02/19/2026
❤️🔥❣️
Meet Alita Kelly, a female farmer, founder of Jade Rabbit, a leader of the West Michigan Young Farmers Chapter, and the first 99-year leaseholder of The Farmers Land Trust and the Farmland Commons!
This lease creates immediate, secure access and tenure without the burden of debt to the first farm that was gifted to The Farmers Land Trust, located in Bangor, MI.
The lease terms are intentionally equity-centered and transformational, allowing Alita to envision and create her livelihood, deepen her relationship with the land, and invest in stewardship rather than survival. The Lease frames expectations, agreements, rights and responsibilities between The Farmers Land Trust and Jade Rabbit in ways that are both practical and aspirational and all holding a multi-generational perspective.
Read the full lease and find links to learn more about Alita On the Earthen Heart Farmland Commons page of thefarmerslandtrust.org!
https://www.thefarmerslandtrust.org/commons/earthen-heart/
Jade Rabbit
West Michigan Young Farmers Chapter
The National Young Farmers Coalition