The Lopez Community Land Trust (LCLT) contributes to a sustainable island community through affordable housing, land stewardship, and sustainable energy and agriculture.
The Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD) program of LCLT is committed to agricultural land stewardship, providing education about the importance of strong local food systems and actively promoting the development of small scale agricultural infrastructure for the San Juan Islands, including such ventures as:
- Investigating the feasibility of a Farm Equipment Coop that would enable farmers of Lopez and other islands to increase and diversify the production of grain crops and increase local self-reliance.
- Purchase of the first USDA-approved mobile processing unit (MPU) in the U.S. Operated by the Island Grown Farmers Co-op, the MPU shuttles from farm to farm to process cows, pigs and sheep that will become steaks, sausage, bacon and hamburgers. Without such a unit, Lopez farmers and ranchers who want to butcher their animals would need to ship their animals off island, or out of state for butchering, thereby stressing the animals and reducing the opportunity to sell meat locally. Learn more about the MPU.