Earlier this month, I spent two days at a Homesteaders of America conference and it was WONDERFUL.
When you gather people who are passionate about raising quality food and saving family farms, there’s an energy in the room that’s indescribable.
Within our sessions about all things farming and homestead, there was one piece that stuck out.
I could feel the entire room almost stop breathing for a second while we absorbed the reality of what this could look like.
In the next 15 years, 50% of America’s farmland will transfer as farmers retire or pass away.
This kind of massive land transfer has never happened in our civilization.
It has never happened unless seized by conquest.
And it has never happened peacefully.
How this might impact family farms, our communities, and our food security, is honestly pretty scary.
Even in rural areas right now, farmers often can’t afford to buy the land. What can be earned from raising crops or livestock on the farm isn't enough to pay the mortgage and taxes anymore.
Millions of acres of farmland are being bought by developers and investors, including foreign investment companies. What they are willing to pay for the land is much higher than farmers can afford. This is causing the price of farmland to rise rapidly.
Unless we find ways to stop it from happening, when half of America's farmland transfers in the next 15 years, much of it will be purchased by people who are not our farmers, neighbors, or people who care anything about the land, our community, or making sure we have enough to eat.
I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers for solving this, but I do know that supporting our local farmers and getting more young people into farming is part of what’s going to keep land in the hands of family farms like ours instead of developers and investors.
If farms like ours are strong and well supported, we can purchase land when property around us comes up for sale, and hopefully our family will be raising food on it for generations.
Lots of demand for locally raised products also opens up opportunities for more families to get started farming and make their living from the land, which will hopefully stay in their family for generations.
I know that buying from local farms isn't always the most convenient or cheapest option, but please know you are making such a huge difference for the farm families you support and you're shaping the future of family farms with every purchase.
Thank you for being part of keeping farmers like us on the land. Thank you for being part of keeping our food supply secure now and in the future. Thank you for believing in what we do and supporting us on this journey!
~ Dana
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