Office of Farmland Preservation (OFP)
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The Virginia Farm Link program is designed to help two important segments of the commonwealth’s farm community:

• Farmers and landowners who are facing retirement and want to see their businesses continue and their land stay in production; and
• Beginning and aspiring farmers who are in search of business arrangements through which they can acquire land, equipment, experience and access to the knowledge of seasoned producers.

As established in § 3.2-202 of the Code of Virginia, the Virginia Farm Link program shall provide, but not be limited to the following: (i) assistance in the preparation of business plans for the transition of business interests; (ii) assistance in the facilitation of transfers of existing properties and agricultural operations to interested buyers; (iii) information on innovative farming methods and techniques; and (iv) research assistance on agricultural, financial, marketing, and other matters.

The absence of program funding in previous years precluded the development of many of the components of the Farm Link program.  In 2003, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) worked with the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation to develop an online database designed to bring those landowners interested in passing the land on to the next generation together with those interested in gaining access to farmland and farming operations in Virginia.  Farm Bureau agreed to host the online database until such time that VDACS was able to take back the operation of the database. 

The Farm Link database was moved from Farm Bureau back to VDACS in May 2008 and made available for public use at that time. As part of this transition, VDACS also took the opportunity to revise the database functions and change the application process to make it much easier for farm seekers and farm owners to complete and to update.  Please click here for more information regarding the Farm Link database.

Please click here to view our new PowerPoint presentation outlining the Virginia Farm Link database.

OFP also released a new Farm Transition Resources Web page containing farm transition information from across the country.  Please click here for more information regarding the Farm Transition Resources Web page.

Please visit www.vafarmlink.org to learn more about the online database. You may also contact the Virginia Farm Link program at 804.786.1346 or via e-mail at farmlinkadmin@vdacs.virginia.gov.

Virginia: Kevin Schmidt, Coordinator, OFP 
Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
102 Governor Street, Richmond, VA 23219
804.786.1346 • Fax: 804.371.7786
E-mail: Kevin.Schmidt@vdacs.virginia.gov

National: Farmland Information Center
a partnership of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and American Farmland Trust (AFT).