Berkshire Community Land Trust

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Berkshire Community Land Trust

The Community Land Trust holds community owned land for homes, farms and businesses to ensure permanent access, control, affordability and stewardship.

A community land trust is a management tool for sustainable place-based communities. It enables people to balance land wealth in private control with community requirements for land. Food security, a productive workforce, energy independence and a robust local economy depend on access to land. A community land trust holds community-owned land to ensure permanent access, control, affordability and

stewardship of land for homes, farms and businesses. A sustainable place-based community needs to manage growth, protect ecosystems and maintain a safety net through democratic processes that cultivate diversity. This is the process of place-making. Today, communities that have been weakened by the forces of the global economy are developing ways to re-localize producers and consumers, businesses and jobs, skills and resources. Their evolution to more balanced ways of living builds their resilience. Access to land can be a critical factor in building community resilience. Markets may fluctuate here and there, but in general the value of land is increasing all the time. We have only one Earth to be divided among the growing number of people who live here. Eventually pressure on land access pushes prices beyond what most people can afford. A community land trust is a mechanism for controlling land access by sharing ownership of the land for the common good. It promotes collective stewardship of common resources. A community land trust is a model for creating a commons. As a people-powered tool for achieving community goals, a community land trust is a tried and true framework of legal documents and processes that govern occupancy, property pricing, sale and resale. By holding the land in perpetuity and leasing it to occupants, the value of land is removed from the price of the home, farm or business. That lower price reduces buyer debt and improves business profitability. Equity builds in the improvements made by owners to buildings while the incremental increase in the land value remains with the community. As an open, democratic organization, a community land trust enables long-term land use planning and allocation of resources to support goals for sustainability. We all need food, shelter, energy, transportation, healthcare, communications, a workplace and education. History teaches us whoever controls our land will control our future. Wise people committed to life in a shared place use a community land trust to share ownership of the land for the common good. A Community Land Trust can:
• Allocate land for strategic purposes
• Enable targeting of social benefits to specific groups
• Encourage investment in real property and business
• Reduce the cost of opportunity for entrepreneurs
• Increase farming and local food production
• Support workforce development and retention
• Provide equitable, inclusionary and affordable housing
• Protect natural resources

08/06/2026

Join us for

Fodder; Stories from the Fields, 2026
Sunday, September 27
3:00 pm to 5:00 pm. Doors open at 2:30 pm
April Hill, 62 Undermountain Road, South Egremont, MA
$15 for general public, Free for Farmers (but you must register to save your space)
Info: [email protected] (413) 644-9090
Locally sourced refreshments will be served.

Join us for the 2nd annual Fodder: Stories from the Fields. Farmers across the region will take the stage to draw the audience into the fascinating, humorous, and sometimes shocking work of being a farmer in the Northeast. Storytelling maven Sheela Clary will MC. This year’s farmer storytellers include Mary and Beatrice Berle, Elizabeth Keen, Michael Mugridge, Krysia Kurz, Ashni Sunder, youth farmers, and others. Please join us to enjoy locally sourced food and social hour after the stories.

The afternoon is co-produced by Berkshire Agricultural Ventures, Berkshire Grown, Bridge, Farmsteads for Farmers, and Greenagers, and will be held Sunday, September 27, from 3 pm to 5 pm at Greenagers, April Hill, 62 Undermountain Road, South Egremont, MA.

A special thank you to Housatonic Heritage and Guido’s Fresh Marketplace for their support.

Berkshire Grown Multicultural BRIDGE Greenagers Berkshire Agricultural Ventures @

thanks to: guidosfreshmarketplace Housatonic Heritage

This event was also made possible by:

Edible Berkshires Sheela Clary

07/31/2026

Some friends we met on our travels.

05/18/2026

Evening Birding on River Run Farm, home of Off the Shelf Farm, with Great Barrington Land Conservancy & Hoffmann Bird Club
Wednesday, June 3rd, 5:30 pm, River Run Farm, 200 North Plain Road, Great Barrington
Great Barrington Land Conservancy and the Hoffmann Bird Club are pleased to provide the community with a free guided bird walk at River Run Farm, home to Off the Shelf Farm, a beautiful farm property located beside the Housatonic River on Route 41 in Great Barrington. River Run Farm is held in trust by Berkshire Community Land Trust as part of the Farmsteads for Farmers initiative.
A great event for beginning and more experienced birders, we will explore the edges of field and forest habitats and expect to see nesting and migratory birds. Expect gentle terrain. Please wear long sleeves and pants, bug repellents are recommended. Please carpool if possible. Group size is limited by available parking.
Registration required: Register HERE, or email [email protected]

NOTE: Attendees who would like to place preorders from Off the Shelf's Farm store are encouraged to place an on line order which can be picked up at the end of the tour. www.offtheshelffarm.com to order.

Tuesday, June 9, 2026 - 9:00 am, River Run Farm, home of Off the Shelf Farm, 200 North Plain Road, Great Barrington, MA

Join Ben Nickley of Berkshire Bird Observatory for a leisurely bird walk around the grounds at River Run Farm. Ben will point out many of the brilliant birds that call River Run home during the summer. Expect gentle terrain. Please wear long sleeves and pants, bug repellents are recommended. Please carpool if possible. Group size is limited by available parking.
Registration required: Register HERE, or email [email protected]

NOTE: Attendees who would like to place preorders from Off the Shelf's Farm store are encouraged to place an on line order which can be picked up at the end of the tour. www.offtheshelffarm.com to order.

05/07/2026

Riotous. Subversive, pervasive. Enter the spring dandelion!

05/05/2026

05/01/2026

Up close and personal with a beaver, from Berkshire Community Land Trust's Forest Row. Thank you for the great video!

04/07/2026

Join us May 7th! Registration highly recommended!

Community, Economy, Climate, a cross-disciplinary exploration of life in the Berkshires
Thursday, May 7, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm, Doors Open: 5:30
The Guthrie Center, 2 Van Deusenville Road, Great Barrington, MA 01230
Free (please reserve a space ONLY if you are definitely attending)
A reception will follow the panel.

Email and phone: [email protected], 413 429 1176

Please join the Berkshire Community Land Trust for a panel with local leaders, asking the question what do we gain by working together, and what do we lose if we don’t? Moderator Katy Sparks will lead a panel of diverse non-profit experts in the fields of farming and food production, food access, housing, local business support, and environmental advocacy in discussion about how to make life in the Berkshires sustainable for everyone. What are we doing now? What can we do better? What do we need more of? What do we need less of?

Speakers Brittany Ebeling (Berkshire Environmental Action Team), Jim Harwood (Community Development Corporation of the Southern Berkshires), Dennis Iodice (BerkShares), and Margaret Moulton (Berkshire Grown) will share their work and thoughts.

The panel will be preceded by a brief Berkshire Community Land Trust annual meeting. A reception will close the evening. Everyone is welcome; you need not be a member to attend, but please do make a reservation.

Address

140 Jug End Road
Great Barrington, MA
01230

Telephone

(413) 528-4472

Website

http://berkshirecommunitylandtrust.org/

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