A Legal Innovation That Lets Communities Own Their Farmland
Most community ownership models have a controller. One nonprofit holds the land, sets the terms, manages the leases. The community benefits, but the structure still concentrates power at the top.
The Farmland Commons model works differently — and the difference lives in a little-used corner of IRS code.
The Architecture
The 501(c)(25) is a nonprofit land-holding designation that has existed since 1986, used mostly in medical and religious contexts. Ian McSweeney and The Farmers Land Trust have adapted it for something it was never specifically designed for: letting multiple nonprofits and community organizations hold farmland as equal owners. That’s similar to what the growing network of Diversified Community Investment Funds did to enable average people to invest in local businesses; found a new use for a legal structure that results in a shift in the system.