sullivan County has direct experience with what this funding can accomplish. In 2023, the Monadnock Conservancy used NH Farm Future Fund dollars to permanently protect 55 acres at Five Sigma Farm in Sullivan. Those funds covered survey work, the appraisal, and conservancy staff time. Technical assistance from the grant also supported the farmer's legal fees for reviewing conservation easement documents, business and financial planning, and developing land lease agreements for grazing lands.

Five Sigma Farm was one of five farms and three land trusts that received support in 2023, a year in which the fund distributed $200,000 and conserved 511 acres, 162 of which were agricultural soils. The other 2023 recipients included Monadnock Conservancy with Horizon Farm in Bennington, Upper Valley Land Trust with Jalco Farm and On the River Farm in Lyme, and Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust with Moulton Generations Farm in Haverhill.

Since its launch in 2020, the program has distributed $440,000 to 22 farms in partnership with 8 New Hampshire land trusts, conserving 2,402 acres across 7 counties.

The 2026 cycle adds new resources and partners. The Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) is contributing funds specifically to cover transaction costs associated with conservation easements, with those LCHIP dollars matched by private funds used for technical assistance including business planning and succession planning. Three new partners are joining the effort this year: American Farmland Trust, the Conservation Law Foundation's Legal Food Hub Program, and University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension.

Primary funding continues to come from the You Have Our Trust Fund of Fidelity Charitable, with additional support from the Madison Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. The program grew out of collaborations originally fostered by the Land Resources Action Team of the New Hampshire Food Alliance.

Land trusts interested in applying or parties seeking to discuss project proposals can contact Benée Hershon at (802) 518-0993. The Sullivan County Conservation District, located at 95 County Farm Rd. in Unity, can be reached at 603-542-9511 x326 for local guidance.

"The goal of this fund is to ensure that farmland is conserved, productive, and available for future generations," the program states, a standard that Five Sigma Farm's 55 protected acres in Sullivan now embodies permanently.