Farms Fund to Preserve and Provide Access to Chicago-Area Farmland

Proofing Station, an impact-first charitable investment fund, announced that it has provided a $1 million low-interest debt investment to The Conservation Fund’s Farms Fund. This will enable the Farms Fund to purchase and conserve critical farmland in the Chicago region and provide a patient path to farmland ownership for new and disadvantaged farmers. The Farms Fund preserves the land as a farming asset at an affordable price and prioritizes farmland access for women, BIPOC, and other historically marginalized groups. It secures critically threatened farmland, provides affordable land access and business support to next-generation farmers, places a conservation easement on the land to ensure it cannot be developed at a future date, and leases the land to farmers with a buy option in three to five years.