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
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
Beginning farmers are finding a new way to get on the land in South Carolina with the help of a local non-profit called Lowcountry Local First (LLF). In 2012, LLF welcomed farmers to South Carolina’s first incubator farm – Dirt Works Incubator, which is located just outside
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
This post is the second of three in-depth analysis pieces on the bill and how it will affect you. Last week, after we shared the news that the new farm bill passed, we delved into a three-part series breaking the
It’s official – we now have a farm bill. On Friday, President Obama officially signed it into law, marking the end of two years of campaigning. As we previously reported, the bill is a mixed bag of good and bad.
Our coalition was founded in 2010 in large part to help ensure that our needs as new, young and sustainable farmers are represented in public policy. And today, although we’re not happy with all aspects of the new farm bill,
NYFC got the rare opportunity last week to sit down with the USDA’s new Deputy Secretary, Krysta Harden, in Clermont, NY, when she was in-state for the Young Farmers Conference at the Stone Barns Center for Agriculture.
This week marked an exciting development in the two-year-long push to deliver a new five-year farm bill. Both the House and the Senate have already passed their own versions of the bill; the remaining hurdle is to reconcile the two
Thanks to our friends at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition for letting us repost this well-written piece about a few of the most important beginning farmer programs at the USDA. Last fall, Congress allowed the farm bill to expire without