American Farmland Trust

Many thanks to special guest USDA Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for joining American Farmland Trust President and CEO @John Piotti and many supporters on yesterday's teletownhall to discuss the critical investments made by the Biden Administration in conservation and climate-smart programs. Thanks to all who joined and for the many great questions for the Secretary.

80% of Texas land is privately-owned land supplying food, fiber, water and recreation for an overall healthier environment. With the population projected to double in growth over a few short decades, these working lands are under pressure. Tools like conservation easements might be one of the best solutions to protect the future of Texas. Read the stats in Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute's Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program: 2024 evaluation report: tx.ag/TFRLCP2024. 📷: Krause Ranch by Adrian Van Dellen

California's produce is found in kitchens across the U.S. as the nation's number one food producing state. The state's farmers and ranchers face severe business challenges including some of the nation’s most expensive agricultural land and increasingly devastating climatic risks such as floods, droughts, and wildfires. We compared data from the most recent 2022 Census of Agriculture with past Census data to confirm alarming agricultural trends in California that cannot be ignored. Read more: https://bit.ly/3Nwaghu.

🗓️ 📞 Join American Farmland Trust President and CEO John Piotti and special guest USDA Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for a teletownhall on Wednesday, October 23. They will discuss the progress that USDA has made on critical agricultural issues, especially conservation and climate-smart practices, and look to future opportunities and challenges in farming and ranching. Participants will be able to ask questions during the teletownhall. ✏️ Register here! https://bit.ly/40bcF8V

Accessing affordable land is a major challenge for young farmers across the country. Some state leaders have worked to address this issue, bridging political divides in the process. New research conducted by scholars at Indiana University and American Farmland Trust explores these bipartisan efforts and shows that collaborative, cooperative action to support next generation farmers is possible—and necessary. 📑 Learn more in our latest blog post: https://bit.ly/3BODZjm. #LandAccess #YoungFarmers

Nearly 300 million acres of agricultural land could change hands in the next 20 years. This amounts to one third of the land in farms in the contiguous U.S. Both family farmers and the land they steward are at risk. Meanwhile, would-be farmers often can't afford to enter the field. To steward farmland and ranchland well requires knowing it well. We need many eyes on the ground and many hands in the soil. At American Farmland Trust, we work every day to help keep farmers on the land through grantmaking, programs, projects, research, and policy work across the nation. Learn more and join us at farmland.org. 🎥: Common Table Creative

📣 Applications are now open for our 2025 Advanced Soil Health Training in the Mid-Atlantic in partnership with Truterra, LLC, Land O'Lakes, Inc., and Black Family Land Trust! February 3-4, Harrisonburg, Virginia March 5-6, Central Maryland July 23-24, Lancaster, Pennsylvania December 3-4, Eastern Shore Maryland Learn more and apply: https://bit.ly/3VDFxVn. Supported by USDA agreement #NR233A750004G016. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. Additional project collaborators: Maryland Department of Agriculture, Million Acre Challenge , USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Penn State Extension, VIRGINIA NO TILLAGE ALLIANCE VANTAGE, PENNSYLVANIA NO TILL ALLIANCE, University of Maryland Extension, and Stroud Water Research Center.

As energy projections anticipate 10 million acres of agricultural land will be adapted for solar infrastructure by 2050, American Farmland Trust’s Smart Solar℠ initiative seeks to reimagine the relationship between the agriculture and solar development industries as a partnership, rather than a zero-sum game. Agrivoltaics allows solar panels and crops to share the same land, enabling farmers to benefit from new microclimates that enhance crop resilience and open up additional revenue streams. Farms like Sprout City Farms located at Jack's Solar Garden in Colorado are among those who are exploring this. ☀️ Read more in Edible Communities below.

🌧️ weather 💲 rising costs 🚜 land access These are some challenges our nation’s farmers and ranchers face daily. Our Brighter Future Fund provides grants to help. Since 2020, the Fund has given nearly $5 million to over 2,000 farmers and ranchers in the U.S. With your support this #NationalFarmersDay, we can help even more. Learn more and donate here: https://bit.ly/4f1YEP4. 📷 Polipoli Farms, Hawaii | 2023 Brighter Future Fund grant awardee

We are excited to celebrate #NationalFarmersDay tomorrow with over $700,000 awarded to farmers and ranchers nationwide through our Brighter Future Fund this year! 🌾💚 We are deeply appreciative of the support from thousands of individual donors, organizations, and partners Applegate, ButcherBox, Domino's, Giant Food, H-E-B, iHeartMedia, and Olo. Read more: https://bit.ly/3ZWA3Hl Donate: https://bit.ly/4f1YEP4