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  • Local Authorities Making Farmland Work for the Public Good
  • About
  • Manifesto: Land in the Public Interest
  • I. Acting as an owner and manager of public land
    • Strategise
    • Manage
    • Invest
    • Share
  • II. Acting as a facilitator of the local land system
    • Provide data
    • Raise awareness
    • Convene
    • Intermediate
  • III. Acting as a regulator and making local land policies
    • Plan
    • Administer
    • Catalyse
    • Advocate
  • Practical resources to get started
    • Some key principles and first steps
    • Surveying and decision-making tools
  • Bibliography
    • France
    • Belgium
    • Spain
    • United Kingdom
    • Germany
    • Romania
  • Case Studies
    • The City of Leuven allocates public land to sustainable farmers
    • The City of Ghent’s vision on public farmland
    • Mouans-Sartoux: from organic food for schools to land and food policy
    • Ohey municipality: distributing public agricultural land more equitably among farmers
    • Inclusive farm to fork food aid in Florennes, Walloon Region
    • The Cooperativa Co.R.Ag.Gio (Cooperativa Romana Agricoltura Giovani) and renewed uses of public farm
    • Red Terrae: the network of municipalities working for sustainable land use
    • Boscos de Pastura: using grazing for wildfire prevention
    • Stewardship and management of common pastures in Romania
    • Glasgow City Council and the Glasgow Community Food Network Case study
    • Cornwall Council’s Farms Strategy
    • The Grenoble Alpes Métropole land policy
    • Remobilising abandoned lands in Moëlan-sur-Mer
    • Acting on farmland at the department level: land banking and plots exchange in Ille-et-Vilaine
    • Agricultural Programme of the City of Hannover - agricultural policy at municipality level
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On this page
  • Get basic information on a plot
  • Select projects to prioritise on public land
  • Decide what to do with public land plots
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  1. Practical resources to get started

Surveying and decision-making tools

PreviousSome key principles and first stepsNextBibliography

Last updated 2 years ago

Get basic information on a plot

If you are organising a field survey or land watch action with volunteers, you can use the example below to create a basic land questionnaire for your surveyors to fill out.

Summary sheet: realising a basic diagnosis of a plot (source: Terre de Liens Île-de-France)

Summary sheet

Date of the meeting

Location

Editor of the form (last name-first name-telephone)

Context of the land opportunity:

Background and description of the opportunity:

  • Is there a farmer currently farming this land? If so, how is it being farmed?

  • What are the owner's intentions (sell, lease, loan, keep as is...)

  • Is there a development project that threatens this opportunity?

Cadaster reference of the plots:

Section - n° of the plot - area (ha or acre) - zoning - owner

Immediate observations

  • Land configuration (divided, in one piece...):

  • State of the parcels (cultivated, fallow...)

  • Historical use of the parcels

  • Observations of the soil (texture, color, presence of stones, compaction, depth, slope, geology)

  • Access to the plots

  • Access to water for irrigation (groundwater, surface water)

  • Fences

  • Ecological infrastructure (hedges, trees, low walls)

Buildings

  • Type (agricultural only or housing)

  • Number, square meters

  • Access to networks (water, electricity...)

  • State of the building/Important work done or to be planned

Socioeconomic environment

  • Demographics

  • Existence of CSA or short supply retailers in the area

  • Other: community groups, elected official likely to encourage the establishment of a farm, etc.

Natural or environmenal designation

  • Natura 2000, Park, Other?

Water zoning

  • Water catchment, innudation risk, other…

Other observations and analysis

Select projects to prioritise on public land

Establishing criteria to decide to whom to lease out public land to is a key step. Below is a table for inspiration. The clearer your goals, the easier it will be to adapt criteria and scoring.

Example of selection criteria to award public land (sourced and adapted from: . Concrete agricultural turnaround. How we transform land use locally.)

Criteria
Score

Organic farming (2 as a baseline, additional points for specifically regenerative techniques - permaculture, etc.)

2-4 points

Grazing livestock/extensive grassland

1 point

Nature conservation measures/agro-environmental measures

1-3 points

Nb of people paid a living wage (one per person, up to 3 or 4)

1-3 points

Young farmers/new entrants

1 point

Solidarity farming

1 point

Regional marketing and value creation

1 point

Educational opportunities and inclusion

1 point

Maximum number of points achievable: 12-15 points

Decide what to do with public land plots

Deciding on what use to make of the land identified through your surveys can be easier if you have developed clear tools, approved by elected officials and different departments within your local authority.

Below you will find an example of logic diagram developed by the city of Charleroi in Belgium to guide their decision-making processes regarding the use of specific plots. Charleroi’s issue is around the rehabilitation of polluted land (as the city’s economy has long relied on coal and steel industry). Once the plots have been inventoried, the logic diagram serves as a prioritising tool to decide on which parcels to act first.

Plans and aerial photos

Logic diagram developed by Charleroi to decide on use of public lands
Agrarwende konkrete. Wie wir die landnutzungglokal umgestalten
Logic diagram developed by Charleroi to decide on use of identified public lands