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Thank you for supporting the Community Farm Land Trust. I hope you and your family are doing well. 

You are hearing over and over, these are unprecedented times. Our normal daily tasks like going to the grocery store are now a difficult endeavor. Leaving the safe bubble of your home, standing in line to get into the store, wearing a mask, one-way aisles, social distancing at the checkout, and plexiglass between you and the cashier are your new normal. Who could have predicted that there would be empty shelves in the grocery stores? 

I’m sure all these challenges made you re-think the way you are doing your shopping. Now more than ever, buying your food locally in less crowded venues like farmers markets, farm stands, or picking up CSA boxes benefits you and your family and supports our local farmers.  

Kirsop Farms (on Thurston County land preserved by the Community Farmland Trust), Harbor Roots Farms in Grays Harbor County, and many more farms in our area not only provide fresh, vibrant, local food for our community but to our food banks too. 

The Community Farm Land Trust supports these farms with educational outreach and partnerships that increase opportunities for the farms and farmers.  But most importantly, your support helps us preserve farmland forever and ensure it’s affordable and farmed now and by future generations of farmers in the South Sound.  ​

We have already preserved 186 acres of farmland, and with your help and donations and grants from our community the Community Farm Land Trust’s accomplishments in 2020 include: 
  • Acquired the 29-acre James Family Farm to be preserved and farmed forever!​
  • With support provided by the Community Investments Fund, a fund of Tides Foundation, the Community Farm Land Trust can partner with the Haki Farmers Collective to preserve farmland in our region    
  • Expanded our Farm Map to an amazing 68-page free resource showcasing local farms, farmers, farmers markets, food banks, businesses and distributed over 10,000 copies throughout the South Sound 
  • Changed the name of our farm map to Fresh From The Farm: South Sound Farm and Food Resource Guide - this name more fitting to the publication and the information you need by adding more farm and farmland statistics and even more interesting articles going forward in to 2021 
  • Transformed the annual Farms Forever event into our current virtual online auction - with many great auction packages available and community support, the Community Farm Land Trust exceeded our goal for this fall fundraiser 
  • Awarded grants to support work to add solar panels at Scatter Creek Farm & Conservancy, present an emergency preparedness planning program for our farmers in 2021, and grants to help offset unexpected expenses incurred by Covid-19 
We need your support to continue the Community Farm Land Trust’s work to expand programs that benefit local farmers and residents in Thurston, Lewis, Mason, and Grays Harbor Counties. 
 
2020 has taught us that we are a community and we must support one another and work together. I hope that you can make a gift to the Community Farm Land Trust this holiday season. 
 
Thank you for everything you do to support our farming community today and every day! I hope you have a joyful holiday season and please stay healthy and safe. 
 
With gratitude, 

 Patrick Rofe, Executive Director 

 P.S. Your gift today will ensure we keep abundant, productive, sustainable farmland in our area that will provide healthy food for our community. 

Introducing the New & Improved...
Fresh from the Farm Guide: A South Sound Food & Farm Resource Guide   
​(formerly South Sound Farm Map or South Sound Direct Sales Farm Map) 

Thanks for welcoming the new Fresh from the Farm: A South Sound Food Farm Resource Guide (formerly the South Sound Farm Map or South Sound Direct Sales Farm Map) into your homes, work, and lives.This project has undergone quite the transformation in the past two years and with that we felt like it deserved a new name that highlighted what it had become; a resource guide for all different kinds of things.  We are excited to share useful information about our organization, Farmer stories and highlights, agricultural stats, Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) Programs, Food Access & Nutrition Programs, Food Bank Guide, Farmers' Market Guide and so much more!

In an effort to get our guides out when it matters most to farmers at the beginning of the season, we are encouraging all farms to submit their listings ASAP! The sooner you get your forms into us the sooner we can get to the printer and have our guides out by Spring so that we can help highlight your farms at the start of the season instead of halfway through the season! Submit your listing for our 2021 CFLT Farm Map by December 15th! We hope that this shift will also be easier on your pocketbooks towards the end of your selling season.
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This cover is just a mock up to showcase our new name!

Thank you for a Successful Farms Forever!

$5,000 1:2 Board Match Challenge 
The Board of Directors is challenging our community to Fund the Mission with a $5,000 1:2 Match Challenge. The Board of Directors will donate $1 for every $2 raised for Fund the Mission! So, the Board of Directors will donate $5,000 if we raise $10,000 to Fund the Mission for a total of $15,000 to save farmland. Thank you, Board of Directors!!
We hope that you take the time to read our 2018 Annual Report.  Here is just a quick snippet of some of the information we gathered for you about our income and expenses. We would like to thank all of the financial and in-kind donors, sponsors and advertisers that helped make 2018 such a success. We look forward to many more years of partnering with you to help preserve affordable, local farm land in the South Sound! ​
Check out our video explaining the different ways the Community Farmland Trust helps preserve local farmland!



About Us

Our Mission:  Promoting vibrant local food and farming systems through community supported farmland preservation strategies, educational outreach, and partnerships that increase opportunities for farms and farmers to flourish.

Our Vision: Abundant, productive, sustainable local farmland providing healthy food for our community and contributing to a vibrant, viable farm economy.


Preserving Working Farmland

According to Washington State University Thurston County Extension, since the mid-1950’s Thurston County has lost over 75 percent of its working agricultural lands. And in the 5-year period from 2002 to 2007, we have lost nearly 50% of our remaining working farmland.

Thurston County’s population is predicted to continue to increase, leading to the loss of yet more farmland.



Thurston County Farmland Inventory

From a 1 acre urban garden that produces over 10,000 pounds of food a year to hundred acre parcels associated with dairies or livestock production, Thurston county has – and needs – a diversity of farms and farmers. Farmland provides local foods, local economies, and open space. Future plans for the county define how many new roads, sewers, and schools will be needed, but what about farmland? As Thurston County continues to grow, development pressure on farmland will only increase.

Support Farmland

We save farmland because our community enables us to do so.

​Thank you for your trust in our stewardship of your contribution toward promoting farms and farming forever in our region.
Or through PayPal:

Get Involved

There are many ways that you can support local sustainable farms. Volunteer opportunities are plentiful, so you're sure to find a way to share your skills and enthusiasm.

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