USDA Blog

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

Known as the Farmer’s Lawyer, Equity Commission Agriculture Subcommittee member Sarah Vogel has been vocal on issues impacting rural and Tribal communities; farmers who are young, new, and beginning; women; and Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), and farmworkers.

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USDA Blog

NOVEMBER 21, 2024

On April 10, 2024, I received a call from my dad asking me to come help him at our family farm there had been an accident. When I arrived at the farm, my dad couldnt walk. The front axle of my dads tractor had broken in half, and he had jumped off the tractor before it tipped over. for evaluation of his leg.

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Trimble Agriculture

JUNE 28, 2023

Your new favorite farm podcast about overcoming adversity, achieving success, and appreciating everything rural life has to offer. Many Americans grow up without understanding the resilience, dedication, and courage it takes to get food from the farm to the table. years back in 2017.

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Food Tank

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

Being a naive kid, living in rural America…you get burned out on a community that you know everybody in and you don’t take it for what it is. By his senior year, Williams was trying to figure out how to return home and take over the family farm. I was just working [on the farm] all the time and loved it.

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Modern Farmer

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

The marginalization of smaller-scale farms has severe consequences. When farms are continually consolidated—when there is one 5,000-acre farm in a community, for example, instead of 50 100-acre farms—fewer people remain in rural areas. Small farms tend to be more diversified than large-scale operations.

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Agriculture Agriculture Ruralism Farmland 135

Food Tank

JULY 19, 2024

Today, 22-year-old Roberts is enlisted with the Nebraska Army National Guard while working as a fifth-generation farmer with his parents at Roberts Family Farm in Southwest Iowa. The family’s farm serves as a model for how smaller-scale, humane hog farming can be both environmentally and economically sustainable.

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Sustainable Food Trust

OCTOBER 1, 2024

Today, farming is far from a simple livelihood. As well as growing food, farmers are tasked with delivering a broad spectrum of ‘public goods’ – from wildlife habitat and healthy soils to public access and rural employment. Is it the period 1750-1850 when most of the present rural features were planted or built?

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National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

This blog post outlines the funding guidelines, application deadlines, and program requirements for a range of food and farm system grants funded through USDA that are currently accepting applications. Apply here ; additional details for applicants here and Rural Development priorities here.

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Agriculture Agriculture Ruralism Rural Development 105

Sustainable Food Trust

SEPTEMBER 3, 2024

Worst of all, it will perpetuate and accelerate the loss of one of our most precious cultural assets, the small family-run dairy farm. This community used to form the backbone of UK rural culture, however, during my lifetime of dairy farming, it has been decimated. In response, I said, “Good answer.

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Food Tank

APRIL 29, 2024

As farms consolidate, more and more of the wealth leaves rural communities and flows to the Cargills of the world. Most land in Iowa is not even farmed by owners anymore. Although the Wall Street Farm Bill has been repeatedly extended and tweaked since 1996, the core of the law has remained the same.

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Agwired

JULY 24, 2024

The House Agriculture Committee convened a hearing Tuesday to hear from farmers and rural lenders about the state of financial conditions in farm country. owner of a diversified family farm near Eyota, Minnesota, speaking on behalf of the National Corn Growers Association and state groups. “We

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National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

“USDA has the opportunity to infuse rural meat economies with hundreds of millions of dollars in new demand that will support local meat processors and independent ranchers,” stated Aaron Johnson, Program Manager, Challenging Corporate Power Program at Rural Advancement Foundation International, RAFI- USA.

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Civil Eats

JULY 2, 2024

The ice cream shop is an extension of the Nicholson family’s sixth-generation, 120-acre farm in nearby Ferndale. Since taking over the dairy a decade ago and branding it Foggy Bottoms Boys , the couple has been bucking convention and helping their rural community navigate changing economic tides.

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Trimble Agriculture

AUGUST 2, 2023

This poses a serious threat to the future of American family farms and ultimately compromises our domestic food security. The groups have introduced a bipartisan bill—the Expanding Childcare in Rural America (ECRA) Act of 2023. The earlier you can have these conversations, the easier transition of ownership will be.

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Farming Farming Family Farming Processing 98

Civil Eats

DECEMBER 10, 2024

In the months before Patrick Brown was born in November 1982, his father, Arthur, lay down on a road near the familys farm to prevent a caravan of yellow dump trucks from depositing toxic soil in his community. Patrick currently operates Brown Family Farms on the land that Byron worked as a sharecropper once he was freed.

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Caff

MAY 14, 2024

Small family farms like mine are struggling to keep up with emergency repairs and we cannot remain viable without some sort of a safety net. Without the safety net provided by CUSP, many California organic dairy farms would likely have gone out of business.

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Farming Farming Supply Chain Food 104

Trimble Agriculture

OCTOBER 30, 2024

agriculture is a hot one, but it’s primarily discussed at the farm and processing level. Both are critical topics, as monopolies in the meatpacking industry or the disappearing American family farm have significant impacts on the present and future of our food system. The topic of consolidation in U.S. Number of U.S.

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ProAg

OCTOBER 17, 2023

Family farm transitions can take an emotional toll. Rural Mental Health Counselor Monica McConkey says understanding between generations can go a long way. Younger generations often want to make changes on the farm, and often have financial concerns or sibling conflicts.

