Workshop Recording

There was a virtual workshop held on Tuesday, December 10, 2024 to cover the program. This webinar was recorded and can be viewed below along with the slides.

Classes

Please visit the Related Resources tab for a full list of classes available with dates and locations.

About Land, Capital, and Market Access Program

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access (LCMA) Program to help underserved producers, including socially disadvantaged producers, by increasing their access to land, capital, and markets.

CT Department of Agriculture (DoAg) along with project partners at UConn Extension, Connecticut Farmland Trust, and American Farmland Trust received $2.5 million for the implementation of the LCMA Program over the next four (4) years. This project is a unique opportunity to provide financial and technical assistance to socially disadvantaged farmers to purchase farmland and help them on a path to building farm viability.

Historically, socially disadvantaged producers have not received the same amount of specialized technical support to launch, grow, improve resilience, and success of their agricultural enterprises when compared to their traditionally served counterparts. The LCMA Program, administered by the Connecticut Department of Agriculture and funded by the USDA Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program, is intended to address this problem by increasing access to farm ownership opportunities, markets, and capital and improving results for those with heirs’ property or fractionated land, to improve the ability to access land, land ownership, land succession, and agricultural business planning.

Section 1006 of the American Rescue Plan Act, as amended by Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act, included these provisions for USDA to ensure underserved producers have resources, tools, programs, and technical support they need to succeed. For more information, please visit the USDA Farm Service Agency’s webpage.

Connecticut Department of Agriculture's LCMA Program has three primary components to it:

1. Establish the Farm Business Navigator, a new position within UConn Extension to support interested socially disadvantaged farmers and provide the Land Ownership Readiness Course. This position helps farmers to navigate available resources and connect to additional assistance as needed.
2. Access to free technical assistance (such as legal, tax, marketing, accounting, or financial advisors) through referrals by the Farm Business Navigator. UConn and DoAg are putting together an approved list of consultants, of which at least 25% shall identify as Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color (BIPOC). Please share the application for consultants.
    
3. Grant funding to aid in the purchase of agricultural land through the newly established CT Farmland Access Fund. Application details for this funding opportunity will be announced in early 2025.