American Farmland Trust

As the U.S. loses 2,000 acres of farmland a day to uses that jeopardize farming, it’s more important than ever to support our local farmers, ranchers, and food producers, so we can keep farmers farming. Farmers, market staff, and other experts share why farmers markets are essential parts of America’s food systems in a new Edible Communities story.  🖋 https://bit.ly/461kleY

When agriculture and solar energy generation can thrive together, the future is bright! ☀ Last week, we served as the Title Sponsor of the 2024 Solar Farm Summit, the preeminent gathering of agrivoltaic experts, advocates, and developers. Our goal? To get as many farmers in the room as possible to learn about opportunities created by farming, ranching, or grazing within solar arrays. Thank you to Dan French, Katie Meyer, and the entire SFS team for organizing an outstanding, inspirational event. Sharing only a few shots of our AFT colleagues in action last week! Learn about our Smart Solar℠ work: https://lnkd.in/e7NfkT38. #SFS24 #SolarFarmSummit #SmartSolar

We must plan for more resilient food systems. But how? A new book by American Farmland Trust’s Julia Freedgood, “Planning Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems: From Soil to Soil” aims to inform planning practices and follow-up actions for a wide range of audiences working to strengthen America’s food and farming systems. Where most food systems planning focuses on urban issues, this book takes a holistic view to include rural communities and production agriculture whose stewardship of the earth is so critical to public and environmental health, as well as to ensure a varied and abundant food supply. 📖 Preorder now: https://bit.ly/3Ya5Tzk

During childhood, AFT staff member Annalise’s family would pack up on Saturday mornings before the sun rose and head down to the farmers market to sell Mom’s vegetables grown in their Kansas City backyard. “I wasn’t aware that the choices my parents made would set me on a never-ending journey of food exploration in my personal and professional life,” she shares. “They sparked a passion that has morphed and grown over the years, from Kansas City farmers markets to regional food systems and beyond Kansas City to the whole Midwest." 👩🌾 🥕 Read her story: https://bit.ly/4cBxr54.

Nestled among scenic vistas, mountains and rivers in southern Wyoming is Cottonwood Pasture, a 3,000-acre tract of land recently permanently protected by American Farmland Trust. The land is part of family-owned Ladder Ranch, where cattle, horses, sheep, avian, and terrestrial wildlife including species of special concern – call home. 🌄    To protect the land, AFT purchased an agricultural conservation easement with funds provided by the USDA NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) and the State of Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust. The easement prevents further development on the land and encourages healthy habitat and grassland management planning, adding to the good stewardship the O’Toole family already practices. AFT is honored to have partnered with the O’Tooles and Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts' Little Snake River Conservation District to protect this valuable land for generations to come!

Support your favorite farmers market and help bring them national recognition by voting now in American Farmland Trust's summer competition! https://lnkd.in/eimhiZ9A

Our Midwest Program Manager, Julie popped up recently at the Kankakee Farmers Market in Illinois for America's Farmers Market Celebration™. Here's what she had to say! "Had a great Saturday morning at the Kankakee Farmers Market! My #1 Farmers Market. Many terrific farm families are working hard to feed our community. I enjoyed talking to everyone who stopped by the booth to vote for the market, raise awareness of farms under threat in Illinois, and the important work American Farmland Trust does to save the land that sustains us." Celebrate farmers markets with us! There's still time to vote for YOUR favorite farmers market in America at https://bit.ly/4e06skJ! Vote by 7/31.

With climate change intensifying every year, the costs and benefits of adopting soil health management systems are likely to change with time. However, field trials of soil health management systems from the recent past are unable to demonstrate how crops and practices will perform in the future climate. So, AFT partnered with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Regrow Ag to use a computer-based model to simulate cropping systems with and without soil health management systems from 2022 to 2072 using climate projections. The group also used satellite imagery to explore how common soil health practices are in New York and Illinois cropping systems and how quickly they are changing over time. Find out what we learned in our Resilience Reports: Illinois corn and soybeans, western New York forage crops, California almonds, and California wine grapes ➡ https://bit.ly/3WrhI37.

We are thrilled to welcome Susan Payne as Senior Farmland Viability Advisor, where she will help advance AFT’s work in farmland protection, farmland access, farm viability, and other issues, by supporting existing initiatives, including new farmland protection demonstration projects, and identifying opportunities for greater integration of AFT programs in these areas.

Join us on 7/10 for training on the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF)! This presentation marks the 15th event in our monthly Outcomes Estimation Tools Training Webinar series and will be presented by:   -Anne Nardi (Communications Manager of the Conservation Professional Training Program (CPTP) and North Central Region Water Network, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Extension) -Dr. Haleigh Summers (Agricultural Geospatial Data Scientist with the Sand County Foundation), and   -Gregg Hadish (State GIS Specialist with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service for Iowa) ACPF is a framework for agricultural watershed management to identify site-specific opportunities where conservation practices can be prioritized across small (HUC12) watersheds. ACPF is supported by high-resolution data and an ArcGIS toolbox. The framework is used in conjunction with local knowledge of water and soil resource concerns, landscape features, and producer conservation preferences to provide a better understanding of the options available in developing a watershed conservation plan.  Register: https://bit.ly/3MZQ5K8.