We are excited to share our new report, Land Policy: Towards a More Equitable Farming Future, and accompanying land policy website.

Many of the farmers in our network report that 2020 has been the hardest season of their careers. This year has also highlighted the critically important role that young farmers and ranchers play in stewarding natural resources, advocating for policy change, and supporting food security. Yet, access to affordable, quality farmland—the key resource that these growers need—remains deeply inequitable and out of reach for many.

The challenges are real: access to farmland is the number one barrier facing aspiring farmers today, and this barrier is even higher for farmers of color. Land ownership is rooted in the dispossession of Indigenous land and centuries of stolen labor from people of color, sanctioned through policy, while the contributions to agriculture from these communities have largely gone unacknowledged. As a result, land ownership in the U.S. is vastly unequal—98% of all farmland is owned by white landowners and 95% of farmers are white. At the same time, the cost of land is rising, the climate crisis threatens farm viability, land continues to be developed at an alarming rate, and the agricultural land that remains is increasingly owned by non-farmers.

Read more from Holly Rippon-Butler, Land Campaign Director, here.