Young Farmer Grant Stories: Amara Ullauri
“I need to be farming. I need to be in the soil and doing this work.” Amara Ullauri, a 2020 Young Farmers grant recipient, remembers the exact moment they made this realization: in a college class about the History of Food in Latin America. They come from a farming background – in Ecuador, they have […]
Farm Aid COVID-19 Farm Resilience Grantees
COVID-19 has challenged our agricultural system in an unprecedented way. Young farmers and ranchers have shown an unparalleled resiliency. They are keeping food banks stocked, creating new CSAs, and trying out online markets. All that while still moving us towards a farm future that is just and sustainable. While federal relief efforts have overlooked […]
COVID-19 Farmer Stories: Tianna Neal, Keysville, Georgia
Located on several acres of the once renowned Boggs Academy, now Boggs Rural Life Center, in Burke County, Georgia, Starlit Roots is an organic vegetable farm in its first year of operation. Hoping to grow into a wholesale business that provides local schools with fresh produce for their students, Starlit Roots business has adjusted to […]
COVID-19 Farmer Stories: Haley Miyaoka, Honolulu, HI
Haley Miyaoka owns and operates Ahiki Acres in Honolulu, HI, a quarter-acre diversified vegetable CSA, committed in mission to responsible land stewardship and increasing food security on Oahu. Haley is one of the many young farmers who has been forced to turn their business model on its head to meet the evolving needs of […]
#NYFCconvergence 2018: Olivia Watkins
Olivia Watkins of Holly Springs, NC shares why she is joining the 100 young farmers heading to DC for our 4th Annual National Leadership Convergence this November 12th-15th. “Next week I will be going to the Capitol with 100 other young farmers with NYFC to talk with Members of Congress, learn key organizing and advocacy skills, […]
#NYFCconvergence 2018: Happy Family Ranch
Roberto Melendez of Happy Family Ranch in Midland, VA shares why he is joining the 100 young farmers heading to DC for our 4th Annual National Leadership Convergence this November 12th-15th. “My parents and I own and operate Happy Family Ranch, a livestock farm in the Northern Virginia area just 50 miles southwest of Washington […]
Risky business: How Ten Mothers Farm in North Carolina is recovering from the hurricanes and preparing for the future
Since my wife Vera and I started Ten Mothers Farm in Hillsborough, NC three years ago, we’ve become accustomed to the idea that farming is a risky business. We’ve weathered our share of crop failures, but they’ve always been manageable: we grow a wide variety of vegetables, and if the broccoli raab fails, there have […]
Last Chance in this Farm Bill for Beginning Farmers and Our Farmland
Our farm bill has expired, and with it the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) has too. BFRDP is a critical program providing new farmers with skill-based training and business planning opportunities, and its defunding, even temporarily, is a significant blow. The immediate and technical challenges BFRDP is designed to address, however, […]
Letter from a farmer: Open letter to Congressman Austin Scott (R-Ga)
The following is a letter written by NYFC member farmer, Clay Oliver, of Oliver Farm in Pitts, Georgia to U.S. Representative Austin Scott (R-Ga-08). Congress meets next week to finalize the 2018 Farm Bill, so now is the time to send a letter to your Representatives in support of programs young farmers and ranchers rely […]
On the County Line
By Eva Moss | Last January, I began leasing 16 acres of historical farmland in Randolph County, a few seconds west of the Chatham County line. Since 1988 the county line has been a divider along party lines: Chatham has consistently voted Democrat and Randolph, Republican.