California Ag Network

Tag: American Farmland Trust

  • 2022 California Leopold Conservation Award Finalists Selected

    Two finalists have been selected for the 2022 California Leopold Conservation Award®. Given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, the prestigious award recognizes those who inspire others with their dedication to land, water and wildlife resources in their care.

    In California, Sand County Foundation presents the award with American Farmland Trust, and state partners: Sustainable Conservation and the California Farm Bureau Federation.

    The finalists are:

    • Beretta Family Dairy of Sonoma County. Since the 1960s the Berettas have implemented conservation practices that focus on improving soil health, water quality, reducing groundwater usage, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and protecting the federally recognized endangered species in the Laguna de Santa Rosa Watershed. They recycle their dairy’s wastewater, and have used the City of Santa Rosa’s reclaimed wastewater for irrigation since 1981. Pastures are managed with grazing practices that reduce fire fuels and provide bird and wildlife habitat.
    • Sardella Ranch of Standard in Tuolumne County. Sardella Ranch was Tuolumne County’s first property to be placed in a conservation easement. For decades, Mike and Julie Sardella have rotationally and seasonally grazed beef cattle to prevent erosion and sustain natural regrowth of their grasslands. Wildlife habitat and water quality have benefitted from the Sardella’s efforts to enhance the riparian habitat along a tributary of the Tuolumne River that runs through the ranch. Now retired from cattle ranching, Mike serves on the county’s Resource Conservation District Board.
      Sardella Ranch of Standard in Tuolumne County

      The Leopold Conservation Award will be presented during the California Farm Bureau Federation’s Annual Meeting in December.The award recipient will receive $10,000 and a crystal award.“When it comes to protecting California’s natural resources, landowners are critical because they can implement on-the-ground environmental solutions,” said Ashley Boren, CEO of Sustainable Conservation, which has co-sponsored the award since its launch in California more than a decade ago. “The Sardellas and the Berettas work steadily and creatively to center their conservation ethos in their farming practices. We’re honored to recognize each family’s dedication to exceptional stewardship, and each are deserving of the award.”

      “On behalf of the California Farm Bureau we congratulate this year’s finalists for the Leopold Conservation Award. They are showcasing on a daily basis good environmental stewardship in managing their farm and ranch operations while producing safe, affordable food for Californians and consumers across the globe,” said Jamie Johansson, California Farm Bureau Federation President.

      “As the national sponsor for Sand County Foundation’s Leopold Conservation Award, American Farmland Trust, celebrates the hard work and dedication of the California award finalists,” said John Piotti, American Farmland Trust President and CEO. “At AFT we believe that conservation in agriculture requires a focus on the land, the practices and the people and this award recognizes the integral role of all three.”

      “These award finalists are examples of how Aldo Leopold’s land ethic is alive and well today. Their dedication to conservation shows how individuals can improve the health of the land while producing food and fiber,” said Kevin McAleese, Sand County Foundation President and CEO.

      Earlier this year, farmers, ranchers and foresters were encouraged to apply (or be nominated) for the award. Applications were reviewed by an independent panel of agricultural, forestry, wildlife, academic, and other conservation leaders.

      The first California Leopold Conservation Award recipient, Lange Twins Wine Estates of Lodi, was selected in 2006. Marie and Glenn Nader’s Witcher Creek Ranch in Modoc County received the award in 2021.

      The Leopold Conservation Award in California is made possible thanks to the generous support of American Farmland Trust, Sustainable Conservation, California Farm Bureau Federation, Sand County Foundation The Harvey L. & Maud C. Sorensen Foundation, Farm Credit, The Nature Conservancy in California, McDonald’s, and California LCA recipient alumni.

      In his influential 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac, Leopold called for an ethical relationship between people and the land they own and manage, which he called “an evolutionary possibility and an ecological necessity.”

      Sand County Foundation presents the Leopold Conservation Award to private landowners in 24 states for extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation. For more information, visit www.leopoldconservationaward.org.

  • Smarter Land Use Planning is Urgently Needed to Safeguard California Land That Grows Our Food

    Smart growth and investment in California downtowns and main streets must occur now to secure the land that grows our food, according to American Farmland Trust’s new report Farms Under Threat 2040: Choosing an Abundant Future and the accompanying web mapping tool.

