The Farms for a New Generation program provides training, resources, and support to new farmers and historically underserved farmers and allows them to succeed in the nation’s leading agricultural state.

The Future of Farming

Our nation is at a crossroads. One-third of farmers are older than 65 and 40% of the land is expected to change hands in the next 15 years.

California agriculture is a $54 billion dollar industry, and the state’s patchwork of 76,400 farms and ranches produce more than 400 commodities, including more than a third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts. Many of these foods are only grown in California.

But like the rest of the nation, the future of California agriculture will require a new generation of diverse farmers. These new farmers will need greater access to quality land, culturally relevant technical assistance, and enhanced access to government programs and resources.

Supporting a New Generation

Our multilingual and culturally competent staff works with partners to ensure farmers have the support they need—from technical assistance to policy development:

• Through workshops, field days, in-person and virtual gatherings, and radio shows, we ensure diverse and often unreached farming communities have access to the knowledge they need to be successful.
• We provide technical assistance to new and historically underserved farmers and partner with organizations across California to ensure farmers understand the technical and financial services available to them.
• Land Access. We connect farmers with the resources they need to be able to secure land. Our training program helps agricultural service providers guide beginning farmers and ranchers in making smart land access decisions.

Did You Know?

• 27% of current principal operators in California are beginning farmers—farmers with less than 10 years of experience managing their current operation.
• Nearly 300 million acres of agricultural land could change hands in the next 20 years. This amounts to one third of the land in farms in the contiguous U.S. Underserved farmers represent an important resource for this agricultural land transition.
• In the last agricultural census, young and beginning producers in California tended to be slightly more racially diverse than the state’s producer population as a whole.
• Data show farmers of color tend to own less land, make less money, and receive less government support than their white counterparts.
• More than 14,000 farmers and 83% of farmworkers are Latino, yet only 3% own farms in California.