More US Farmland Owned by Overseas interests
From The Center for Rural Affairs: A recent report from the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting revealed that foreign holdings of U.S. farmland doubled between 2004 and 2014. Foreign investors now control 27.3 million acres of farmland. Among the leading foreign owners of domestic farmland is the Chinese firm Shuanghui. The same firm purchased pork […]
Save Rural America
In June, The Center for Rural Affairs were among 578 organizations, businesses, and local governments that signed a letter opposing the elimination of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development mission area and undersecretary. For more than 20 years, they have helped rural communities develop and expand thriving businesses, create new economic opportunities, and build […]
The Land Matrix: Tracking Land Grabs
Check out this resource from the Tactical Technology Collective that tracks large-scale land deals: https://tacticaltech.org/projects/land-matrix-2012
Young Farmers in Minnesota get a hand from new land access bill
From the National Young Farmers Coalition: Saint Paul, Minnesota – On Tuesday evening, Governor Mark Dayton signed ten budget bills that included a first-of-its-kind beginning farmer tax credit. Authored by Rep. Nels Pierson (R-Rochester) and Sen. Mike Goggin (R-Redwing), the bill supports the transition of land to young and beginning farmers through a tax credit […]
Local Food: Animated
Advocacy group Local Futures has just released this short video about how buying local food impacts local economies. The 2-minuted animated short highlights the essence of the problems of the global economy, and the multiple benefits of localization. Like it? They have a booklet too.
New Our Land Episodes!
Our friends at the Greenhorns released the latest Our Land episode last week. Episode Six, “Building a Regional Food System,” follows the Cook family of Maine. The Cooks are responsible for the first large organic potato operation in Aroostiuck County, inspirational food distributor (and co-op!) Crown of Maine, and Northern Girl— a value added processing plant […]
Sustainable Farms Programs Guide Now Available from NSAC and the USDA
Finding the right federal programs to help your farm be financially as well as biodynamically sustainable can be difficult. Small farming comes with so many moving parts that finding time to sift through resources across federal agency websites or going to your FSA office to navigate the options is a luxury many cannot afford. But […]
Take the Young Farmer Survey!
The National Young Farmers Coalition is still looking for young farmers to share their experience! For the first time since 2011, you have the chance to make yourself counted along side the growing number of young farmers in the US. The 2017 Young Farmer Survey will be used to convince lawmakers to think through the […]
Center for a Livable Future provides Policy and Community Solutions for Food System Health
The Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University released a series of policy recommendations for the new administration to bring the health of food systems and communities to the forefront of policy discussion. Agrarian Trust’s work all ultimately connects communities with the food being grown by their people from their soil, and according […]
FCS Highlights Benefits of Crop Insurance, But Could Do More for Small Farmers
The Farm Credit Services of America (FCS) recently released a report on the success of crop insurance programs throughout the drought of 2012. During this drought, the major crop producing states of Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming were hard hit by the changing weather conditions and experienced some extreme crop loss. But through their […]