A rural revival in Cape

An effort is under way to connect farmers with farmland.

Dave Buchanan, of Portland, stands on one-third acre he’s
leased in Cape Elizabeth from Dr. Rodney Voisine, on
which he grows “exotic” apple varieties.

CAPE ELIZABETH — Farming, says Cape Elizabeth’s Penny Jordan, does not stop cold with the first frost. It continues year-round.

Still, things aren’t quite so hectic as in the spring planting and fall harvest seasons and so, this winter, for the second year, Jordan will use the down time at the Wells Road farm she works with her siblings to log time as a consultant for Land For Good, a Keene, N.H., nonprofit that seeks to connect young, beginning farmers with older tracts of land.

“What I do is I help the wannabe farmer come up with a plan, to determine what their strategy is, and I work with the landowner to figure out what they want to do,” Jordan said. “It’s not rocket science, but it is a process, to walk people through figuring out what it is they want to do and what they are willing to compromise on.”

It is a scenario that is becoming more common as the locally grown food movement gains popularity, bringing more and more people to farming even as entry into the industry gets more expensive.

“Maine has probably the largest influx of new farmers, and the problem is that access to farmland is extremely expensive,” said Jordan. “The question is, how do we make the land more affordable for prospective farmers?”

Caitlin Jordan is not related to the Penny Jordan, but shares the same interests. Her family runs the Alewives Brook Farm across town from the Jordan Family Farm. Whether driven by national E. coli scares, area “Eat Local” initiatives, or the plunging economy, there has been a rising awareness of agricultural issues, she said.

“People really want to know where their food comes from,” Caitlin Jordan said. “They want to know the person who grew or raised what goes on their table.”

And, along with that, more and more people want to take up a hoe and work the dirt themselves.  The problem is, the tend of the last century away from community farming means a lot of land has been lost to development. Meanwhile, land-based dowries have similarly fallen out of fashion. 

“We’re lucky,” said Penny Jordan. “We inherited all this land, and all of the equipment down through four generations. But not everyone has that luxury.”

One solution is Land For Good, through which Jordan helps to connect folks who want to take a stab at farming with folks who have land they are willing to lease, sell an easement or barter trade.

But the need is so great that even the state has gotten in on the act, through Maine Farm Link, a program of the Maine Farmland Trust. Helmed by a former state legislator, John Piotti, Maine Farm Link claims to have made 69 links putting more than 6,000 acres in cultivation in 13 counties, and that’s only working with farmers having a minimum of three years of agricultural experience.

It doesn’t always take that much experience, but Jordan said leasing first is often the way to go for the beginning farmer, even one who does have the financial resources to “buy the farm.”

“It’s often best to try leasing land for a few years, to get your hands dirty, so to speak,” she said. “Farming is hard work, it’s a real lifestyle, and you might want to give it a try before spending $250,000 only find out you hate it.”

But regardless of experience and finances, it doesn’t take a lot of land, on either end of the equation. Dave Buchanan, of Portland, is leasing land on three different Cape Elizabeth properties, one plot only about one-third of an acre, where he grows exotic apple varieties.

Buchanan, who is writing a book on rare foods, raises and sells fruit trees and berry bushes, along with his own fruit smoothies.

“I have a master’s degree in landscape design, so I have that training, but for the most part my gardening is just trial-and-error,” he jokes. “I’ve look around for land a lot and haven’t found what I want, so this has worked out as a better alternative, so I can stay in the city and not have to take the leap of buying a farm.

“There are a lot of young people in Portland who are interested and want to grow, but it’s a huge expense to buy land, and a leap of faith,” said Buchanan. “This process is kind of an incubator, that allows people to step into it little-by-little, to learn, and see what works for them.”

That gentleman farmer-by-proxy route has allowed Buchanan to nurture an interest in front, such that he now works with about 24 varieties of pears and almost 120 types of apples. Had be bought a farm, he says, he might have been locked into vegetables in order to make ends meet.

And, he notes, each “lease” is a little different. On one lot, he has essentially worked a labor trade, allowing him use of land and farm equipment in return for work tending the property, trimming trees and making barn repairs. On another lot, the landowner has a permit for the Portland Farmer’s Market, which Buchanan calls “impossible to get in to.” The deal there allows Buchanan to work the land, and the permit.

“It’s different in each case,” he said. “My arrangements are each very different.”

That type of thing, said Jordan, is entirely up to farmer and farmee.

“We have tried to get the word out that there are people who are looking to start out as farmers and to make that known to people who have property,” she said. “It’s a fairly simple process, I have an inventory of what I know is there and people contact me and I say, you might want to talk to this person. But I can’t match people up, all I can do is connect people.”

In other words, Jordan does not act as a matchmaker; she only makes the introductions. For example, she may direct the person who wants to grow mushrooms to the person who doesn’t want their land cleared, and may work with both to help hammer out realistic expectations. But the details, and the responsibility for making the relationship work, are up to the parties involved.

And things don’t always work out. One spot Buchanan leases came to his attention after the previous tenants were asked to leave by the landowner.

“This is not for everybody, but there are ways to make farming available to almost anybody,” said Buchanan, who has helped map potential spots for the Cape Farm Alliance, for whom he acts as a contact person.

“This is something that’s still in its very formative stages,” he said. “At this point, it’s a matter of getting sense of what’s out there, what the possibilities are, and who’s interested on both ends – landowners and potential farmers.”

A CLOSER LOOK

For more information about connecting prospective farmers with willing landowners, see the websites LandForGood.org and MaineFarmLink.org.

More information on Dave Buchanan’s fruit farming efforts can be found at OriginsFruit.com.