Corner Farm village
Across the world, valuable farmland is rapidly being converted to other uses, especially housing. In the United States alone, an estimated average of 2,000 acres of farmland a day were lost or degraded from 2001-2016.
Prime farmland has unique soils that are excellent for growing the food we all need to survive. It’s also typically flat and well-drained, making it highly desirable for development. Yet, we can have houses without sprawling across the countryside and paving over these finite, irreplaceable resources. There are alternatives.
On land located near Missoula, Montana, Corner Farm Village aims to demonstrate one alternative to business-as-usual by protecting valuable farmland, by nurturing a new generation of farmers to care for the land, and by providing climate-smart homes for the community.
Our goals are to:
- Strengthen the resilience of our local and regional food system.
- Partner with a community land trust (CLT), using the strategy in 2024 to protect ag land in Montana for the first time and setting up a long-term stewardship plan.
- Permanently protect the eight-acre farm using a conservation servitude and an open space designation. Along with the community land trust’s ownership, these tools ensure the prime ag soils will forever produce healthy food and renewable energy for our community.
- Provide a young farmer with an affordable, long-term, ground lease.
- Enhance farm viability with a farm stand, and eventually add a commercial building to serve the farm business.
- Cluster the commercial building and homes on the poorer quality land at the edge of the farm.
- Build 8 to 12 homes, designed for the 21st century with community, climate change, and sustainability in mind.
- Care for the land without synthetic chemicals and promote ecological diversity.
- Conserve the riparian area, enhance habitat, provide natural flood control, and protect water resources.
- Respect the path the Séliš-Ql̓ispé have always shown us in caring for the land and water.
Learn more about Us
farmland
With a community land trust, Corner Farm Village permanently protected this agricultural and riparian land in the Orchard Homes area of Missoula in 2024.
Village
The “Village” will include a farm store and commercial kitchen, and up to 12 homes, likely organized as a housing cooperative.
History and Place
Corner Farm Village sits just upstream from the confluence of the Clark Fork and Bitterroot Rivers in the Orchard Homes neighborhood.
plan
The site plan demonstrates an approach to development that protects natural resources and meets community needs for housing and commercial space.
