Understanding ACFF’s Lease-To-Own Model
Or, How Does the African Canadian Farmers Fund Actually Work?
If you've heard us talk about the African Canadian Farmers Fund and still weren't totally sure what it does, you're not alone. It's an ambitious program with a lot of moving parts, so it's worth taking the time to explain it properly.
Here's the short version: the African Canadian Farmers Fund helps African Canadian farmers buy farmland they couldn't otherwise afford. It does this by letting them rent the land first and own it later.
Land is expensive, and traditional lenders tend to be cautious with new farm businesses. What’s more, many racialized farmers face structural racism within traditional lending institutions, compounding the challenges for racialized farmers to access the necessary financing. For many African Canadians and newcomers alike, that has compounded over generations into a much larger structural gap in land ownership. A farmer can have the skills, the plan, and the drive to build a strong business, and still get stuck at the first step. The Fund exists to break that deadlock.
How it actually works
Instead of asking a farmer to assemble a down payment on day one, we reverse the usual order of operations.
We buy the farm first. When a farmer identifies land they want, Inclusive Prosperity purchases it using capital from our investors. The farmer doesn't need a mortgage to get started. They need a solid plan and a committed partner, and we become that partner.
Then they lease it, with a twist. The farmer signs a 10-year lease and begins farming right away. This isn't a typical lease where every dollar simply covers occupancy. Roughly 52% of every payment goes toward building the farmer's equity in the property. It functions less like rent and more like a steady, automatic down payment that accumulates every month the farmer works the land.
By year 10, they hold a real stake in the farm. Over the decade, those payments add up to roughly 25% equity in the property. This isn't a symbolic figure. It represents genuine ownership that grows the entire time the farmer is building their business.
Then comes the buyout. At the end of the 10 years, the farmer has first right to purchase the property outright. Their accumulated equity is applied against the purchase price. If the land has appreciated in value over that decade, the farmer benefits from that appreciation as well. They aren't simply paying off a purchase; they're building wealth on an asset the whole time they're farming it.
It's not just about the land
Buying land isn't the whole story. Farmers in the program also receive support finding operating capital, the funding for equipment, infrastructure, and staff that turns a plot of land into an actual working farm. That means connecting people with local Farm Boards, Farm Credit Canada, and relevant grants, so the land purchase doesn't stand alone.
We are also developing a wholistic supports for farmer participants, following our Farmer Readiness Pathway. This model helps to prepare emerging farmers for successful agricultural entrepreneurship and long-term farmland ownership. Many farmers require progressive development of agricultural knowledge, business management skills, financial capacity, leadership, commercial farming experience, and mentorship before assuming responsibility for operating and ultimately owning a farm.
Why this model?
A rent-to-own structure accomplishes something neither grant programs or simple loan agreements can. It allows people to start farming immediately, build equity gradually and predictably, and end up as full owners of appreciating land, all without requiring the kind of upfront capital that has historically been out of reach.
It is patient. It is structured. And it is built around the reality that ownership isn't just a transaction. It's a decade of decisions, seasons, and work, and the financing should reflect that.
Underneath the mechanics, the goal is straightforward: more African Canadian farmers owning the land they work, building wealth that extends beyond them, and strengthening food systems led by the people growing the food. The Fund is one deliberate way we're working to make that real, as a lease agreement with a buyout clause and a 25% equity target written into it.
