Modern Farmer

MARCH 12, 2024

My Land Advocacy Fellowship with the National Young Farmer Coalition empowered me to share my experience of growing up on the family farm with my senators and representatives offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Across the country, farmland is being lost to development at a rate of more than 2,000 acres per day.

Farming 122

Farming Farming Farmland Real Estate 122

Daily Yonder

OCTOBER 24, 2024

In one interview, a farmer told me that he had been offered $40,000 an acre for his land, money that would make him an instant millionaire. In fact, there have been a flurry of songs about farmland loss, and resistance to it, released over the last year. In it, farmland is turned into a subdivision, a sign of “progress.”

Farmland 109

Farmland Ruralism Acre Real Estate 109

Modern Farmer

MAY 28, 2024

“Of 400 farms in our county, only five are organic,” says Matt Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Organics in Hutchinson, Minnesota. His 2,500-acre family farm is patchwork across 40 miles of land the family owns and leases, and grows organic corn, soy, wheat and specialty crops such as beans and peas.

Agriculture 128

Agriculture Agriculture Acre Farming 128

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

JULY 28, 2023

In addition, over the last decade, farmland prices have doubled nationwide and risen far higher in areas with pressure due to real estate development or commodity prices. Every piece of land purchased as a result of this project will be ushered through a three-pronged approach to increase farmland ownership by underserved farmers.

Marketing 82

Marketing Farmland Distribution Real Estate 82

Trimble Agriculture

FEBRUARY 28, 2024

Between the years 2017 and 2022, America lost almost 20 million acres of farmland. Despite this rapid decline, the average farm size increased five percent to 463 acres. This ag census data highlights the trend toward farm consolidation as more and more family farm operations are feeling the pressure to go big or get out.

Farming 59

Farming Farming Farmland Acre 59

Sustainable Food Trust

APRIL 1, 2025

The farm is now a Site of Nature Conservation Interest and a testament to the value of farming with nature. Withers does not own all of the land on the farm, and this has left her vulnerable. The potential impact on the farms wildlife could be devastating and concern for this is ongoing.

Food 52

Food Farming Farming Acre 52

Civil Eats

MAY 1, 2024

When Jeff Broberg and his wife, Erica, moved to their 170-acre bean and grain farm in Winona, Minnesota in 1986, their well water measured at 8.6 Those tiles, which were first installed in the mid-1800s and have now largely been replaced with plastic pipes, ultimately allowed farmers to grow crops on land that was once too wet to farm.

Fertilizer 145

Fertilizer Farming Farming Acre 145

Food Tank

JULY 14, 2023

Steven says that this gave the Imhoffs the opportunity to invest in quality equipment that make other aspects of day-to-day farm life easier. The Imhoffs were also able to begin raising hogs for Niman Ranch using their current farmland and facilities, rather than investing in expensive conventional housing.

Farming 97

Farming Farming Ranching Farmland 97

Modern Farmer

JUNE 30, 2023

Prime farmland, it attracted countless farmers, including the Black farmers seeking to fulfill the promise of “40 acres and a mule” that followed the American Civil War. But Black farm ownership has dropped dramatically over the years, with just 1,500 estimated to remain in Arkansas today.

Acre 98

Acre Sharecropping Processing Farming 98

Trimble Agriculture

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024

farmland that is rented or leased. At the same time, the number of farms and farmland in the U.S. lost nearly 142,000 farms from 2017 to 2022. During that same period, an estimated 20 million acres of farmland went out of production. Since 2002, there has been a steady increase in U.S. has been in decline.

Farmland 59

Farmland Finance Real Estate Ruralism 59

Modern Farmer

JULY 14, 2023

As Brian Paddock walks through his 12-and-a-half acres of almond trees, he’s taking in everything. Treehouse Almonds sources nuts from roughly 50,000 acres in California’s Central Valley, and Gardiner’s family farm provides about 20,000 of them. There’s also the loss of farmland due to a confluence of factors.

Orchard 95

Orchard Crop Family Farming Farming 95

National Young Farmers Coalition

JULY 20, 2023

The proposed $100 million of annual funding over ten years will complement the Department’s existing farm production and conservation programs, and be available to a wide variety of entities, such as tribes, municipalities, non-profits, and cooperatives. “The Young farmers desperately need access to quality, affordable farmland.

