We’re happy to share news of a unique farmland access opportunity in northeastern Illinois. A family in the Chicago area seeks a soil-regenerating farmer to work with in finding farmland that the family would purchase and then lease to the farmer on a long-term basis.
The family has secured the sale of a farmland property in Minnesota and wishes to roll over the proceeds into a property in northeastern Illinois through a 1031 Exchange process. They estimate the amount they will have available to purchase a farm (which could be made up of more than one property) as part of this project to be ~$650-$900k.
The family intends to use their farmland purchase to create a new long-term farmland access opportunity for an organic and/or regenerative farmer. The farmland will subsequently be leased to a farmer who would have the option to purchase some or all of the property in the future.
“We have come to realize,” the family told us, “that our contribution to the regenerative/organic movement could be using the proceeds of our share of conventionally farmed land to buy land in Illinois that will help a regenerative farmer gain secure long-term access to land and financially expand their operation. Our goal is to help regenerate land in Illinois with the help of the farmer and be able to watch it all happen!”
The exact details of the opportunity (including what counties are of interest in northeastern Illinois) and what kind of farmer(s) the family is looking to collaborate with are described in the Request For Application (RFA) you can find here. The deadline for applying to collaborate with the family on this project is Monday, December 1 by 11:59 p.m.
The ideal farmer would meet the family’s criteria, including already knowing of a farmland opportunity that would be immediately available to buy. However, the family welcomes interest from farmers who don’t already have farmland lined up to buy but otherwise meet the criteria. They understand that many farmers may not already know of farmland available to purchase. It is possible that the family will go forward with several qualified farmers and determine which farmland opportunity to buy that any of them bring to the table.
The Land Connection’s Illinois FarmLink program is assisting the family with this project but does not represent them.
Please note that the RFA provides details about this unique opportunity. You should read it carefully before deciding to apply. You can access the application questions in a Word document here that you can easily fill in and send to [email protected].