America’s irreplaceable farmland grows our food. It also supports a trillion dollar/year agriculture economy. Farmland is the foundation of our rural communities, providing jobs, recreational opportunities, and a deep connection to the land. Farmland nurtures our spirits and souls.
Well-managed farmland supports wildlife and biodiversity, cleans our water, increases resilience to natural disasters like floods and fires, and helps combat climate change. It’s now clear that we can’t realize global climate goals only by reducing emissions, that we also need to retain farmland and actively manage it to draw down carbon from the air.
In all senses of the word, farmland sustains us.
Yet we are losing it at an alarming rate. We have lost millions of acres of farmland to development.
On land that continues to be farmed, we are also losing ground—quite literally. We have lost billions of tons of topsoil.
AFT works to stop the loss of farmland by the acre and by the inch.
We advance farmland protection through agricultural conservation easements, smart growth, and smart tax policies.
We advance farming practices that prevent erosion and rebuild soil health through the use of contour farming, no-till, cover crops, crop rotations, intensive rotational grazing, and precision agriculture. We help existing farmers and ranchers stay in business, and work to attract and support the next generation.