Land Access

15 0 0 June 17, 2025 February 24, 2026

Article Contents

Farmers at any stage of their business may to find more land or move to a different plot. This can be a challenging process, but there are lots of great resources to help you.

  • NM LandLink is a statewide platform for matching farmers with landowners https://landlinknm.org/
  • Land For Good is a website dedicated entirely to helping farmers find, assess, and secure farmland (note, this is a resource created in New England, so some of the specific references are for that locality). We recommend reading this overview if you’re thinking about getting land.

Acquiring Land — Owning vs. Leasing

While most people would prefer to own the land they farm on, and there is a great deal of benefit to it, buying land may be financially inaccessible, or unwise as it may tie up all your capital, making it difficult to afford the other costs of starting the farm. There are many alternatives to buying land, including buying land with others, lease-to-own programs, and short or long term standard leases.

  • Land for Good’s Farmland Access Decision Guide is a comprehensive resource that helps you to understand different ways of acquiring and ownership structures for land/farm businesses. It includes a decision tool that can help you think through the specifics for your situation.
  • They also have a separate worksheet to help you think big picture about what kind of land owning/leasing situation you want to be in.
Back to Top

Sample Lease Agreements & Landowner Relationships:

A farm lease is a written agreement and binding contract between a landowner and a tenant farmer. A basic farm lease grants the tenant farmer the right to use the property and includes the length of the lease, rent amounts and frequency of payment, how to renew or end the lease, and more. Beyond these basics, the agreement can include creative arrangements to benefit both the farmer and landowner.

A good lease agreement serves as a strong protection for both the farmer and the landowner. It is important to take the time to think about every issue that might come up and include ways to exit the lease and to engage in conflict resolution.

While being very clear about rights and expectations is very important in any lease agreements, it is extra important if the landowner lives onsite. Here is a sample lease co-created by a landowner and a farmer who was farming the land behind the owners’ house.

Back to Top

Other Resources:

Back to Top

Heirship & Title Issues

Land passed down from a family member may seem like an easy way to access farmland. Planning for the transfer of land will make all the difference in whether this is a viable option. Here is a helpful resource from Farmlandaccess.org that describes different ways to transfer a farm through heirs’ property, will, trust, LLC, gifting, lease to own. 

Back to Top

Access to Grazing Land

There are a variety of different ways to obtain grazing rights for livestock in New Mexico. This is a helpful guide on the different types of access on public lands.

Back to Top

Land Use on Tribal Lands

Back to Top

Community Land Agreements

Here are some resources specific to land use in a community ownership model:

Back to Top

Was this helpful?

Next Article

Tools & Infrastructure