    AFT’s Farms Under Threat research has shown that if current trends continue, by 2040 as many as 797,358 acres of California farmland may be paved over, fragmented, or compromised. That is the equivalent of losing 6,044 farms, $1 billion in farm output and 13,029 jobs based on county averages. Sixty-seven percent of the conversion will occur on the state’s best land. California is the number one state in the nation projected to convert farmland to urban highly dense land. Additionally, by 2040, 298,494 acres of agricultural land will be affected by rising seas, due to climate change. These losses will disproportionately impact the state’s most productive, versatile land, threaten the future for small and peri-urban farms and limit opportunities for new and beginning farmers.

    By choosing FUT’s Better Built Cities scenario instead of Runaway Sprawl, Californians can save 413,200 acres of farmland and ranchland. That is the equivalent of saving 2,805 farms, $545 million in farm output, and 7,124 jobs.

    Three of the top twenty counties nationally in farmland acreage loss are in California, including Riverside, San Bernardino and Fresno.

    In 1882, half of California’s citrus tree crop grew in Riverside, and the development of refrigerated railroad cars and innovative irrigation systems made the city one of the richest in America. Riverside now loses farmland faster than anywhere in California and Riverside County is the fastest in the state and second fastest in nation to lose farmland.

    San Bernardino County is the second fastest in the state, and the #12 fastest in the nation to lose land. The overall value of agriculture in San Bernardino County totaled $420,251,000, according to the 2020 San Bernardino County Crop Production Report. This total represents an increase in value from 2019 of $36,028,000. Agriculture remains a critical component of the local economy.

    Fresno County is the third fastest to lose farmland in the state, and the #17 fastest in the nation. However, this county’s farmland loss may impact the nation’s food supply the most.

    According to the 2020 Fresno County Crop Report: 

      • Fresno County is the number-one agricultural county in the nation. 

      • It is home to 1.88 million acres of the world’s most productive farmland, with agricultural operations covering nearly half of the county’s entire land base of 3.84 million acres.

      • Farmers raise more than 350 different crops, contributing billions of dollars directly to the California economy and supporting 20 percent of all jobs in the Fresno area. Many of the county’s crops are not grown commercially anywhere else in the nation.  

      • Every $1 generated on the farm produces another $3.50 in the local and regional economy.

        The Central Valley of California shows why it is important to address development pressure, water scarcity and agricultural viability in an integrated way. California grows over one-third of the nation’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts, yet it also faces severe water shortages and rapid development. To reduce groundwater use to sustainable levels per California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act regulations, at least four percent (212,000 acres) of San Joaquin Valley cropland could be permanently retired, and 27 percent (1.3 million acres) could be intermittently fallowed.

        AFT supports many legislative initiatives, including AB 2964, a bill that would modernize the California Farmland Conservancy Program (CFCP) by removing barriers to access for farmers and ranchers. Additionally, state funds to protect statewide at-risk farms and implementation of the Better Built Cities model are plausible solutions to California’s farmland loss crisis.

        “We want to find practical solutions and approaches that California communities can use to protect its valuable agricultural land, while promoting smart growth,” said Kara Heckert, AFT Resilience Agriculture West Advisor. “The decisions our communities make now, with respect to housing density and urban growth, will be essential in ensuring we can accommodate additional population increases without compromising more farmland and open space.”

        Register for the July 27, 2022, California webinar here   

    American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.8 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.

  • American Farmland Trust Hires Climate and Soil Health Experts to Increase Research and Impact Capacity

    American Farmland Trust (AFT) expanded its national Farmers Combat Climate Change Initiative team by adding Bonnie Michelle McGill (pictured right), PhD, as Senior Climate and Soil Health Scientist and Rachel Seman-Varner (pictured left), PhD, as Senior Soil Health and Biochar Scientist.

    Through its climate initiative, AFT commits to making U.S. agriculture climate neutral or better by catalyzing wide-spread adoption of diverse regenerative farming practices that rebuild soil health, sequester carbon, and reduce emissions.

    “The additions of McGill and Seman-Varner will increase AFT’s capacity to advance transformational implementation and scaling of high impact opportunities. And we must act now, at scale, to avoid irreversible climate impacts to our human endeavor on this planet,” said  AFT Climate Initiative Director Bianca Moebius-Clune, PhD.  “Expanding the team will leverage AFT’s unique interdisciplinary and holistic approach to agriculture. It will enable us to catalyze more impact-driven research, modeling, decision support tool development and on-the-ground demonstration projects, provide training and mentor more farmers and ranchers, and advance critical policy needs at state and federal levels.”

