Finding farmland in the Golden State: Young Farmers' 2019 California Whistle Stop Tour
At the start of February, I had the privilege of spending a couple weeks in California, organizing five Finding Farmland workshops for young farmers in partnership with our California team and California FarmLink. The workshops were focused on sharing practical
Sustainable farming depends on sustaining farmers
By Mai Nguyen | Sustainable farming depends first on our ability to sustain farmers. Our country has never equitably compensated farm labor, and has too often worked actively against it.
Marketing my grain is a mouthful
By Mai Nguyen | My grain is a mouthful. It is identity-preserved, non-Plant Variety Protection (PVP), incrementally upscaled heritage seed grown using rain-fed, on-site fertility, carbon sequestering, integrated pest management, nonsynthetic sprays, low fossil fuel, no-till practices and brought to
The one thing my farm training never covered: racism
By Mai Nguyen | When I started farming grains and vegetables in California in 2014, I already had a lot of the knowledge, skills, and experience essential to farming. But no farm conference, internship, or book prepared me for the
Heart and Grain: Farmers are matchmakers between land and seed
By Mai Nguyen | There aren’t plenty of fish in the sea of heritage grain, so I started growing out and scaling up the varieties I need. To start, I requested a batch of seed from the USDA germplasm, and
NYFC's 2nd National Leadership Convergence
More than 60 young farmer leaders from 26 states gathered in Encinitas, CA in November for our 2nd annual National Leadership Convergence. From rural mid-Missouri to urban New Orleans, our chapters provide a platform for young farmers and ranchers to tackle
National Convergence: 29 chapter leaders
Last week was a momentous one for the National Young Farmers Coalition: we hosted our first National Chapter Leader Convergence, an event that brought the leaders of 25 chapters from 25 states together for three days of education, sharing, and momentum-building.
NYFC Presents at Western Governors Association Drought Forum
National Young Farmers Coalition was invited to present during the Western Governors Association forum on “Drought Impacts and Solutions in the Agricultural Sector”. Many academics and water resource managers from California were in attendance along with several ranchers and farmers.
Water Tour brings farmers together from across Southwest
Below average precipitation combined with warm and dry summers make it difficult for producers to grow enough to make a profit and forecasts of low precipitation patterns suggests this may be a new normal. With water being a critical resource for
BOOTSTRAP @ LEMONADE SPRINGS FARM - MAKING DECISIONS ON EQUIPMENT
By Seth Douglas of Lemonade Springs Farm The question of equipment and capital, it seems to me, is really a question of what decisions you make about your daily work and your financial equilibrium and why you make them. Questions we