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One Million Acres for the Future Campaign
Along with our partners, the National Young Farmers Coalition is launching the One Million Acres campaign. We are calling on Congress to invest $2.5 billion over ten years in the 2023 Farm Bill to facilitate equitable access to one million acres of land for the next generation of farmers. Access to land is the number…
Read More2020 Land Policy Report
This 2020 report from the National Young Farmers Coalition draws on dozens of stakeholder interviews and expertise from partners across the country to highlight the major barriers preventing the next generation of farmers and ranchers—and farmers of color in particular—from accessing the quality, affordable farmland they need to begin successful careers in agriculture. Access to…
Read MoreBIPOC land access, Climate, Cooperative land access, Farm Bill, Farm Service Agency, Farm transition, Farm worker land access, Farmland protection, Farmlinking, Federal Policy, Heirs' property, Housing, Immigration, Incubators, Indigenous land access, Infrastructure, Leasing, Organic farming, Planning for agriculture, State policy, Taxes, Technical service, Urban land access, USDA Programs, Water access, Zoning
Losing Ground
April 2021 | Rafter Ferguson| Union of Concerned Scientists The authors of this white paper from the Union of Concerned Scientists assess the extent and distribution of farmland consolidation in the UnitedStates from 1978 to 2017 at the county level, both nationally and in the Midwest. They also investigated connections between trends in land consolidation,…
Read MoreBIPOC land access, Federal Policy
Land Dispatch #2: Capital Gains
Read our first land dispatch here. This dispatch is about tax policy. I know. But stick with me! President Biden’s American Families proposal has brought capital gains taxes into the spotlight recently and we think this is an important moment to talk about the impact taxes have on access to land. Plus, we know there…
Read MoreBIPOC land access, Taxes
Unpacking Land Policy
This post was written by Young Farmers’ Land Campaign Director, Holly Rippon-Butler, for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s blog. This past year has highlighted the critically important role that young farmers and ranchers play in stewarding natural resources, advocating for policy change, and supporting food security. Yet, access to affordable, quality farmland—the key resource that…
Read MoreBIPOC land access, Farm Bill, Farm transition, Federal Policy, USDA Programs
“Black-Owned Farms Are Holding on by a Thread”
The following is a series of excerpts from an Eater article written by Nadra Nittle. Black farmers struggle to compete with their white counterparts when they don’t have equal access to federal relief, but there are a confluence of factors that prevent them from gaining equal footing in agriculture. Having fewer industry connections, less access…
Read MoreBIPOC land access, Federal Policy, Financing & credit, Heirs' property, USDA Programs
Land Dispatch #1: Farmland Protection
Hi everyone, this is Holly, land campaign director at the National Young Farmers Coalition. First, a big thanks to those of you who took our land access mini survey! Eighty-eight of you responded and shared your land challenges, the policy goals you’re passionate about advocating for, and how you want to show up for farmland…
Read MoreBIPOC land access, Farmland protection, Indigenous land access
Who Owns the Land Matters
The following was written in response to questions from Lisa Held for her new project, Peeled, on Substack. Land access is consistently one of the biggest challenges young farmers face when getting started. What are the main reasons for that? Finding secure access to high-quality farmland is more complex than just negotiating a sales contract…
Read MoreBIPOC land access, Climate, COVID-19, Farm transition, Farmland protection, Federal Policy, State policy
Farmland Access Mini Survey Results
The National Young Farmers Coalition conducted a short survey about land access with our network between November 2020 and February 2021. The survey was designed as a quick tool to help us put our finger on the pulse of three things: the challenges farmers and aspiring farmers in our network are facing related to land;…
Read MoreBIPOC land access, COVID-19, Farmland protection, Federal Policy, Indigenous land access, State policy, Technical service, Urban land access
Message to the Biden-Harris Administration
On November 7th, we witnessed Kamala Harris, our country’s first woman, and first woman of color, accept her election to the Vice Presidency and reaffirm that “Democracy is not a state. It is an act.” Thank you for taking action and exercising your right to vote! We also know that our democracy depends on civic…
Read MoreBIPOC land access, Climate, Federal Policy, Financing & credit