    Moebius-Clune also noted, “Farmers are at the front lines, facing droughts, floods, erratic temperatures and wildfires. A regenerative transition will be a win-win for farmers, ranchers and society at large. Agriculture has the exciting opportunity to build profitability and resilience to climate change impacts, while simultaneously contributing to solving the climate challenge. Reducing emissions and drawing carbon back down into the soil will build soil function, system stability and food security – the foundation of human life on this planet.”

    As Senior Climate and Soil Health Scientist, McGill will lead climate solutions related program modeling, data analysis and other research efforts, with the  aim to advance climate smart practice adoption and support policy advocacy and communications.

    McGill previously served as a Science Communication Fellow at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Anthropocene Studies Section for the Climate and Rural Systems Partnership, where she co-produced local climate data analyses and communication resources with rural network members, including farmers, in western Pennsylvania. McGill earned a PhD in ecosystem ecology at Michigan State University where she studied the greenhouse gas footprint of an irrigated cropping system. She has also conducted focus groups with corn and soybean farmers in Michigan and Iowa to explore barriers to conservation and inform ecosystem modeling.

    “I want to serve our land and water and their stewards, especially farmers and ranchers, and future generations by helping transition US agriculture from a net source of greenhouse gases to net removal of atmospheric carbon in ways that are equitable and inclusive,” said McGill. “My prior work has focused on conventional row crop systems as they account for a large proportion of US arable land, have some of the greatest environmental impacts, and are systems with some of the greatest opportunities to benefit and contribute to climate solutions, including making individual farms more resilient to climate and economic volatility.  I cannot think of a better organization than AFT for doing relevant, cutting-edge scientific research that supports both farmers on the ground as well as policy making.”

    As Senior Soil Health and Biochar Scientist, Seman-Varner will advance the science and implementation of high-level regenerative soil health management systems and provide technical support for policy advocacy. She will advance AFT’s leadership to integrate and scale up biochar and other innovative, high-potential natural climate solutions into soil health management systems.

    Seman-Varner previously served at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Soil Health Division as National Soil Health Specialist.  At NRCS, Seman-Varner led the public release of the new Soil Carbon Amendment Conservation Practice Standard, developed technical assistance to support biochar and compost applications and collaborated on working groups addressing Climate-smart Agriculture, climate adaptation planning, water quantity and biodiversity. She holds a PhD from Virginia Tech with a focus on agroecology and a dissertation on cover cropping’s role in high-functioning agroecosystems.

    “Complex problems need multifaceted solutions and addressing climate change will require on-the-ground approaches to increase soil carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas emissions across farms, ranches, forests and other managed lands,” said Seman-Varner. “I have a passion for building collaborative and effective partnerships across the scientific community, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, farmers, ranchers and diverse stakeholders to address the critical climate issues we face. Inclusion of diverse perspectives and stakeholders to create solution-driven teams is fundamental to developing innovative solutions to mitigate climate change and build more resilient agroecosystems.”

    AFT’s Farmers Combat Climate Change Initiative seeks to bring everyone to the table – from small to large farmers and ranchers of the nation’s diverse production systems, individuals, researchers, agricultural industry leaders, policymakers, government leaders and society to take bold action to make a difference in our climate future.

    American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.8 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.

  • No Farms No Food History Never More Relevant as Policy Makers Consider 2023 Farm Bill

    No Farms No Food: Uniting Farmers and Environmentalist to Transform Agriculture by Don Stuart, published by Island Press, recounts the history of American Farmland Trust and its success uniting disparate interests to bring about the protection of farmland and ranchland and the conservation of environmental resources on which our food, fuel, feed and fiber production rely—on which society and the planet relies.

    No Farms, No Food takes readers inside the political and policy battles that determine the fate of our nation’s farmland and food system. It also illustrates the tactics needed to unify fractured interest groups for the common good. No Farms, No Food is both an inspiring history of agricultural conservation and a practical guide to creating an effective advocacy organization. This is an essential read for everyone who cares about the future of our food, farms and environment.

    American Farmland Trust was spawned of a time when our nation faced great social, economic and cultural upheaval. Combine inflation, an oil shock that emptied grocery shelves, a wave of environmental regulation, and a farm industry in crisis.

    In the 1980s, national concerns about the environment and urban sprawl, and the prospect of regulatory approaches to addressing these concerns, was met by strong opposition from an already struggling farm community. The farm debt crisis of the 80s drove many farmers out of business. By 1985, only 2.2 percent of the population lived on a farm, down from 30.2 percent in 1920. Farmland values had crashed, and land was being lost to development at the rate of 3 million acres a year. A focus on yield, based on “Get Big or Get Out” policies of the 1970s was driving soil loss, compromising water quality and challenging wildlife and biodiversity.

