Yggdrasil Land Foundation
About the Foundation
Yggdrasil Land Foundation is an innovative charitable organization representing a new form of land preservation, the result of the three organizations working in association. Yggdrasil is chartered to receive land and hold conservation easements. Its purpose is to steward the healthy use of land, to encourage biodynamic and kindred agricultural practices, and to promote the renewal of the living earth as a foundation of community.
Yggdrasil Land Foundation is a collaborative supporting non-profit tax-exempt foundation of Rudolf Steiner Foundation (RSF), Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association (BDA), and Michael Fields Agricultural Institute (MFAI). RSF manages the financial endowment and administrative aspects for the lands. The Biodynamic Association locates farmers and other resources to manage the land, and Michael Fields provides the necessary research to develop appropriate farming practices and the needs of the land itself. Yggdrasil receives the land and manages the leases. To our knowledge this is one of the first such cooperative relationships between anthroposophical organizations in North America.
Background
In January 16, 2001, Yggdrasil Land Foundation received its charitable status. The land foundation was brought into being by two gifts of land, one in California and one in Wisconsin right at the end of the year 2000. As often happens with projects that are important and driven by timeliness, Yggdrasil accomplished the receipt of the land parcels and is coming to understand all the complexities of all the various transactions. Further, since Yggdrasil's founding, the Board members have been studying land trust issues to deepen their understanding of the work they have taken on out of their interest in the issues, but not necessarily out of expertise in the field.
Current activities
Yggdrasil currently holds three farm properties. One is a working dairy farm in Walworth County, Wisconsin. This property is currently leased to the Krusenbaum Family which operates the farm and resides on the property. Altfrid and Sue Krusenbaum got started in the dairy business in 1990. Their goal was to build a successful family farm based on the principles of organic farming. As Altfrid says, "The main motivation for us to become organic was out of a certain stewardship ethic toward the soil, the earth, and ultimately, humanity." When the Krusenbaums first leased this farm, they were relatively new to dairying. Altfrid had an academic background in animal science, and he and Sue had worked on a farm in his native Germany for a year and on a Wisconsin farm for five years, but they'd never run their own operation. As soon as they started to lease the current farm, they began using biodynamic principles. The transformation was challenging but rewarding. Some of the most significant and noticeable changes in the Krusenbaum's farm can be seen in how they conduct land stewardship, crop production, and herd management. Currently, the Krusenbaums operate a 100-cow, seasonal, grass-based dairy using Management Intensive Grazing. They also raise grass-fed beef and eggs and have recently started to produce cheese for national distribution through a Wisconsin Dairy cooperative.
The second property is Filigreen Farm, located in the beautiful Anderson Valley in Boonville, California. This property was formerly an apple orchard owned by Buster and Velma Farrer for 63 years. They grew alfalfa, raised cattle, planted an apple orchid and had a summer garden. In the late 1980's the Farrers, unable to maintain the farm, sold the land and it was developed as a biodynamic apple orchard and raspberry plantation. Since then the property has passed through one more owner, but soon after the purchase, it was donated to Yggdrasil with an accompanying conservation easement. Currently, it is being redeveloped as a model diverse crop farm that has been landscaped to include ponds for water management. In the future it will also house an environmental educational and farm intern training program.
The third property is the Temple-Wilton Community Farm. Yggdrasil's relationship with the Temple-Wilton Community Farm and its legal entity, the Educational Community Farm, is distinguished from the other properties in that Yggdrasil serves as a charitable ownership vehicle and as a holder of land for public benefit. This public ownership relieved the farmers of the challenges of becoming a charitable corporation and provided a service of allowing them raise the capital to purchase land and equipment. This ownership model also frees the farmer to generate income without capital indebtedness and does not interfere with farm activities. The Temple-Wilton Community Farm raised funds for Yggdrasil, matched by the State of New Hampshire, to purchase a 43-acre tract of land that serves as an educational farm with a community supported agriculture group and apprenticeship training. The land is now leased long-term to the community farm.
The Temple-Wilton Community Farm started in 1986, with three farmer families and a group of local individuals who wished to help establish and maintain a biodynamic farm organism to serve the needs of people in the Wilton, New Hampshire area. Currently, they provide a broad range of products for up to 110 households a year. The farm has 15 milking cows, a breeding bull, calves and heifers ? a total of 32 head of cattle and 150 chickens. Additionally, they farm about five acres of vegetables each year.
At this time in its young life, Yggdrasil's Trustees have decided to slowly ease into the role of a holder of conservation easements. With the current three properties, Yggdrasil is working in partnership with other conservation easement monitoring organizations. For example, the American Farmland Trust holds a conservation easement for the Krusenbaum Farm and the Anderson Valley Land Trust holds the easement for Filigreen Farm. The Educational Community Farm property is preserved through the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, the agency which made a matching grant to purchase the land. Additionally, Yggdrasil engages with other land trusts and participates in educational opportunities as a member of the Land Trust Alliance.
Conclusion
In many ways the issues of land preservation and its directed use have become visible because of the breakdown of the small farm ecology and economy. The number of people interested in farming as a vocation is dwindling. Land, like other financial assets, will be changing hands across generations in significant quantities over the next ten years and beyond. Yggdrasil's mission is to heal and renew the land rather than lock it away protected forever, often the land trust impulse. With this mission, Yggdrasil focuses on allowing the land to be farmed in perpetuity with the trusteeship and use of the farm managed by its immediate community. The formation of Yggdrasil is timely in regard to today's trends. Its success as a land foundation, providing innovative means for healthy stewardship of the land, making itself known to potential donors, and in encouraging young farmers by making land available, is absolutely essential for the future of the earth.
For more information please contact Verna Kragnes at 715-294-4048.