Legal and Financial

We're looking at all the possibilities for setting up our legal and financial structures, but the most likely process is likely to be some kind of Community Interest Company or Not-for-Profit organisation which will own and may also manage the farm, though the day-to-day management may be handled by a Cooperative of members. There are some basic principles that I think are important in making the holding of value and sharing of benefits of a project like ours as fair as can be. Among our group, we have experience of working in a wide variety of management and ownership arrangements, some much fairer than others. Here are some of questions we've been asking ourselves...

• who will own the farm?
• will all members have an equal say in the running of the project?
• is there some way that people with no capital can join the project?
• what potential is there for sweated equity?
• how are benefits shared?

Here's a few links to some interesting places with quite different legal and financial structures:
Chickenshack Small holding and housing co-op, twenty plus years on the land and going strong.
Treflach Farm We lived here for six years in a work-in-lieu-of rent arrangement.
Plaw Hatch Farm A bio-dynamic farm owned by a charitable trust which rents land and buildings to co-ops.
Tombreck Farm Owned and managed by the farmer and his wife in a very community and environmentally oriented spirit

Chcikenshack: the first Permaculture course I helped to set up. I'm seventh from the front, Steve Jones is second from the back

Treflach looking up from the foot of the farm to its buildings