FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jessica Manly, Communications and Digital Advocacy Director
National Young Farmers Coalition
press@youngfarmers.org, 518-643-3564 ext. 722
(WASHINGTON, D.C., May 15, 2024) On May 10, 2024, House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson released a title-by-title summary of a framework for the upcoming House Farm Bill. This outline is a step in the process, as we await legislative language ahead of the Farm Bill markup hearing scheduled for May 23, 2024. However, based on the summary, we are concerned that the proposed legislation will miss the mark in addressing the critical challenges facing the new generation of U.S. farmers and ranchers.
“We need federal farm policy that addresses the concurrent crises of access to land, capital, and conservation programs that young farmers are up against. The next Farm Bill is our best opportunity to prioritize the needs of the new generation of farmers and ranchers and to build a safe and thriving food system, and we urge Chairman Thompson to better seize this opportunity–we cannot miss it,” said Michelle Hughes, Co-Executive Director of the National Young Farmers Coalition.
The Chairman’s Farm Bill summary does not include federal investment in community-led land access projects – a number one priority for young and Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) farmers across the country – and drops the climate-smart provisions from the expanded permanent baseline funding of critical conservation programs. It also removes buy-protect-sell language from the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), hindering the ability of young and beginning farmers to access land. These are missed opportunities to address systemic inequities in our agricultural system.
Our most recent National Young Farmer Survey highlights the critical need for community-driven solutions to the land access crisis and access to conservation programs. We will continue to advocate through this Farm Bill process for federal programs that empower young farmers to address their unique agricultural challenges and opportunities.
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The National Young Farmers Coalition (Young Farmers) is a national grassroots network of young farmers changing policy and shifting power to equitably resource the new generation of working farmers. Visit Young Farmers on the web at www.youngfarmers.org, and on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.