Celebrating our rapid response to the USDA Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program
USDA’s Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program was a historic funding opportunity for community-led land access initiatives across the country. The National Young Farmers Coalition mobilized a rapid response effort to ensure organizations working on land access, particularly BIPOC-led and low-resource, knew about the funding opportunity and had support to apply. Between mid-September and […]
Climate-smart commodities recommendations from Young Farmers
On Tuesday, February 8, USDA announced its new Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities pilot program. This program will aid in the fight against climate change by investing $1 billion, via USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation, to provide incentives to agricultural producers and landowners to: Implement climate-smart production practices, activities, and systems on working lands (such as low- […]
Unpacking Land Policy and What is Needed for a More Equitable Farming Future
This post originally appeared in the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)’s blog. NSAC is an alliance of grassroots organizations that advocates for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability of agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and rural communities. Photo Credit: Stella Kalinina for the National Young Farmers Coalition This past year has highlighted the critically important […]
Keeping Young Farmers on the Land in COVID-19
Part I: Land in Crisis This post is part of a three-part series on the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on land access and security for farmers. The first post outlines potential impacts of the crisis on farmland; the second provides strategies to help keep farmers on the land; and the third suggests potential policy […]
Finding Farmland: Resources to Support Land Access
The following blog by Mike and Holly of our Land Access team is also posted on farmers.gov. Photographs by Richie Graham Photo. For farmers across the country, it will come as no surprise that farmland has become less and less affordable on a farming income. Approaching land access with a strong financial strategy can help […]
Finding farmland in the Golden State: Young Farmers’ 2019 California Whistle Stop Tour
At the start of February, I had the privilege of spending a couple weeks in California, organizing five Finding Farmland workshops for young farmers in partnership with our California team and California FarmLink. The workshops were focused on sharing practical strategies for finding secure, affordable land tenure, as well as introducing farmers to useful tools—including […]
Land Team Dispatch: Climate, Land Trusts, and Finance
Last year, NYFC released Building A Future with Farmers II, our report on the findings of our 2017 National Young Farmer Survey. We found that land access is the number one challenge facing young farmers and ranchers across America. The actions that we take now will determine what happens to the millions of acres of […]
RELEASE: NYFC Publishes Report Calling on New York State to Make State Protected Farmland Affordable for Farmers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kate Bittman, kateb@youngfarmers.org / (917) 915-3350 National Young Farmers Coalition Publishes Report Calling on New York State to Make State Protected Farmland Affordable for Farmers “Farmland for Farmers – Working Farm Easements as a Tool to Keep New York Farmers on the Land” calls on New York State to prioritize funding for conservation […]
The Land Problem and a Bill for Governor Cuomo
In the next 5 years, 100 million acres of farmland will need a new owner — yet finding farmland is the hardest thing for young farmers. Why is that? Holly Rippon-Butler, director of the land program at the National Young Farmers Coalition, talks about why it’s so hard for farmers to find land, how land […]
NYFC Gains Traction in New York Land Access Campaign
In New York State, NYFC has been advocating for the expanded use of working farm easements that not only protect the land, but also the farmer, by keeping land affordable and in farmer ownership. We recently had two significant successes in this effort. For the first time ever, easements that protect farmer ownership were made […]