By Seth Boyes,
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Emily Fagan, co-owner of Humble Hands Harvest, treats a herd of sheep to some greens on a winter afternoon. Organizers with the Farmers Land Investment Cooperative — or FLIC — hope to replicate a funding model which helped make Humble Hands a reality. (Photo by Seth Boyes)
A budding local land investment cooperative hopes to foster greater community awareness of area land practices and sustainable agriculture as organizers work to replicate a purchasing model they said has seen success locally in years past.
The Farmers Land Investment Cooperative – or FLIC – was created in 2023, and board member Klaus De Boer said he and other coop members have spent the past year discussing the nuts and bolts of how the cooperative’s shareholders might provide financial support to area farm operations practicing sustainable agriculture – and now they’re beginning to look for their first official project.
Building off a past model
Fellow FLIC Board member Steve McCargar said the use of a similar model was central to procuring land which is now occupied by Humble Hands Harvest – a worker-owned cooperative farm operation north of Decorah led by Hannah Breckbill and Emily Fagan. McCargar said, when about 22 acres of land near his own home was expected to be put up for auction a number of years ago, he and a number of neighbors as well as community members from the Decorah area were concerned a large confined animal feeding operation or similar business might secure the land, which McCargar felt would be environmentally devastating to the local ecosystem. He said about 15 families were able to generate more than $122,000 in about three weeks to purchase the land after forming Hidden Falls LLC – named for the road on which the property is located.
The group then began hashing out their vision for the use of the newly-acquired land, choosing to emphasize alternatives to not only confined animal operations but chemical pesticides and other traditional applications. Gradually, the group began transferring their individual shares of the land to Humble Hands Harvest – McCargar said many members sold their shares at the same price they were initially purchased for, and some even discounted their sales to ensure Humble Hands could afford the purchase.
Full article available in the February 20 Decorah Leader.
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