The Farming is Our Future initiative of the American Farmland Trust will transform agriculture for the next 40 years and beyond by reducing the rate of farmland loss by 75%, decreasing carbon emissions by 650 million metric tons annually and increasing the number of beginning farmers to the highest level in 50 years.
On Aug. 30 at 4 p.m. ET, American Farmland Trust is launching the initiative via a Facebook live stream– where AFT's staff will address some of the major challenges facing our current agricultural system.
Following the live-stream event, AFT will host a Free-Range Conversation on Sept. 1 at 8 p.m. ET that focuses on how AFT is planning to address the challenges of agriculture. AFT staff will discuss solutions centered on the land. AFT’s president John Piotti will be taking questions live on the phone and on Twitter using the #FreeRangeAFT hashtag.
Just as the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare how fragile food and farming systems are, revealing supply chain weaknesses and racial inequities that have been inherent in these systems, we know the impacts of rampant farmland and ranchland loss, climate change, and unjust barriers to farmland and ranchland access will make it impossible to sustain agriculture into the future unless something is done to address them now, Piotti said.
AFT has the tools to protect irreplaceable farmland and ranchland, but the tools need to be applied at a larger scale. With the right support, all farmers and ranchers can overcome barriers to land access and find ways to make a sustainable living stewarding the land.
“For 40 years, American Farmland Trust has led the conservation agriculture movement," Piotti said. "Along the way, we’ve permanently saved 6.5 million acres of farmland. Bridging environmental and agricultural communities, AFT has brought regenerative farming practices to millions more acres of land - all while supporting our nation’s primary conservation stewards: our farmers and ranchers.
“The current pandemic has also shown us glimpses of how great innovation, perseverance and resiliency play out in our food system – and we’ve seen many people appreciate and value the security of good food, farms and the environmental services they provide in a new way," he said. "This is heartening, but we can, and must, do more to meet the existential challenges we’re facing head on.”
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