Jacona Farm Land Trust

The Jacona Farm Land Trust is located in the Village of Jacona, a traditional northern New Mexican community near Pojoaque in northern Santa Fe County. The property is located in the Pojoaque River Valley which has been farmed and irrigated from acequias since at least the early 1700s.

The conservation easement was originally donated by Helenty Homans to the Taos Land Trust in 1997 and subsequently transferred to NMLC in 2004. The conservation easement was placed over a portion of a 3.9 acres property to protect the existing organic farm on the property. According to Ms. Homans, her motivations for granting the conservation easement were to encourage sustainable agriculture to demonstrate that it could continue to be viable through expanding local markets and other outlets; and to foster a sense of community and help maintain the rural, cultural lifestyle of the village.

In 2005, Ms. Homans granted the entire property to the Santa Fe Community Housing Trust for the purpose of designating the land as a place to build “green” affordable homes in a rural, agricultural community setting. As part of this donation to the housing trust, Ms. Homans retained a life estate which will enable her to continue living in her residence on the property for the duration of her life. In a press release, Sharron Welsh, Executive Director of the housing trust noted “Helenty’s land donation and vision opens a new door for how we can think about ‘green’ affordable housing developments. This project illustrates the cutting edge technique for combing affordable housing with agricultural preservation, critical issues facing rural western communities.”