Land trusts: apply now to attend national land access training
The National Young Farmers Coalition and Equity Trust are convening our second-annual Land Access Innovation Training, aimed at helping land trusts utilize tools to protect farmland affordability. The training will take place on Sunday, October 11, 2015 in Sacramento, California from 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. This one-day, in-person training is aimed at staff from […]
New case studies highlight successful partnerships between farmers and land trusts
Finding affordable land continues to be one of the biggest barriers facing beginning farmers and ranchers. Land trusts, which have long preserved farmland from development, are in a unique position to help new farmers access land. As NYFC found in our 2013 report, Farmland Conservation 2.0, land trusts across the country are seeing the need […]
How land trusts can partner with young farmers
NYFC’s land access campaign manager, Holly Rippon-Butler, recently collaborated on an article for Saving Land magazine, which is published by the Land Trust Alliance. The article, Partnering with Next Generation Farmers, highlights the crucial role land trusts have in ensuring farmers have access stop affordable farmland, and it outlines some of the tools land trusts […]
Zoning and Other Boring But Important Stuff
Guest post by Ann Larkin Hansen When we bought our farm in the early ’90s, we were too ignorant about rural living to worry whether a large cattle feedlot, a stock car racetrack, or other incompatible neighbors might move in next door. We’re lucky: Our neighbors are still wetlands and lake cabins, and things will […]
NYFC Releases "A Farmer's Guide to Working with Land Trusts"
In 2010, NYFC was founded by a group of farmers who were struggling to find affordable farmland to start and grow their businesses. Five years later, we know that accessing farmland is still one of the biggest obstacles young farmers face. The good news is that there is a growing movement of land trusts working […]
Tell New York Governor Cuomo To Act Now on Land Access for Young Farmers
In August, we wrote a blog post about New York State legislation that would help beginning farmers across the state get access to viable agricultural land. The bill is now on the Governor’s desk – we are asking him to take action and sign it into law. If passed, this bill could provide access to state-owned farmland for new and […]
Kentucky Conference and Young Farmer Visits
The Conference Last week I traveled to Lexington, Kentucky for the American Farmland Trust’s “Farmland, Food and Livable Communities” conference. The conference was the first of its kind to focus on these challenges at the national level and it brought together a broad spectrum of service providers, funders, land trust staff, and young farmers.
September News: Climate Justice, Food Safety News, and Land Access Training
It’s officially fall — we hope you’re catching your breath in the fields and watching the new season edge its way in. The FDA just released a new draft of Food Safety rules and significant improvements were made. The agency certainly listened, but we’ll need your help to ensure that the final rules work for […]
NYFC Takes a Step in Protecting Working Farmland with Land Access Innovations Training
“Forty years of farmland conservation, and we are watching it unravel before our eyes.” That was the warning that John Halsey, president of Long Island’s Peconic Land Trust, delivered to a room full of conservation professionals at this weekend’s Land Access Innovations Training in Providence, Rhode Island. He was referring to the acres of farmland […]
New York's Young Farmers Ask Governor Cuomo to Support Land Access Legislation
Farmers, aspiring farmers, and organizations across New York State are rallying to urge Governor Cuomo to pass a bill that would improve land access for beginning farmers in the state. If passed, this bill could provide access to state-owned farmland for beginning farmers, bolster technical support to both beginning farmers and organizations that assist them […]