Within the world of an increasingly localized food movement, we are ever more familiar with buying a peck of heirloom apples, serving up a pound of grass-fed beef, decorating with a bouquet of seasonal flowers and adding a pinch or a dash of our local agricultural products to any meal.
A number of groups, including Wholesome
Continue reading Counting on Every Acre
Future Faces of Farming
In 2011, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack called for 100,000 new farmers a year across the nation. In the foodshed surrounding Washington, D.C., a young generation of farmers—a diverse mix including educators, chefs and budding entrepreneurs—is rising to meet this challenge with the goal of strengthening the local farm and
Continue reading Farm and Food News 1/27/12
Farmers embrace conservation tillage
Farmers in the San Joaquin Valley are switching to conservation tillage at a fast pace. This increase in interest comes at a much needed time for farmers and the environment in California’s Central Valley. With a potential for reduced operating costs and improved soil composition, conservation tillage has many benefits.
Minnesota increases water
Continue reading Farm and Food News 1/20/12
Funds Available for Farmland Protection in Maine
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has announced that nearly $1 million will be available this year in Maine for successful applicants for the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection program. The state deadline is March 23 for 2013 funding. For more information on deadlines in other states, visit
Continue reading Farm and Food News 1/13/12
Protect your teeth and save farmland
Tom Chappell of the environmentally conscious, natural body products company Tom’s of Maine has joined the farmland protection movement in a big way. Chappell recently worked with the Maine Farmland Trust to protect 154 acres of his own farmland from development, and he joined the organization’s campaign to protect 100,000
Continue reading Farm and Food News 1/6/12
As another year draws to a close, we are offered the chance to reflect on our many successes across the country in 2011. We have made strides in addressing the great challenges and opportunities facing agriculture through our work to protect farmland from conversion to nonagricultural uses, promote environmentally sound farming practices and keep farmers
Continue reading A Year of Progress for Farms, Food and Farmland
This has been an exceptionally busy year for American Farmland Trust in the Pacific Northwest. It has been a year full of changes: our longtime regional director, Don Stuart, retired at the end of 2010 but has continued to work closely with our office. It has been a year full of building and strengthening
Continue reading Pacific Northwest: A Year of Progress
For many of us, this year will be remembered for its weather. The January blizzard and record winter snowfalls. The mind-boggling flooding that followed Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. The wild Halloween snowstorm and its ensuing power losses. We were reminded that things we take for granted—like the rich productive farmland soils that have
Continue reading New England: A Year of Progress
At year’s end, we often reflect on the many challenges and successes of the past year. In New York, we are thankful for the tremendous impact that farmers, citizens and others have made to support local farming and the production of local food.
Across New York state, a movement is forming. People are coming together who
Continue reading New York: A Year of Progress
Another year has passed, and with it a year of exciting new projects and partnerships to protect the priceless farmland resources of the Midwest. Farmers throughout the region are finding ways to be better stewards of the land, while farmers and citizens alike are fighting for policies and programs that keep farmland in farming even
Continue reading Midwest: A Year of Progress