Farming 75

Farming Farming Farmland Ruralism 75

Modern Farmer

FEBRUARY 26, 2024

During that same time, production has grown, as only farms of more than 200 hectares (approximately 400 acres) have increased in number. According to the recently released 2022 Census of Agriculture , the largest four percent of US farms (2,000 or more acres) control 61 percent of all farmland.

Manure 107

Manure Farming Farming Production 107

Daily Yonder

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Brooks Lamb is a writer, and the land protection and access specialist at American Farmland Trust. He grew up on a small farm in Marshall County, Tennessee, and lives in Memphis now. Even by just raising three or four acres of tobacco, families could make a respectable return that helped their farm’s economic viability.

Ruralism 117

Ruralism Farming Farming Agriculture 117

Civil Eats

OCTOBER 17, 2023

Half the largest herd—which lives in a 2,900-acre reserve with a fence that protects nearby ranches—died mostly due to insufficient forage. The Park Service recently proposed removing the fence, allowing the elk to join the two smaller herds that can already roam the seashore’s more than 71,000 acres of beaches, forests, and ranchlands.

Ranching 144

Ranching Acre Food Farming 144

Trimble Agriculture

JULY 17, 2024

The debate surrounding industrial agriculture and farm consolidation is complex and multifaceted. On one hand, industrial agriculture is criticized for contributing to the decline of small family farms and promoting unsustainable practices. Large-scale farm operations own 42 percent of U.S. farming sector was $543.1

Industrial Agriculture 52

Industrial Agriculture Agriculture Agriculture Finance 52

Food Tank

APRIL 2, 2024

Acres of Ancestry Initiative/Black Agrarian Fund The Acres of Ancestry Initiative/Black Agrarian Fund is a multidisciplinary, cooperative nonprofit ecosystem that aims to regenerate custodial land ownership, ecological stewardship, and food and fiber economies in the American South.

Cultivation 105

Cultivation Food Marketing Distribution 105

Modern Farmer

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

It was founded in 2013 in the Champaign-Urbana area by a group of researchers, students and farmers that were interested in exploring how perennial agriculture and agroforestry could benefit Midwestern farmlands. Blooming ecological success Maggie Taylor of Delight Flower Farm, a commercial cut-flower farm in Champaign, Ill.,

Farming 108

Farming Farming Crop Production 108

Modern Farmer

DECEMBER 20, 2024

A fourth-generation small Midwestern farmer, Hemmes works more than 900 acres entirely on her own year in and year out. A few years back, while building a fence on her farmland, Hemmes suffered her first bout of on-the-job heat exhaustion. This [farm] has been in my family for over 125 years, she said.

Agriculture 73

Agriculture Agriculture Food Harvester 73

Daily Yonder

APRIL 11, 2023

For every acre planted in winter cover, the conservation district would pay the farmers $50. Part of a state-wide program to help reduce farm-chemical run-off entering groundwater and waterways, these are considered “incentives” – not “entitlements” – which help farmers transition to more sustainable practices.

Farming 52

Farming Farming Acre Seeding 52

Modern Farmer

JULY 10, 2023

But the epic flooding this past March was simply unprecedented, says the owner of Lerda-Goni Farms. After a winter of record snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, a sudden warm spell melted the lower reaches, unleashing nearly 40,000 acre-feet of water —a volume equal to more than a tenth of Las Vegas’ annual supply—in 48 hours.

Farming 98

Farming Farming Manure Agriculture 98

National Young Farmers Coalition

JUNE 9, 2023

Funding through the Increasing Land Access, Security, and Opportunities Act will provide critical resources to both individual producers as well as community-led organizations to implement farmland access, retention, and transition projects. Young farmers desperately need access to quality, affordable farmland.

Farmland 40

Farmland Farming Farming Ruralism 40

NASDA

JULY 25, 2024

Georgia Wildlife Federation Ginkgo Bioworks Golden Sands Resource Conservation & Development Council , Inc.

Farming 130

Farming Farming Seeding Ruralism 130

CalCAN

AUGUST 10, 2023

Specifically she testified in support of AB 552 (Bennett) “Regional Farmer Equipment and Cooperative Resources Assistance Pilot Program” and AB 408 (Wilson) “Climate-resilient Farms, Sustainable Healthy Food Access, and Farmworker Protection Bond Act of 2024.” She also spent time speaking to representatives about issues impacting her farm.

Orchard 52

Orchard Farming Farming Harvester 52

RR2CS

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

I lived around farmland and was surrounded by farmers,” says Tim. “I I was really in tune with the movement of the seasons and the farm cycle—and I enjoyed that.” Today, Tim and Joanne manage WR Grazing in collaboration with Doug and other family members on 3000 acres of land.

