How farmland trusts can support food security
Nonprofit Farmland Legacies presented a way that small-scale, community farms can be a part of Canada’s food security and sovereignty at Ag in Motion 2026 in Langham, Saskatchewan.
The charity, along with the Saskatchewan Community Foundation, provides farmers an option to donate land into a trust to be leased out to young and local farmers, as well as those practicing sustainable methods.
A renewed focus on food security and sovereignty in Canada could mean new opportunities for the trust.
Why it matters: The federal government has recently put focus on food security in Canada, with the National Food Security Strategy.
“A land trust that makes land available and promotes smaller-scale farmers and promotes access for those that might not otherwise have access is a really important piece in the whole food sovereignty discussion,” said Joel Mowchenko, Farmland Legacy’s executive director.
“We look at shows like Ag in Motion here and all the conversations about the future of ag,” added Jonah Toth, Community Partnerships Manager at Saskatchewan Community Foundation, “and we see the future of ag as a return to … community-based farming principles and, in our case, community-based ownership of farmland.”
Promoting local production
Another way the farmland trust can promote food security is with support for local food production, something not typically associated with large-scale Saskatchewan farms.
“If we want to see more local production, I think that’s going to happen through smaller-scale farmers,” Mowchenko said. “They’re going to be the ones who are going to be able to, say, make a transition into growing potatoes or growing other vegetables, or switching more into incorporating some livestock into their operations.”
Large-scale farms, he said, are not built for that type of transition.
“Because we’re a charity and we don’t have to maximize profits, we can incentivize certain types of practices and small-scale farming, and we can work with those producers to make it work,” Mowchenko added.
Protecting farmland is an aspect of food security
For some farms lacking firm succession plans, the only remaining solution is to sell the land, often to larger firms. Farmland Legacies presents an opportunity for younger farmers to access land without being stopped by prohibitive prices.
“We know over the next decade, two decades, there’s going to be a significant transition in farm ownership,” Toth said. “So, creating those pathways for younger farmers to have access to land to begin their operations is so important in terms of the security of Canada’s agricultural sector.”
Food security also requires farmland staying in the hands of producers. This is less of an issue in Saskatchewan than in Eastern Canada, though Mowchenko said it is still a concern.
“Protecting farmland to keep it productive farmland, both protecting it from development and protecting it from practices that are degrading the soil rather than building the soil, is a really important part of the discussion of food security.”
Toth said many who donate land are simply happy to see it continue to be farmed.
“Farming families want to know that their farmland is going to continue to be producing agricultural land,” Toth said, “that it’s going to be continuing to contribute to addressing food insecurity in Canada and around the world.”
“Part of the conversation around food security and sovereignty also has to be about how we’re protecting the industry,” Toth continued, “and that’s ensuring that there’s a number of stakeholders that are involved in agriculture in our province and working together in a more collaborative way.”
