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Farmers helped build the country, and most of us depended on their products for the food we eat. Because farming is so central to our nation’s identity—and its idea of itself—this future can feel fraught. Because farming is so central to our nation’s identity—and its idea of itself—this future can feel fraught. Eagle Rock Ranch.
At Farm Credit of Southern Colorado, we take great pride in supporting the families who shape agriculture in our region. The Mattive family of Worley FamilyFarms has spent generations cultivating success in the San Luis Valley, and their story is one of resilience, dedication, and innovation.
This was soon after the Zachmans founded Feathered Acres Learning Farm & Inn with substantial startup expenses. Niman Ranch farmers uphold high standards of sustainable and humane farming practices, and in return, they receive a guaranteed market for their pork products at a premium.
Its true that many products and practices widely adopted over the past 100 years intended to solve a problem have created new problems, sometimes more challenging than the ones they were designed to conquer. In 1971, the soils on his familyfarm in Ohio contained 0.75% organic matter and a pH as low as 4.2 Unfortunately, 69.5%
Kava has endured a long history of adversity, said Lakea Trask, a Hawaiian farmer and local activist who cultivates kava and other Native crops for Kanaka Kava , his familysfarm-to-table restaurant in Kailua-Kona, on the Big Island. And in the U.S.,
Earlier this year, CAFF kicked off a massive project in the San Joaquin Valley to help support familyfarms there and strengthen the local food economy, in partnership with UC Agriculture & Natural Resources (UC ANR) and the Central Valley Community Foundation (CVCF), among others. Why take on such a big project?
On June 29th, Lopes FamilyFarms hosted a field day with Community Alliance with FamilyFarms (CAFF) in Princeton, CA focused on rice and duck farming, a Biologically Integrated Farming System (BIFS). For more informa tion, read about farm to school sales in the CAFF Farm 2 School Blog post.
By his senior year, Williams was trying to figure out how to return home and take over the familyfarm. Williams, his wife Hannah, and their toddler Lyle now live on Williams FamilyFarms, sustainably and humanely raising pigs and farming about 400 acres of cropland.
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.
” While revitalizing the community, Jersey Scoops adds a high-value outlet for a perishable product, strengthening the industry overall. The ice cream shop is an extension of the Nicholson family’s sixth-generation, 120-acrefarm in nearby Ferndale. With family dairies drying up in droves—the U.S.
With a wealth of information at their fingertips, farmers can make decisions based on solid evidence, enhancing both their productivity and profitability. The Technology Behind Data-Driven Farming Lets take a closer look at the agricultural technology that fuels data-driven farming.
The incentive to grow corn under the Wall Street Farm Bill is so strong that processors like Cargill have sought out new uses for the crop. Production of ethanol—a fuel typically derived from corn— exploded in the years after the Wall Street Farm Bill was passed. In fact, it’s now the single largest use of American corn.
An example from our familyfarm is shown below. To determine the cost of erosion, I used the NRCS tolerable soil loss or “T” value for our farm of 5 tons per acre. The Daily Erosion Project and other research has shown that this is roughly the average soil loss per acre in the Midwest. What’s the value of that?
New research published in Nature Sustainability projects that, if trends continue, the number of farms across the world will be sliced in half by the end of the 21 st century as consolidation of land, wealth and power reshapes our farming and food landscape. The marginalization of smaller-scale farms has severe consequences.
Outside of Charleston, South Carolina, in the picturesque marshes of the Kiawah River, sits more than 100 acres of working farmland. But unlike neighboring farms that focus on production for faraway markets or keep a single family afloat, the farm at Kiawah River is supporting 185 families who live in the surrounding homes.
“We lost 10 percent of our saleable Christmas trees that year,” says Leanna Anderson, owner of Aldor AcresFamilyFarm in Langley, British Columbia and treasurer of the BC Christmas Tree Association. Photo courtesy of Aldor AcresFarm. Photography courtesy of Aldor AcresFarm.
Several policies were eliminated, including export subsidies, production quotas in dairy and price supports that were coupled to farmer income. The drop in production is coupled with declining rates of farmers themselves. Overall, throughout Europe from 2005 to 2020, the continent has seen 37 percent of its farms go out of business.
“Of 400 farms in our county, only five are organic,” says Matt Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Organics in Hutchinson, Minnesota. His 2,500-acrefamilyfarm 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.
Upon leaving her familyfarm to study agriculture at Stanford, she took up a work-study program investigating the economic viability of grass-fed beef. “It The same year that Carman returned to her familyfarm, a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, was detected in the US.
