Land Access and Beginning Farmers: New Research

Tweet

Three reports have been released concerning beginning farmers and land access in the northeastern United States

Scenic Hudson released: Securing Fresh, Local Food for New York City and the Hudson Valley: A Foodshed Conservation Plan for the Region. This report offers a strategic approach to conserving agricultural land near New York City.

The Land Access Project Task Force released Farmland Access and Tenure Innovations. It analyzes programs and policies to increase beginning farmers’ access to farmland and identifies strategies to encourage public and private landowners to sell or lease their land to beginning farmers.

The task force also produced Does the Option at Agricultural Value Protect Farmland for Beginning Farmers. OPAV requires that affected land is sold at a price that reflects its agricultural value, rather than a price influenced by non-farming market demand. The study findings show that OPAV is not necessarily ensuring that protected farmland is affordable to all sectors of farmers interested in purchasing it. This has implications for beginning and scaling-up farmers, as well as for the communities interested in sustaining their farm economy into the future.