A Farm for the Future

On a typical day at Lancaster Farmland Trust’s Community Farm, you might find aspiring farmers tending to animals, students from local schools learning from the land, or families picking seasonal vegetables and working with an on-site chef to understand the best preparation methods. Undoubtedly, you will see people soaking in the beauty of Lancaster’s unique farmland, at least that’s how Amy Baumann envisions it.

“There’s something really unique about having this vibrant, diverse city with all these incredible restaurants and art and music. Then, you just really have to go a mile or two outside the city and you’re struck by some of the most beautiful, productive farmland in the country,” said Baumann, Vice President of Strategic Priorities at Lancaster Farmland Trust. “Even though people in Lancaster are not often stepping onto farmland, there are just tons of ways that it’s interacting with their life that they’re not even aware of.”

While Lancaster Farmland Trust is committed to preserving farmland, the organization does not own land of its own, but now, they’re setting out to change that. Over 10 years ago, the idea of purchasing and operating a community farm became part of the organization’s long-term vision. In recent years, the team engaged in research, feasibility studies, and even field trips to community farms run by land trusts in other parts of the country.

When a local farming family approached Lancaster Farmland Trust about preserving a property, the organization had a perfect candidate for the community farm. Situated in a designated urban growth area, the farmland was not able to be preserved through the organization’s typical channels.

“We wondered, how would this farm family feel about potentially making a different kind of commitment where we would both preserve it but then have the opportunity to own it and create this space, sort of a legacy to their family, but also an incredible asset for the community,” Baumann said. 

The Community Foundation understands that agriculture is an important part of the past, present, and future of a thriving Lancaster County. With about 300,000 acres of unprotected farmland and a projected population increase of 6.3% in the next 20 years, finding a strategic balance between saving land and building new housing is key. Thanks to the community’s endowment, Lancaster Farmland Trust was awarded a total of $75,000 through the 2022 Community Bridge Builders Grant and the 2024 Shaping Tomorrow Our Planet Award, supporting the organization’s effort to make their dream farm a reality. While the project does not have a completion date set at this time, the team is diligently researching and exploring the abundant possibilities for a project of this nature.

“We are still really at the early stages of it, but the Community Foundation has been really generous in recognizing the fact that even when you’re at the very beginning of a project, you need some support to sort of see what this project could be,” Baumann said.

In addition to creating a space where people will be able to enjoy Lancaster’s agriculture, the organization imagines this farm as a vehicle for increased community equity, with a foundational commitment to inclusion and programming to address food insecurity and environmental injustice. By investing in the protection of our farming heritage and inviting individuals from all walks of life to learn about conservation, the Lancaster County Community Foundation is committed to working with organizations to create a future where everybody has the opportunity to thrive.

“We want to be a place where anyone in the community can come and really get a sense and an understanding of what agriculture is in Lancaster County…and walk away with this understanding that what we have here is so, so very special and worth protecting,” Baumann said.