Meet some Midwestern agrarians, some of whom come from conventional farmingfamilies, who are using their land to reestablish the connection between trees, animals, and food production. Wendy Johnson’s ‘natural savannah’ Wendy Johnson and her husband, Johnny Rafkin, own Jóia Food & Fiber Farm, in Charles City, Iowa.
Recognizing the vital role that four-legged friends often play on familyfarms and ranches, Farm Bureau launched the Farm Dog of the Year contest several years ago now a popular feature of the American Farm Bureau Federations Convention.
SweetRoot Farm is pitched squarely in the middle of a long and narrow mountain valley, framed by the Bitterroot Mountains on one side and the Sapphire Mountains on the other. The 10-acrefarm outside Hamilton, Montana is run by Noah Jackson and Mary Bricker, who dedicate four irrigated acres of pasture to their laying hens.
Nut farmer Benina Montes of Burroughs FamilyFarms in California says she chose to certify her almonds with ROC because of the environmental and economic benefits of ROC’s practices and brand. “By Her familyfarm has been organic certified since 2006, but it only adopted the ROC standards in June 2022.
He plants nitrogen-rich legumes and other perennial cover crops amongst his pear, apple, plum, peach, and cherry trees, but he buys a commercial compost product to keep his 100-acre, fourth-generation familyfarm thriving. Ela knows first-hand how central compost is to his organic farm—and all organic agriculture.
Eric Boor took over his great-grandfather’s nine-acrefarm in southern Iowa four years ago. When they first started, many in their family and community doubted that they could successfully farm this way. Today, the Boors’ farm “looks completely different,” according to Mikala.
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. But the process hasn’t always come easily.
On the back 16 acres of Walla Walla Community College, 30 Red Angus cows stand munching on hairy vetch, ryegrass and other cover crops that were planted to help restore the soil. Walla Walla Community College hopes to offer surplus agricultural products at its food pantry, too. who will direct the new project. “As
Niman Ranch offers a guaranteed market for its farmers’ and ranchers’ products in exchange for a high standard of practices. 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.
In addition, they may have been told that the carbon emissions for each litre of milk produced by intensively managed ‘fully housed’ cows, is less than the emissions from lower-yielding, mainly grass-fed cows – in other words, the cows that I and thousands of other dairy farmers look after on our familyfarms.
Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Climate Change Resource Center recognizes agroforestry, the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into agricultural practices, as a promising option to weave productivity and profitability into sustainable and resilient farming systems.
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.
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 familyfarms and promoting unsustainable practices. Large-scale farm operations own 42 percent of U.S. farming sector was $543.1
More and more of us are now recognising that the ultra-processed products of the industrialised food system, which most of us eat to some degree, are making people sick. They organise 12-week cookery courses attracting around 60 participants from throughout the world.
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 familyfarm operations are feeling the pressure to go big or get out.
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 familyfarm provides about 20,000 of them. Photography courtesy of Burroughs FamilyFarms.
For a long time – until production controls were lifted in the mid-2000s – tobacco was a critical crop for smaller-scale farmers. Even by just raising three or four acres of tobacco, families could make a respectable return that helped their farm’s economic viability. A childhood photo from the familyfarm.
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.
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.
Now in its 25th year, Niman Ranch is a network of more than 600 small and mid-size farmers and ranchers across the United States who all adhere to high standards of sustainable and humane farming practices. In exchange, the farmers receive a guaranteed market for their products and an invaluable support system.
This is because the subsidies have been unconditional and the market has been brutal; they have used, as the NFU likes to say, ‘all the tools in the toolbox’, i.e., nitrogen fertiliser and pesticides, to continuously increase their food production in order to stay in business.
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 familyfarm operations with nothing.
Award Highlights NSAC congratulates all LCM recipients, including the following NSAC members: California Alliance of FamilyFarms (CAFF) , World Farmers , Cultivate Kansas City , Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI-USA) , Maine Farmland Trust , Agrarian Trust , and Land Stewardship Project (LSP).
The proposed $100 million of annual funding over ten years will complement the Department’s existing farmproduction and conservation programs, and be available to a wide variety of entities, such as tribes, municipalities, non-profits, and cooperatives.
Saskatoon berry production reduces soil erosion & mitigates the risk of climate change on Solstice Berry Farm By Trina Moyles Rick and Marsha Gelowitz were brand new to farming when they bought their farm northwest of Calgary in 1994. The following year, they planted another 5 acres, and so on.
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