During September, shoppers at Monadnock Food Co-op raised $4,380.99 to support the preservation of farm land in the Monadnock Region by Monadnock Conservancy‘s Farmland Protection Program, just by rounding up their change.

The Monadnock Conservancy is a community-based, nonprofit land conservation trust that holds permanent conservation agreements on more than 220 properties, nearly 20,000 acres, in 28 towns across the Monadnock Region. Conserving farmland is a major priority for the Conservancy; they work with farmers and communities to ensure the region’s prime farmland soils and fields stay open and productive permanently, rather than being sold to developers to build housing.

“Thank you to all our generous shoppers who pitched in their pennies to raise this money!” said Emerald Levick, Marketing Manager at Monadnock Food Co-op. “The saying ‘no farms, no food’ means that without preserving farmland, our suppliers like Manning Hill Farm and Tracie’s Community Farm would be outbid by developers to buy or lease the land, so they could not produce enough fresh, quality, sustainably farmed food for all of us to enjoy.”

In addition to farmland conservation, the Conservancy also does the important work of pairing conservation landowners with farmers who need land that is accessible and affordable. This fulfills a great need for new, young farmers. They also created the Farmland Disaster Relief Fund which provides grants to assist with well repair, grain bills, seeds, plants, equipment repair and more. So far, the fund has assisted 10 local farmers who were severely affected by the recent drought.