    A transformational Federal Farm Bill was needed. The Federal Farm Bill is a massive legislative package that governs agricultural and food programs and drives much of agricultural practice and action. It is renewed every five years.

    In those days, between the private, nonprofit environmental groups and the world of groups representing commercial agriculture, collaboration was largely absent. Environmentalists were convinced that the planet was at risk. Farmers were convinced their industry was on the verge of bankruptcy. Neither saw room for compromise.

    American Farmland Trust led a sea change, building a coalition that reshaped the relationship between American agriculture and the broader environment movement.  An early and significant example of that was the introduction of the Conservation Title in the 1985 Farm Bill.

    Back then and to this day, AFT has advocated for policies that bridge the agricultural and environmental gap, leading groups to meet in the middle. These principles, clearly outlined in Chapter 10 of No Farms No Food, include understanding and respecting underlying motives and points of view. The arguments AFT makes to farmers are not the same ones the organization used with environmentalists. The case is presented to each side in a manner that is grounded in that constituency’s values, stated in their language and respectful of their point of view. But both arguments are true. And the goal is the same for both — a better world for farmers and the environment.

    We are again at a precipice. The Farm Bill is up for renewal in 2023. With all the pressures impacting agriculture and our environment, including the changing climate, 2028 will be too late to implement what is now urgent.

    Since early 2020, Americans have witnessed empty grocery store shelves due to disruptions caused by the pandemic. We are experiencing continued supply change disruptions, rising food prices, an oil shock due to the war in Ukraine, the impacts of climate change including droughts, wildfires, derechos and other extreme weather events.

    At the same time, our agricultural base is shrinking. AFT’s 2020 “Farms Under Threat: State of the States” report showed that 2,000 acres a day is being lost or compromised due to ill-planned development. Farmers are on the frontlines and all of us who eat will continue to be impacted if we don’t help drive change.

    Securing our agricultural land and stewarding it well, building soil health, protecting water quantity and quality, wildlife and biodiversity is critical to our survival.

    We must again reshape the Farm Bill to re-incentivize farmland protection and farming practices that foster productivity, profitability and above all a healthy planet where food is abundant and affordable. This will not be easy, requiring all interests to come together including America’s eaters.

    In his foreword to the book, Bill Reilly, former EPA administrator and president of the World Wildlife Fund, who once served as the board chair at American Farmland Trust, wrote: “The current class of climate activists could learn a lesson or two from how AFT has approached his work over the years.”

    The blueprint is contained in No Farms No Food: Uniting Farmers and Environmentalist to Transform Agriculture, now available from Island Press.

    American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.8 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres, and supported thousands of farm families.

  • American Farmland Trust and Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Publish Guide on Virtual Engagement for Women

    American Farmland Trust (AFT) and Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE)  published information, tips and tools for effective engagement for online education, including hybrid settings for farm and ranch women on topics related to farm viability, resilience and conservation in “Reaching Women in Agriculture: A Guide to Virtual Engagement”. The guide was originally developed through a partnership with AFT and the University of Vermont extension and has recently been updated, enhanced and published by SARE earlier in 2022.

    The guide shares that one of the reasons to create women-focused and women-only events, virtual or otherwise, is to establish a comfortable space for women-identifying individuals to find and access resources, information and networking they typically do not have easy access to in the agricultural services world. The goal is to create a safe space for women to learn from each other and gain confidence, rather than excluding men.

    “The guidance in Reaching Women is born out of AFT’s Women for the Land initiative and the Learning Circle model which arose out of early partnerships with the Women Food and Agriculture Network,” said Gabrielle Roesch-McNally, PhD, guide author and AFT Women for the Land Director. “Learning Circles, where women learn from other women in a setting with no visible hierarchy, have proven effective in engaging women landowners and producers in conversations about land management, particularly regarding agricultural best practices for soil health and water quality. The guide provides best practices for conducting this work in a virtual setting.”

    Reaching Women incorporates both the characteristics of high-quality programs for women in agriculture and the emerging best practices for adapting farmer education and networking events to virtual platforms. It shares innovative approaches and lessons learned from AFT efforts and the efforts of our partners to engage women in agriculture under the social distancing requirements associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.  This work will continues be critically important for outreach as we continue to integrate virtual engagement in the work we do even as we move beyond acute impacts associated with the pandemic. Rurality, large geographic expanses, expenses associated with childcare and transportation make virtual options for gathering an ongoing need for engaging women in agriculture.