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Farming Farming Family Farming Ruralism 52

Daily Yonder

OCTOBER 24, 2024

Jason Isbell’s “Last of My Kind” calls out a family farm becoming a Wal-Mart parking lot. It is transforming many of the once-rural communities on its edges. My family’s small farm is about 40 miles south of Nashville. It devastates wildlife habitats, impacts the climate, and harms rural economies.

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Civil Eats

JANUARY 14, 2025

It was by a stroke of luck that Alvarado learned about North Carolina-based Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI), a nonprofit which helps farmers in tough situations free of charge. Bunting, now 79, runs a family farm with his son in Oak City, North Carolina, where he once raised poultry and hogs and now grows hemp and corn.

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National Young Farmers Coalition

JULY 20, 2023

“ Secure, equitable access to land is critical for ensuring national food security, and an investment in access to farmland in the next farm bill will generate immense returns for taxpayers,” said David Howard, Policy Development Director at Young Farmers. “

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Food Tank

DECEMBER 23, 2024

Farming becomes another form of public service, where veterans can continue their commitment to their country by nurturing the land and feeding communities. Farming aligns with the skills, service mindset, and resilience they bring, especially since about 60 percent of active-duty personnel come from rural communities, Emily explains.

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Daily Yonder

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Each week, Path Finders features a Q&A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Brooks Lamb: I grew up on a small farm in rural Tennessee. The land has been in our family since 1892, but the ownership hasn’t exactly been “linear.” I should mention that our farm was, and still is, a family farm in the strongest sense.

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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. The rural areas they live in suffer from shortages of doctors and hospitals. The quality of rural care can be low.

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NASDA

JULY 25, 2024

We write to express our gratitude for your efforts to advance the 2024 farm bill within your jurisdictions and to seek your continued support for passing this critical legislation before the end of the year.

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Wisconsin Farmers Union

OCTOBER 9, 2024

Her family farm is located in Waupaca County outside of Ogdensburg where she cares for a herd of nine dairy goats, two horses, hay fields, bees, a large kitchen garden, and more. Eventually the couple settled on a 80 acre farm, where they’ve been for the past 34 years.

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Food Tank

DECEMBER 11, 2024

Remember that family farms continue to feed 70 percent of the worlds population. Climate resilience requires broad participation from the most vulnerable farmers who are rural women dependent on natural resources for their well-being.

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Wisconsin Farmers Union

AUGUST 10, 2023

Wisconsin Farmers Union members have deemed Concentration in the Agriculture Industry a Special Order of Business numerous times over the last decade, noting “a decline in the vitality of rural communities has coincided with this concentration in agricultural and retail food markets, with family farms bearing the brunt of this injustice.”

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Modern Farmer

MAY 7, 2024

Murphy Family Farms (later bought by Smithfield Foods) helped out with the loan needed to get started. The Faaborgs farmed hogs for 30 years. When Tanner Faaborg came back to the farm as an adult, the family began thinking about ways to transition out of hog farming. “We

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Civil Eats

MAY 1, 2024

A report by the Union of Concerned Scientists concluded that the cost for rural Iowa residents—who often live in areas with smaller, more expensive water systems—could be as much as $4,960 more per person per year to filter out nitrates from their water than their counterparts in cities like Des Moines. Tesdell’s is 80.

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Wisconsin Farmers Union

OCTOBER 12, 2024

It’s a valuable moment for members to collaborate, engage with leaders, and advocate for a resilient family farm system.” The weekend will also feature ample networking time, the Youth Award & Torchbearer ceremony, and a celebration of rural champions. For more information, visit www.wisconsinfarmersunion.com. ###

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Trimble Agriculture

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024

Challenges and Barriers of Rural Land Ownership Before jumping to the solution, we must first properly understand the three biggest hurdles standing in the aspiring landowner’s way. agricultural industry. Here are some financial tips to keep in mind when trailblazing your own path to land ownership.

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Trimble Agriculture

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

We’re on a mission to celebrate Rural America—and we’re just getting started. In just half a year, podcast host Pat Spinosa and team collaborated with homegrown stars with rural beginnings across the nation to create nine episodes filled with stories of perseverance, grit, and a bit of anecdotal humor.

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ATTRA

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

Harvest of the Month involves rural food hubs in sourcing supplies of fresh produce from local family farms. The project launched in three facilities with watermelon in July, followed by pluots in August and pears in September.

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Modern Farmer

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

Crombie is optimistic that agroforestry will go a long way in restoring land but also rural communities. Agroforestry is family farming, and agriculture is a family and community-based, hands-on activity. It’s an exciting opportunity to revive our rural communities.”

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Modern Farmer

MAY 7, 2024

[They hear] from Big Ag that these contracts and these growers, they’re building strong rural economies and creating jobs and feeding the world, etc.

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Sustainable Food Trust

NOVEMBER 5, 2024

Some of this is easily quantified: grazing livestock are, for example, an important source of employment in rural areas, providing vital economic opportunities in some of the country’s most fragile communities. ” We know that we can manage our grasslands in a way that works for rural communities and the environment alike.

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