Featured Resource: New Study on Land Access and Beginning Farmers in Coastal California
A new study published by The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development (FAFSCD) investigates land access. Read the entire study Land Trusts and Beginning Farmers’ Access to Land: Exploring the Relationships in Coastal California by Jessica Beckett and Ryan E. Galt Published online March 13, 2014 Abstract This paper examines relationships between beginner […]
FarmStart for the Next Generation
FarmStart from Sustain Ontario on Vimeo. FarmStart is a charitable organization that provides training to a new generation of farmers. FarmStart provides someone with an interest in farming with a small test piece of land to see if farming is for them. But a piece of land alone doesn’t make the farmer. In the second […]
$20.5 Million in Farmland Protection Funding Announced in NY
Governor Cuomo Announces $20.5 Million Available for Farmland Protection Grants Offered for First Time in Five Years May 14, 2014 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the availability of $20.5 million to aid farmland protection efforts and help prevent viable agricultural land from being converted to non-agricultural use. Eligible entities, including municipalities, counties, soil and water […]
Iowa Farmer Doubts National Geographic’s “Five Steps”
This article, entitled National Geographic’s ‘Five Steps’ Won’t Feed The World: An Iowa Farmer’s View was written by George Naylor and published by the Huffington Post. The brief article, “A Five-Step Plan to Feed the World” offered by Professor Jonathan Foley in the latest National Geographic magazine, clearly states the stark features of a global […]
Experience Speaks: Alternatives to Farm Ownership
Alternatives to Ownership: Land Trusts as Land Reform by Robert Swann In those countries where traditional land reform (redistribution of land to private owners as initiated by the central state – examples in Japan, Taiwan, Iran some South American countries, etc) has taken place, redistribution of land has resulted in some cases (Taiwan for instance) […]
Agrarian Trust and Allies in the News
By Michael Levitin from NationofChange.org There’s a new currency here called Bay Bucks that’s helping businesses trade in services and get off the dollar. There’s a new agriculture-tech startup called CropMobster helping redistribute excess produce and cut down on food waste. And a new electricity provider, Sonoma Clean Power, just flipped on the switch May 1 to supply tens of […]
Farming Without Profit: NPR Looks at Part-time Farmers
Listen to the Story by Dan Charles from NPR Every five years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture carries out a census of farmers: who they are, and what they are doing on their farms. The agency just released the , and it’s a feast for all ag geeks. And here’s the very first, most basic […]
Town of Amherst, MA Proposes Incubator Program
By Diane Lederman from MassLive AMHERST – Town Meeting has supported spending Community Preservation Act money to help buy a nearly 20-acre parcel of land of Belchertown Road that the town plans to use for myriad agricultural and resource protection projects. Last November, the meeting rejected the request to spend $41,785 in Community Preservation Act […]
Video: Wes Jackson Speaking at OUR LAND Symposium
A New Perspective on Succession
On the weekend of April 4th- 6th, I was lucky enough to have attended The New Farmers Summit hosted by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Services (MOSES). The diversity of people in attendance was truly astonishing. From teenagers to veterans of the farming community, we all came together to learn, discuss and network. Many […]