    The guide brings everything together in profiles of work done by partner organizations in the agricultural and natural resources field including Elizabeth Lillard, Women in Conservation Leadership, National Wildlife Federation • Maggie Norton, Practical Farmers of Iowa • Caitlin Joseph and Ashley Brucker (also authors of this guide), Women for the Land Initiative at American Farmland Trust • Cayla Bendel and Kim Cole, Pheasants Forever • Jean Eells, E Resources Group, LLC • Lisa Kivirist, formerly with In Her Boots, a program of the Midwest Organic Sustainable Education Service • Wren Almitra, Women Food and Agriculture Network and Women, Land and Legacy

    To order: Download or order your free print copy of Reaching Women in Agriculture at https://sare.org/reaching-women or by calling (301) 779-1007.  Reaching Women in Agriculture is available in quantity for free to educators for use in educational workshops, classes or tours.

    For information on AFT’s Women for the Land initiative and the Learning Circle model, click on included links.

    American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.8 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.

    About SARE: The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program is a producer-driven, decentralized competitive grants and education program operating in every state and island protectorate. Funded by the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture, the program is run by four regions hosted by land grant institutions. Since 1988, SARE has funded over 8,000 competitively funded projects to advance agricultural innovation that promotes profitability, stewardship of the land, air and water, and quality of life for farmers, ranchers and their communities. For more information, visit www.sare.org.

  • American Farmland Trust New Farms for a New Generation Director

    American Farmland Trust New York Regional Director Erica Goodman has been named director of the Farms for a New Generation program, where she will play a critical role to usher in a diverse new generation of farmers and ranchers to access land and help to transform agriculture.

    “One of AFT’s priorities is to make sure that farm and ranchland can transition smoothly within families as well as to farmers and ranchers who won’t inherit land,” said Beth Sauerhaft, AFT Vice President of Programs. “With Erica’s vast experience and passion, we are confident that AFT will stay at the forefront of farmer land transition for generations to come.”

    Goodman has served in the roles of AFT New York Deputy Director and then New York Regional Director since December 2017, where she has worked on issues that spanned AFT’s mission, including transition of land as senior farmers retire. As New York Deputy Director, she coordinated the launch of Farmland for a New Generation New York, a partnership between AFT, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and 34 organizations across the state, which helps connect farmers seeking land and landowners looking to stay in farming through centralized resources, trainings and one-one-one support. The program, which evolved from the successful Hudson Valley Farmlink Network, is now considered the top publicly-funded farmlink program in the country with nearly 100 matches across more than 4,000 acres made since 2018.

    “I am humbled and inspired by the work that AFT is leading, along with our partners and the farmers and farmland owners we work with, to ensure that a diverse new generation of farmers and ranchers can enter farming or expand their operations,” said Goodman. “In my own family, I have seen successful farmland and business transition but also witnessed firsthand what happens when the next generation is not poised to take over. At the same time, new and beginning farmers are eager to farm yet face challenges in finding suitable land at prices they can afford. There is tremendous need to bring these forces together as the successful and equitable transition of farmland is critical to supporting a resilient food supply chain and addressing climate change. I look forward to working with my colleagues at AFT and our partners across the country to build opportunities out of these challenges.”

    Goodman transitions into the role by succeeding Julia Freedgood, who after many years of serving in the same role will write a book on policy and planning tools for resilient food systems. Freedgood will continue to advise AFT on several projects, including Farms for a New Generation.

    Farms for a New Generation works across the country to ensure farmers and ranchers have the resources and training to gain access to land, steward it well and succeed in agriculture. Backed by novel research and facilitated through collaboration, AFT is building the knowledge and skills necessary to support farmers and landowners using adaptable approaches to facilitate successful and innovative land transfers.

    “I am excited to lead AFT’s efforts to ensure farming and ranching addresses inequities in land access and remains part of our national fabric for generations to come,” said Goodman.

    American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.8 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.

  • American Farmland Trust Shares Soil Health Economic Calculator with Customized Almond Version

    Today, American Farmland Trust, the organization that for 40 years has been saving the land that sustains us and advancing the principles of regenerative agriculture shares an updated AFT’s Retrospective Soil Health Economic Calculator (R-SHEC) Tool, providing farmers and the conservation community a means of evaluating the return on investment (ROI) of soil health conservation practices with 2020 price and crop data. The previous version of the tool used 2019 information. This updated pricing allows farmers to obtain a more accurate picture of the costs and benefits of their investments in soil health.

