Young farmers visit Capitol Hill and USDA
Last Wednesday farmers from six states converged on Washington, D.C. for a whirl-wind round of meetings on Capitol Hill and at USDA. The event, known as a “fly-in,” was organized by the National Young Farmers Coalition to give young farmers a chance to advocate in person for the #FarmingIsPublicService campaign, which asks Congress to add […]
A new generation and permanent protection for Wingate Farm
Friends and supporters of local farming gathered earlier this month in Hinsdale, New Hampshire to celebrate the permanent protection of Wingate Farm. Wingate Farm’s new owners are Olivia Pettengill and her brother James. In their second season growing, Olivia and her business partner, Susan Parke-Sutherland, raised 700 pastured laying hens, hundreds of broiler chickens, eight […]
Big USDA Wins for Young Farmers
This past week, USDA announced two big changes coming to your local county office. First, USDA will be hiring five new staff members at the state level to coordinate new farmer programs for the Farm Service Agency (FSA). The National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC) has pushed USDA to provide specialized expertise for new farmers, and […]
2016 Agriculture Appropriations: An Update
By Eric Hansen, NYFC Policy Analyst Earlier this month, Congress reached a major milestone in its annual appropriations process, which funds the federal government. Both the relevant committees in the House and the Senate passed funding bills for the Department of Agriculture. These bills set spending levels for conservation programs and farm loans and include […]
New NYFC report finds student loan debt is exacerbating farmer shortage
Today NYFC released a new report, Farming Is Public Service: A Case for Adding Farmers to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which shows that student loan debt is one of the key barriers preventing more would-be farmers and ranchers from entering agriculture. Read the full report here. The report contains data from a new survey of […]
Young Farmer Success Act introduced in Congress
University of Maryland agriculture instructor Meredith Epstein loves teaching, but it isn’t the career she imagined for herself. Epstein doesn’t lack the skills, training, or talent for her chosen profession—farming—she simply can’t afford to invest in a farm of her own because she has student loan debt. The Young Farmer Success Act of 2015 would […]
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 […]
Cuyahoga Valley National Park Invests in Public/Private Farmland Agreements
One of the most significant challenges facing young farmers today is access to—and retention of—quality farmland. Innovative land tenure models are the focus of many advocacy and research organizations. The role of public lands in farmland retention is less clear—but one national park in Ohio is navigating a public/private land use model aimed at keeping […]
Rogue Farm Corps Recruits Aspiring Farmers for their Hands-on Education and Mentoring Programs
Farming is a tough business, and beginning farmers need hands-on experience and mentoring before they can successfully take on a commercial operation. Finding that experience and mentoring can be a significant challenge, and it’s at the heart of why Rogue Farm Corps (RFC) was created. The Oregon-based nonprofit was founded in 2003 by first generation […]
USDA to Release 2012 Census of Ag Data
Every five years, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) takes a hard look at the state of US agriculture by conducting a Census of Agriculture. In a very real way, the census is one of the few opportunities farmers have to tell the USDA about their operations—who they are, and what they need. Today, […]