March 11th, 2025
By Lori Sallet
MEDIA ADVISORY
Reporters Invited to Attend Saving America’s Working Lands
A national conference intended to meet growing demand for cutting edge information about protecting and retaining America’s agricultural land
DATE: April 23-25, 2025
VENUE: Fairmont-Dallas Hotel, Dallas, Texas, room block available.
BACKGROUND: America’s farms and ranches are a critical life-support system for our nation and the planet. In recent years, the global food system has been severely disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and severe weather—pushing millions more people into severe hunger. The mounting effects of climate change and the rising global population will make it ever harder to ensure a stable food supply in coming decades. It is urgent to safeguard the land that grows our food.
Every acre counts. Yet, Americans are still paving over agricultural land at a rapid pace. From 2001–2016, our nation lost or compromised 2,000 acres of farmland and ranchland every day.
SAVING AMERICA’S WORKING LANDS, a national conference hosted by American Farmland Trust, focuses on the threatened and irreplaceable land that America relies upon to grow food, fiber and fuel, provide environmental benefits and maintain farm viability and rural vitality.
The conference is intended to meet growing demand for cutting-edge information about protecting and regaining U.S. agricultural land. Over three days, attendees will attend farm field trips, discussion groups and conference sessions that elevate successes and respond to America’s need for approaches to save the land that sustains us. The conference will explore emerging issues and trends explore and elevate new ideas and strategies to save America’s working lands.
Featured Sessions and Speakers:
Plenary session: John Piotti discusses The State of America’s Working Lands.
Agricultural Easements 101: There are a lot of misconceptions about easements. Learn more about agricultural conservation easements—what they permit, what they limit, how they’re valued–and hear directly from two families about their experience conserving their land.
Field Trip #1~ Improving the Resilience of Urban and Small Acreage Farm: Tour the Owenwood Farm and Neighbor Space, a collaborative project to repurpose seven acres within Dallas city limits. Next visit Eden’s CSA Farm thriving on the urban edge despite development pressures from Dallas-Fort Worth.
Field Trip #2 ~ Stewardship in Action — 77 Ranch Tour: Hosted by the Texas Agricultural Land Trust, this exclusive experience takes you to Gary and Sue Price’s renowned 2,500-acre beef cattle operation, 77 Ranch. Enjoy an immersive tour, a delicious lunch, and engaging discussions covering ranch land protection, succession strategies, and quantifying the vital ecosystem services that ranch land provides.
See more on the Saving America’s Working Lands Conference site.
Complimentary tickets available for members of the press, email AFT Media Relations Director, Lori Sallet, lsallet@farmland.org.
Reporters will be introduced to AFT experts and farmers and provided time and space for interviews.
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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 lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.