    Impacts of climate change on agriculture and the need for farms to become more resilient to extreme weather are more obvious than ever before. In addition, society is asking farmers to improve environmental outcomes of agriculture, including impacts to water quality and wildlife habitat and to sequester carbon in their soils to mitigate climate change.  Soil health practices like cover crops, no-till, nutrient management and conservation crop rotation can help address these challenges. However, despite farmers’ belief in the science underpinning the practices, they are often reluctant to change management techniques without knowing how much the practices will cost and what the financial benefits will be.

    The R-SHEC Tool is part of a comprehensive set of resources available online and free of charge from AFT on the Soil Health Case Study Methods and Took Kit webpage. The methods, tools and training resources provided are those used by AFT in developing case studies featuring soil health successful farmers in its Quantifying the Economic and Environmental Benefits of Soil Health project funded by a USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant. The Tool Kit materials have all been updated for this re-release. The R-SHEC Tool allows evaluation of soil health practices adopted by row crop farmers (corn, soybeans, wheat and hay) for more than four years and within the last 15 years. The tool presents the net economic benefits in a partial budget analysis table and includes an estimate of the ROI in the soil health practices.

    In addition to updating price and cost data in the tool, AFT is releasing a customized almond version to estimate the economic effects of almond-specific soil health practices such as conservation cover, nutrient management, mulching and compost application. AFT believes the Almond R-SHEC Tool is very relevant at this time given the water struggles in California, a key almond producing region and almonds being a high-water use crop.  In 2018, AFT worked with Almond Farmers Tom and Dan Rogers and found they experienced a 25 percent reduction in irrigation water use which they attribute to the increased water holding capacity from the soil health practices used on their farm.

    The next phase of this work, a Predictive Soil Health Economic Calculator (P-SHEC) Tool will enable conservationists to partner with farmers who are “on the fence” about soil health practices to estimate the potential short and long-term economic effects of an investment in practices, hopefully giving the farmers the information they need. This tool will be previewed at the Soil and Water Conservation Society Annual Conference to be held virtually on July 26-28, 2021. Interested parties should sign up for Workshop 2 to learn about P-SHEC. The tool will not be released publicly until the fall.

    “AFT encourages our fellow conservationists to use this suite of resources and the new R-SHEC Tools released today to produce their own case studies demonstrating the economic and environmental benefits of soil health,” said Michelle Perez, AFT Water Director. “Our hope is that farmers who have been considering adopting soil health practices will find the economic evidence quantified for a farmer in their area sufficiently compelling to get them to ‘say yes’ to trying soil health practices themselves.”

    American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.8 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.

  • State Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement Programs Permanently Protect 3.1 Million Acres as of January 2020

    Today, American Farmland Trust‘s Farmland Information Center, released results from its annual “Status of State Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement Programs” summarizing state PACE activity through the end of December 2019. Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement programs use public funds to compensate property owners for keeping their land available for agriculture.

    As of January 2020, thirty states have authorized programs and 29 have funded easement acquisitions. Together they have permanently protected more than 3.1 million acres acquiring upwards of 17,000 agricultural conservation easements since inception. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Massachusetts lead the nation in easements acquired while Colorado, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Vermont stood out for acres protected to date (see maps).

    According to a recent report by AFT, “Farms Under Threat: The States of the States,” 11 million acres of the nation’s farmland and ranchland was lost or fragmented between 2001 and 2016. PACE programs are one of the most effective state policy responses to development. The report’s Agricultural Land Protection Scorecard examined a range of approaches including PACE, to address threats to agricultural land.

    “Since the late 1970s, state PACE programs have invested more than $4.5 billion to save farm and ranch land,” said Jennifer Dempsey, Farmland Information Center director. “This funding has leveraged an additional $3 billion from ACEP-ALE and other federal programs, local governments, land trusts, foundations and individuals.”

    New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Colorado have spent the largest sums to date; Delaware, Maryland, Vermont, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania have contributed the most on a per capita basis.

    In 2019, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas, California, and Maryland led the nation in acres protected during a single year, each saving more than 10,000 acres. Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Ohio acquired the most easements and accounted for 79 percent of the total number of easement acquisitions (see tables). While state spending declined by 13 percent overall, seven states increased dollars spent on PACE in 2019; five states increased their contribution by 23 percent or more over 2018.

