Land Access and Tenure

One of the earliest potential barriers to starting an urban farming operation is securing land access. There are many ways to navigate this task through municipal programs, legislature, and creative thinking. This sheet details a variety of methods through which you can access and hold land in urban spaces and provides helpful resources when going through these processes. 

Empty lots, utility rights of way, private backyards, parks, institutional land (schools, hospitals, churches, prisons, universities, senior homes), and rooftops are all examples of vacant land that might be reclaimed for agricultural use.

Upon seeing vacant land with agricultural potential, urban farmers should take note of the street addresses on either side of the site and cross streets of the block.  With this information, farmers can check with local tax assessors and Departments of Finance to view tax maps and property records to determine the site parcel number.  This number will allow farmers to look up the site’s ownership history and most recent owner, who can then be contacted to discuss use of the land.

The Essential Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter and Willow Rosenthal (Penguin Books, 2011) provides additional information on locating, contacting, and communicating with property owners and purchasing vacant land. 

There are various ways to access and have rights to property that may make sense for you. These include ownership, a lease, a license, or an easement.

Ownership – traditional relationship to property, gives the owner all rights to the property with absolute power to enter the land and use it for any lawful purpose. Ownership, however, creates obligations which may include liability insurance, property tax exemptions with nonprofit status or with urban agriculture property tax

Lease – a contract that allows certain individuals to utilize a parcel of land for a particular purpose and/or duration of time. Leases vary in scope and longevity. Unsurprisingly, a long-term lease is more secure than a shorter-term lease. Some cities may have pre-approved parcels of land for farmers to utilize. These may be managed by city organizations, community land trusts, or another managing group.

License – written permission to enter and use another person’s land. Licenses can be as specific or vague as the land owner chooses and can be terminated at any time.

Easement – allows for the use of land without owning it directly. Commonly seen in rural areas, conservation easements are used to ensure long-term agricultural use of a piece of land.

Land Banks – New York State recently passed legislation to enable cities to establish land banks to manage vacant land. While this option is more popular in cities upstate, it is recommended that you check with your local city government to see if your city has a land bank, and if so, gather information on what properties are available, their zoning designations and land use histories, and any special programs to encourage their purchasing.  For example, Syracuse maintains an online list of available city-owned properties and purchasing incentives. It is also common for urban growers to speak directly to building owners to inquire about the possibility of supporting a rooftop garden.

Zoning – Zoning and permitting needs vary from city to city. In some areas, some land uses may be allowed without a permit and others might require a “special use” or “conditional use permit”. For up to date and local information, contact your local municipality. In most urban areas, zoning and permitting is managed through the city or county planning department. For urban farmers and gardeners who are looking to expand or change their existing urban farms, it is recommended to reach out to local planning departments to understand zoning maps and potential requirements.

Building, infrastructure, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing needs are also dictated by local codes.

For more information, visit the Vermont Law School’s Zoning for Urban Agriculture guide.

Land Tenure

Though outright purchase of land is preferred, land values, particularly in urban centers, are often prohibitively high.  As such, many urban farmers resort to long-term contractual agreements and lease agreements, outlined above.

If unable to secure a long-term lease, consider using temporary or moveable cultivation practices, such as growing in raised beds or containers and using temporary structures such as hoop houses.  The Garden State Urban Farm in Newark, New Jersey, for example, uses an entirely portable farming system called Earth Boxes (see Factsheet #12, Container Gardening).

To protect urban farmland, consider partnering with a land trust.  Land trusts are non-profit organizations that actively work to conserve land, such as by their stewardship of land through purchase, lease, or easements.  More information on land trusts and a listing of land trusts by state is available from the Land Trust Alliance.

Land-Linking Services

There are some recent efforts to make land more accessible to urban farmers, such as:

• 596 acres in New York City that helps individuals connect with vacant land in their community through a variety of services, including making municipal information available through an online interactive map of city-owned vacant land, and consulting services for people in New York City and in other cities interested in starting projects on vacant land.
• Farmland for a New Generation – New York is a program coordinated by American Farmland Trust – in partnership with the State of New York, agricultural organizations, land trusts, and others – that helps farmers seeking land and landowners who want to keep their land in farming. 
• NYC Urban Ag website – though not a landbase, can be helpful in providing tax lot information. Urban growers often approach landowners across the city to inquire about the possibility of utilizing their land or rooftop for urban growing.

Land Use Agreements

In most instances, urban farmers will lease or otherwise use land under contractual agreement, rather than outright ownership.  In such cases, creating a land use agreement can lessen property owner concerns and improve the likelihood that s/he will permit urban farming on the site. The Urban Agricultural Legal Resource Library, a project of the Sustainable Economies Law Center, outlines important elements of land use agreements for both public and private land and sample land use agreements.

Government Land

Housing authorities, transportation departments or city initiatives can also serve as sources of land for urban farmers.  In New York City, for example, the NYC Housing Authority is planning a 1-2 acre farm site on government land.

Rooftop Access

ChangeLab Solutions Dig, Eat and Be Healthy: A Guide to Growing Food on Public Land offers more general guidelines for engaging with government entities to gain access to public land.

There is no formal process to link urban farmers with building owners.  Most successful rooftop farmers simply approach individual property owners until they find someone who is willing to host a project.  It is important to recognize that not all buildings can support the weight of a farm or garden project, and certain structural considerations must be taken into account. See Factsheet #13, Rooftop Farming, for more information and resources.

Funding For information on grants and financial opportunities for your farming operation, visit the ‘Grant and financial Opportunities’ fact sheet.