Ranching 52

Ranching Cattle Crop Acre 52

Caff

FEBRUARY 23, 2022

farmland owners identify as white. This year we will work with CDFA and allies to ensure this program will equitably support the growth of food systems jobs and the local farming economy. This deeply inequitable history has resulted in our current landscape where 98% of U.S. WANNA GET MORE INVOLVED?

Supply Chain 52

Supply Chain Food Processing Integrated Farming 52

Daily Yonder

MARCH 4, 2024

Finding adequate, affordable health insurance can be a huge challenge for people who run small, family farms or ranches, said Alana Knudson, director of the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis. Kenneth McAlister’s family farmland in Electra, Texas. Family members share that risk.

Ranching 99

Ranching Ruralism Farming Farming 99

Caff

FEBRUARY 23, 2021

Most respondents were farmers managing small-scale operations between 1-5 acres, and mostly women! We have been concerned with the increasing use of the H-2A guestworker program in agriculture, which is expensive and requires the provision of housing, something few family farms in California will be able to afford.

Farmland 52

Farmland Marketing Food Farming 52

Food Tank

DECEMBER 24, 2024

40 Acres & A Mule Project , United States 40 Acres & A Mule seeks to acquire Black-owned farmland to be used to celebrate and preserve the history, food, and stories of Black culture in food and farming. promoting environmentally sound farming practices, and keeping farmers on their land.

Food 139

Food Agriculture Agriculture Ruralism 139

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

MAY 10, 2024

As with all programs, NSAC will continue to analyze the RPFSA’s CSP provisions, including a proposed one-time CSP subprogram focused on enrollment of up to 500,000 acres of native or improved pasture land used for livestock grazing in the Lower Mississippi River Valley to address water quality issues leading to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.

Ruralism 110

Ruralism Food Farming Farming 110

Trimble Agriculture

MAY 29, 2024

One of the main bottlenecks for the farm bill has been disagreements over crop insurance —and how much funding should be allocated toward it. Opponents of increased crop insurance have long maintained that it drains taxpayers while benefiting large corporations and leaving more diversified family farm operations with nothing.

Farming 104

Farming Farming Food Crop 104

National Young Farmers Coalition

DECEMBER 20, 2024

The Coalition worked with partners and Senators to introduce bi-partisan legislation to direct FSA to establish a pre-approval and pre-qualification pilot program for Direct Farmland Ownership loans this Fall, the Farm Ownership Improvement Act (S. The approach to addressing speculative ownership of farmland misses the mark.

Farmland 40

Farmland Ruralism Farming Processing 40

Food Tank

MARCH 28, 2025

Larry Banowetz has raised pigs on his family farm in eastern Iowa for 45 years. Iowa farmland prices reached a record high in 2023, with an average price of US$11,835 per acre. But the hog industry, or pork industry as its now referred to as, has changed dramatically over that time.

Ranching 98

Ranching Family Farming Farming Farming 98

Civil Eats

NOVEMBER 19, 2024

Despite the beauty of the surrounding farmland, food was often scarce. For more than 30 years, the Thompsons had farmed on 20 acres, growing tomatoes, green beans, and squash—basic crops meant to provide food for themselves and the local community.

Ruralism 145

Ruralism Food Marketing Agriculture 145

Trimble Agriculture

APRIL 3, 2024

The 2022 Census of Agriculture reported that the number of American farms fell below two million for the first time in almost a century. Kids are leaving the family farm to pursue careers outside of agriculture, and they’re not coming back. When am I going to start running the farm?” farmland market.

Ruralism 59

Ruralism Agriculture Agriculture Farmland 59

The Equation

MAY 14, 2024

The newly freed men and women desired land from the government, which resulted in an ordinance for the redistribution of 400,000 acres of land from South Carolina to Florida for the four million freedmen. After the antebellum plantation system ended, exploitative and oppressive systems continued through the sharecropping system.

Food 100

Food Plantation Sharecropping Farming 100

Civil Eats

JANUARY 15, 2025

Agriculture was the first industry mentioned, and the ways in which consolidation was driving the loss of small family farms became one of Vilsacks most-cited talking points throughout the administration. According to the USDA, more than 21,000 farms and 5.2 million acres of farmland are involved as of January 2025.

Food 145

Food Farming Farming Pesticide 145