AFT Announces 40 Regional Navigators to Support Farmland Access and Transition Across New York
(Albany, NY) American Farmland Trust announced 40 new and returning Regional Navigators – organizations that provide direct support to farmers and landowners to connect them with each other and resources to find or keep land in farming for future generations. AFT awarded $380,000 to Regional Navigators this year, for a combined total of over $2 million since the program’s inception in 2018. These state-funded grants add capacity for navigators to work on access and transfer issues, in addition to other education and services provided through these organizations.
One-third of New York’s farmers are currently 65 and older, owning two million acres of farmland at risk of being lost when land ownership changes hands. American Farmland Trust launched the Farmland for a New Generation New York program in response to this mounting crisis in 2018 in partnership with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and a network of Regional Navigators. The program has since facilitated 251 matches of farmers to more than 11,532 acres of farmland.
Farmland for a New Generation New York offers information and services for farmers and landowners, including a website that hosts farmer and farmland profiles, farm job and event listings, training materials, and direct support from American Farmland Trust staff. This statewide program has influenced land access and farm transition initiatives at the national level, including AFT’s Land Transfer Navigator network and the Great Lakes Farm Navigator network.
“American Farmland Trust is excited to announce a new cohort of new and returning Regional Navigators as part of Farmland for a New Generation New York,” said Molly Johnston-Heck, AFT Regional Farmland for a New Generation Senior Manager. “This important partnership with the state of New York supports a network of organizations, or Regional Navigators, working with farmers and farmland owners toward secure farmland access and successful farm transitions across the state. This work remains critical for the future of farmland and the health of our regional food system as farmland continues to be lost to development and prices of farmland continue to rise, making farmland access the biggest barrier for beginning farmers. We are honored to work with this group of organizations working tirelessly to ensure that farmland remains in farming and available for the next generation of farmers.”
“Like American Farmland Trust, CCE Erie recognizes that land is the foundation of our food system,” said Bari Zeiger, Finance Assistant & Agriculture Educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Erie County. “As a Regional Navigator, CCE Erie is part of a statewide network of organizations collaborating to keep land in farming, get more farmers on the land, and cultivate dialogue about sustainable land stewardship. In Erie County, farmland is being developed for residential and commercial use, and farms are consolidating. These trends make it harder for new-entry farmers to find affordable land with secure land tenure, and for retiring farmers to make their land available for future generations. We are grateful that American Farmland Trust guides this network in partnership with the State.”
“Over the course of 25+ years, the Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC) has protected more than 33,000 acres of agricultural and forest land, representing significant conservation achievement and decades of successful partnership, said Serena Orleski, Conservation Easement Program Manager at WAC. “The future of working landscapes depends upon the economic viability of farms and forests and those that steward them, as WAC’s mission has long recognized. Across New York, farmland affordability, an aging farmer demographic, workforce challenges, land fragmentation, and an uptick in non-operating landowners threaten the long-term vitality of working lands. It has become especially evident that while conservation easements remain a critical tool, they are certainly not enough, alone, to ensure protected land remains actively farmed and sustainably managed. WAC is inspired by the recent receipt of the AFT Regional Navigator grant and is eager to commence work on a detailed landowner survey, a critical first step in orchestrating successful and sustainable matches between farmland owners and farmland seekers. Long-term, WAC envisions the survey to spur a permanent emphasis on land access, affordability, and collaboration within its easement program, to better ensure the economic viability of the region’s working landscapes.”
Learn more about Farmland for a New Generation New York and view the full directory of Regional Navigators at www.nyfarmlandfinder.org
###
American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms No Food® message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 8 million acres of agricultural land, advanced environmentally sound farming practices on millions of additional acres, and supported thousands of farm families.
