Updates

An Update on Young Farmers’ One Million Acres for the Future Campaign

Congress is listening and we are continuing to build momentum.

We are at a critical moment in our One Million Acres for the Future campaign for equitable land access. It has been more than two years since we launched in November 2021, but Congress has yet to pass the next farm bill and the need for federal action on the land access crisis has only grown.

Here’s an update on all we have accomplished, where we are now, and what is on the horizon for equitable land access. We hope that you will be inspired by the thousands of farmers and supporters who have built this campaign, and that you will be galvanized to action as we continue holding Congress accountable. Our sincere thanks to Chipotle for supporting us in launching and growing this important campaign. 

Campaign Highlights

Since the fall of 2021, we have accomplished so much to center the issue of equitable land access in federal policy conversations on agriculture—and we couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you! Here’s some of the progress we’ve made since launching the campaign. We:

  • Launched a two-year, majority-BIPOC fellowship of 100 farmers and ranchers around the country. These farmers came together to gain advocacy skills, lobby their members of Congress, and share their stories in powerful ways;
  • Held over 100 in-district meetings focused on land access with key members of Congress, including multiple in-person farm tours and roundtable discussions;
  • Held the largest-ever young farmer fly-in to D.C. in March 2023, where we conducted 155 meetings with members of Congress as well as with the USDA and the House and Senate Agriculture Committee staff; 
  • Received high-profile press coverage of the campaign and featured advertisements in multiple news outlets to raise awareness of the issue;
  • Coordinated with our partners to publish a land policy platform in English and Spanish;
  • Conducted outreach and supported organizations to apply for USDA’s first-of-its-kind land access funding opportunity (known as “LCM”) that is now in the process of delivering $300 million in funding to 50 community-led organizations around the country;
  • Held high-level meetings with members of the Biden-Harris Administration’s agriculture team, along with numerous USDA officials;
  • Engaged in multiple Congressional hearings, including supporting farmer Julia Asherman in delivering a powerful live statement to the House Agriculture Committee on the intersection of land access and finance. We also submitted comments to the House and Senate Agriculture committees on credit access, foreign ownership in agriculture, and national data gathering on farmland ownership;
  • Worked with our partners to introduce a bi-partisan marker bill—the Increasing Land Access Security, and Opportunities Act (S.2340, H.R.3955), or LASO—which would provide $100 million per year in funding for community-led land access projects if included in the farm bill; and
  • Delivered a resounding letter of endorsement to House and Senate Agriculture Committee leadership with 175 organizations signed on in support of the LASO Act.

You can read more about the first year of our campaign here.

Where We Are Now

Our investments on the Hill, through partner relationships, and in the field are playing out. Congress is listening and we need to keep the pressure on! 

As the farm bill cycle continues to extend beyond the original deadline (Congress now has until the end of September 2024 to pass a bill or pass an additional extension), we must keep building momentum and communicating to Congress and USDA that land access and conservation remain our top priorities.

Across the country, farmers in our network are continuing to write and publish powerful op-eds, our supporters are taking action to tell their members of Congress to support an investment in equitable land access in the farm bill, organizations are continuing to sign on to our letter of support, and co-sponsorship of the bill in the House and the Senate continues to increase.

TAKE ACTION!

On the Hill, our team is busy meeting with House and Senate Agriculture Committee staff (the Congressional offices that are writing the farm bill) and making sure our priorities are heard. We are working with partners to develop additional marker bills and advocate for the incredibly important legislation that these organizations are leading. 

In February, we held a briefing on the LASO bill with over 200 registrants. You can watch the recording here, or listen to it as a podcast here. We are so grateful to the bill’s original co-sponsors, Representatives Nikki Budzinski (D-IL-13), Zach Nunn (R-IA-03), Joe Courtney (D-CT-02), and Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) for their support of this bill and for sharing their remarks during the briefing, and to the farmers and organizations that shared inspiring stories about how this bill would benefit their work. 

We want to extend a huge thank you to all the partner organizations that have worked so hard on this legislation with us. (We included a list of important land and credit-related marker bills that our partners are leading at the end of the LASO briefing slides.)

On March 20 and 21, 2024, 15 farmers from across the country joined our staff and partners from the Land Stewardship Project and Midwest Farmers of Color Collective for a Farm Bill Lobby Day in D.C. to lift up our farm bill priorities to Congress. We met with the Senate and House Agriculture Committee staff, as well as individual Members of Congress representing key states and districts.

Where We’re Headed

In early March, Land Program Director Holly Rippon-Butler transitioned out of her role on Young Farmers staff after more than ten years of service and dedication to equitable land access. We have immense gratitude for the work that Holly has led to transition farmland more equitably to the next generation, and to change policy to better serve young, beginning, and BIPOC farmers. Holly’s contribution to Young Farmers’ land campaign over the past decade cannot be overstated, and will have a lasting impact on the movement for years to come. Young Farmers is deeply invested in this work, and seeing LASO passed and enacted remains our top priority in this next farm bill. Though we will miss having Holly’s passion, leadership, and warmth on our team, we are excited for the incredible contributions we know she will continue to make in this field.  

Help us keep the pressure on Congress by checking out our bill landing page and partner action toolkit for information and resources to support our advocacy. We are still collecting endorsements for this marker bill—please click here to sign on to our letter of support.

Thank you for taking a moment to celebrate all that we have achieved together, and for remaining steadfast and accountable to the values of this campaign. Policy change is incremental and hard won, and we believe that the wins we have seen throughout the past couple of years are proof that our theory of change is working. We remain committed to centering your voices and to ultimately realizing our shared vision for a more just future, together.

Thank you for joining us!