    “It’s encouraging to see states like New York and North Carolina devote more to protecting agricultural land,” Dempsey said. “Agricultural land is critical infrastructure for local food production, but states invest less than a penny to save farmland for each dollar spent on highways.”

    She continued, “It is also heartening to identify new programs like Oregon to add to future surveys. The addition of new programs, especially in underserved regions like the Corn Belt, is necessary to double permanently protected farmland by 2040, reduce conversion and prioritize the best land. To reach these goals, states must do more. Currently, for every acre protected by PACE programs, nine were converted to other uses”

    AFT’s Farmland Information Center has been conducting its annual survey of State PACE programs since 1995. Other nationwide surveys conducted by the Farmland Information Center include a survey of local PACE programs, and of land trusts that protect agricultural land. The data collected through these surveys help AFT track the progress of on-the-ground programs working to save our nation’s farmland.

    For more information on Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easements, see the PACE fact sheet and other PACE resources on the Farmland Information Center website. The FIC is a clearinghouse for information about farmland protection and stewardship and is a public/private partnership between the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and American Farmland Trust.

    American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.5 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on a half million additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.

  • American Farmland Trust Shares Tool Kit to Quantify Soil Health Benefits

    Today, American Farmland Trust, the organization that for 40 years has been saving the land that sustains us and advancing the principles of regenerative agriculture has launched online access to the methods, tools, and training resources it used in developing case studies featuring soil health successful farmers in its Quantifying the Economic and Environmental Benefits of Soil Health project funded by a USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant.

    Becoming all the more evident this year, farmers face enormous challenges. Extreme weather, a trade war and pandemic-related market disruptions have made it difficult for many to make a living. In a normal season, farmers work just to maintain yield, keep costs under control and try to improve the profitability of their operations. And, now we are asking farmers to respond to society’s call to improve environmental outcomes like water quality and help to mitigate climate change.  Soil health practices like cover crops, no-till and nutrient management can help address these challenges.  However, despite farmers’ belief in the science underpinning the practices, they are often reluctant to change management techniques without knowing how much the practices will cost and what the financial benefits will be.

    “AFT encourages our fellow conservationists to use this suite of tools and training resources to produce their own case studies demonstrating the economic and environmental benefits of soil health,” said Michelle Perez, AFT water director. “Our hope is that farmers, who have been considering adopting soil health practices, will find the economic evidence quantified for a farmer in their area, sufficiently compelling, to get them to “say yes” to trying the soil health practices.

    Specifically, partners will be able to use  AFT’s Retrospective Soil Health Economic Calculator (R-SHEC) Tool, an 11-tab Excel-spreadsheet tool, to evaluate the costs and benefits of soil health conservation practices including no-till or reduced tillage, cover cropping, nutrient management and conservation crop rotation on row crop farms that have adopted any combination of the practices, ideally for more than four years and within the last 10 years. The tool presents the net economic benefits in a partial budget analysis table and an estimate of the Return on Investment, or ROI, in the soil health practices. The R-SHEC Tool and the case studies that AFT published underwent a review by five NRCS Economists, five NRCS Soil Health Specialists, three university economists, among other experts.

    Materials explain how to use the R-SHEC and how to identify and interview a soil health successful farmer to obtain the data needed to run the tool.  Additional resources are provided to instruct conservationists how to estimate the water quality and climate benefits associated with the already adopted soil health practices using USDA’s Nutrient Tracking Tool and USDA’s COMET-Farm Tool, and then how to assemble all the findings and present them in a compelling two-page case study. A six-part series of training videos provides instructions on each aspect of the process. To access the methods, tools and videos, go to link.

    In spring and summer 2021, AFT will release several new tools:

    • An almond version of the R-SHEC tool that aids estimation of the economic effects of almond-specific soil health practices such as conservation cover, nutrient management, mulching, and compost application.
    • A Predictive Soil Health Economic Calculator (P-SHEC) Tool that will enable conservationists to partner with farmers who are “on the fence” about soil health practices to estimate the potential short-term and long-term economic effects of an investment in practices which will hopefully give the farmers the information they need to overcome their apprehension.
    • An online, user-friendly, web-based version of the R-SHEC Tool.American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.5 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.

