Board of Trustees

AOA community land trust was an early innovator and expression of what our fiscal sponsor Agrarian Trust later refers to as a 'commons board', a community land-holding entity charged with collectively owning, stewarding, and protecting farmland forever.  See graphic to left with the commons board pictured in a relationship web.  

AOA was envisioned by our local community in the years leading up to the successful 'Save the 70' campaign in 2012 and under the banner 'Farms Forever initiative'.  

The Farms Forever Initiative sought to secure long-term land tenure, remove multiple parcels from the speculative marketplace, and protect the land in perpetuity for organic-biodynamic agriculture, farming education, and land conservation.  

Integral to Farms Forever was a roadmap for farmers and educators stewarding the land to retire and to welcome new stewards, all while protecting the community's interest in the farmland 'commons'. 

The model works! As an expression of mutual aid over the past 15 years alone, AOA and its sister organizations have rallied more than $2 million in community support for lessee farmers and educators.  And we've protected multiple parcels (click on menu tab 'Wins in Commons'). 

AOA community land trust is an Illinois non-profit organization, and operates under the 501(c)(3) status of our fiscal sponsor Agrarian Trust.