New York Times Feature: Young Farmers are losing land to wealthy buyers
This morning, the National Young Farmers’s Coalition’s One Million Acres for the Future campaign was featured in the New York Times. The article, “How ‘Fairy Tale’ Farms Are Ruining Hudson Valley Agriculture,” illustrates how “A rush of wealthy urbanites seeking fresh-air retreats in bucolic settings” has made land access for young and BIPOC farmers across […]
Keeping Young Farmers on the Land in COVID-19
Part I: Land in Crisis This post is part of a three-part series on the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on land access and security for farmers. The first post outlines potential impacts of the crisis on farmland; the second provides strategies to help keep farmers on the land; and the third suggests potential policy […]
New Tools For Young Farmers Seeking Land
Thinking about buying or renting land? Check out our free Finding Farmland Calculator and Online Course to compare financing options, analyze costs, and understand what you can afford. También en Español! Land access is the number one challenge In 2017, the National Young Farmers Coalition (Young Farmers) surveyed more than 3,500 young farmers and ranchers […]
Finding Farmland: Resources to Support Land Access
The following blog by Mike and Holly of our Land Access team is also posted on farmers.gov. Photographs by Richie Graham Photo. For farmers across the country, it will come as no surprise that farmland has become less and less affordable on a farming income. Approaching land access with a strong financial strategy can help […]
Who Owns U.S. Farmland?
The biggest problem faced by farmers across the country is access to land. Who owns it, who rents it—it all has a big impact on the kind of food we grow and who has economic opportunity in rural communities. Young Farmers’ Land Access Program Director, Holly Rippon-Butler, sits down with Megan Horst, professor of urban […]
Cooperative Power
In 1920, 14% of U.S. farmers were black – today less than 2%. Land ownership by Black farmers has also declined over the past 100 years, from 15 million acres to roughly 2 million acres. These numbers are tough, but some say they would be even worse without the leadership of the Federation of Southern […]
Land Team Dispatch: Climate, Land Trusts, and Finance
Last year, NYFC released Building A Future with Farmers II, our report on the findings of our 2017 National Young Farmer Survey. We found that land access is the number one challenge facing young farmers and ranchers across America. The actions that we take now will determine what happens to the millions of acres of […]
Minnesota Young Farmers Organize to Pass Innovative Law
Eric Sannerud of Mighty Axe Hops and the Central Minnesota Young Farmers Coalition talks about the campaign to pass the Beginning Farmer Tax Credit in Minnesota. This new law gives a tax credit to landowners who rent or sell their land to a new farmer. This year, a million dollars have been allocated for this […]
The Land Problem and a Bill for Governor Cuomo
In the next 5 years, 100 million acres of farmland will need a new owner — yet finding farmland is the hardest thing for young farmers. Why is that? Holly Rippon-Butler, director of the land program at the National Young Farmers Coalition, talks about why it’s so hard for farmers to find land, how land […]