  • American Farmland Trust Farmer Relief Fund Awards 1,000 Farmers $1,000

    American Farmland Trust’s Farmer Relief Fund started sending out $1,000 grant checks to 1,000 farmers across the country as Americans witnessed unprecedented disruptions to the food system. A huge thanks goes out to our donors, members and the host of corporate contributors who stepped up when farmers needed it most. The funds are going to help small to mid-size producers that sell direct to consumers, to food services businesses, or to institutions. All funds raised by AFT are being put in the hands of farmers with no restrictions on use, only that they use the money to support modifications to their business model that will get them through until their normal markets return. 

    Direct-to-consumer farmers have been severely impacted by “social distancing” policies and closures that have kept them from selling to their usual customers and necessitated they make dramatic shifts in the way to they do business to stay afloat. With break downs in the broader systems, we’ve seen these farmers step in to bring eggs, milk, meat and fresh produce to consumers.  But their resources are limited, and often small infusions of cash can make a big difference.

    “We are helping in a small way where the need is huge. We believe that farmers who sell direct to consumers were most immediately impacted when the pandemic set it, with no federal safety net in place,” said John Piotti, AFT president and CEO.   “There’s no question that our farmers and ranchers are struggling, no matter what size operation or what they produce. Challenges with transportation, labor shortages and even COVID-19 among the processing workforce has disrupted Americans’ ability to put food on their tables, especially those that have been or are now food insecure.”

    The range of farmers that will be helped by The Fund is diverse, from farmers that sell specialty produce items tailored to restaurants, to farmers that depend on flower sales for weddings or Community Supported Agriculture memberships to sell their vegetables, small grass-fed beef operations that sell to local butcher shops and farmers that market all kinds of products through farm to school programs.

    On March 27, Billy Salmon, owner of Banks Mountain Beef, had 70 brood cows on 450 acres and over a dozen calves on feed that would have been ready for processing in 30–60 days. Billy direct-markets grass-fed, non-GMO-grain-finished beef to restaurants and butcher shops in Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. Billy’s sales dropped to zero with the COVID-19 outbreak. “I don’t do this for the money. I do it for the love of farming. That’s what drives most of us,” said Billy. “But this is a tremendous shock. I certainly appreciated hearing from AFT, who I have been working with to implement regenerative farming practices in my beef operation, about the Farmer Relief Fund.”

    Fourth generation farmers Brent and Nicole Coston are the owners and operators of Bearwallow Valley Farm, located between the Smokey and Blue Ridge mountains. The Costons have focused their production on addressing food insecurity, partnering with housing developments to deliver fresh produce and most recently with a local hospital to provide a discounted CSA box to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients. Their CSA offering is their largest source of income. With the onset of the coronavirus, 75% of their shares got canceled. “We were able to recoup some off that by increasing our presence on social media, but not as much as we expected,” said Nicole. Regardless, she maintains a strong faith that her farm and her family will be able to weather this storm. “I know that someway, somehow my family will get fed and this business will continue.”

    Hilltop Community Farm, owned by Erin Schneider and Rob McClure, derives up to 70% of its income from fruit and flower sales for weddings and restaurants. Vanished event and restaurant sales have compelled McClure and Schneider to narrow their market segment to focus on their neighborhood, connecting with individuals and buying clubs that purchase directly from local farms. “We’re all asking questions about how this will play out, but we think we might as well adapt and experiment!” Schneider said. Hilltop has also been working to expand its online presence to offer the experience of a farm without physically being there.

    Alejandra Rodriquez Boughton’s La Flaca Farm grows herbs, chilis, fine greens and edible flowers selling to restaurants across Austin. With the arrival of the COVID-19 virus, her orders dried up overnight just as she was about to ramp up for spring. To keep going, La Flaca is working to make its products available through direct-to-consumer apps and pivoting their crops to meet the needs of their community. “This summer we’re going to try planting peppers, since they’ll be able to grow in the Texas summer heat and drought,” explained Rodriguez Boughton.

    AFT plans to continue fund raising to meet the urgent need to help farmers and to shore up the local and regional food supply.

    Meanwhile, we ask Congress to move fast to provide federal assistance for farmers and ranchers including implementation of the agricultural support provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act under which the USDA announced that it will provide $16 billion in direct payments to farmers and ranchers plus an additional $3 billion in purchases of agriculture products including meat, dairy and produce.

     In addition, AFT is working with allied organizations and congressional staff to advocate for additional stimulus to producers that would also support improvements in conservation outcomes and protect the land base, which AFT believes will be vulnerable to development as farmers and ranchers face growing uncertainty about the economy and their future in agriculture.

    American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.5 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.