Faithlands
What is FaithLands?
FaithLands is a network and movement to support mutually beneficial partnerships between faith communities with land, and local farmers seeking land to produce food. In late 2017, faith community food justice advocates joined with secular beginning and underserved farmer advocates wanting to increase access to land for food production. This led to national outreach and the first National FaithLands gathering at Paicines Ranch in California in 2018. Beginning in 2021, Interfaith Sustainable Food Collaborative organized three conferences to facilitate access to land owned by religious communities. Participants came from 26 states representing diverse religious and secular organizations. Since 2023, Interfaith Sustainable Food Collaborative has formally led FaithLands, with Executive Director Steve Schwartz serving as the National FaithLands Coordinator. In Spring 2025, Interfaith Food launched a second, separate website focused on FaithLands.
While FaithLands began organizing national networking and resource sharing, local success stories span generations. Examples include:
- An Episcopal retreat center in California that has leased significant acreage to a dairy family since before 1950.
- A Buddhist community that trains apprentices in Buddhist practice and food production since 1972.
- A Jewish farm and teaching center in Connecticut.
- A seminary in Ohio where Methodist seminarians grow food for their community as part of their integrated education.
- An order of Catholic nuns that established an agricultural conservation easement to ensure the continued production of food on Long Island, New York.
- A permaculture garden at an Islamic college in California.