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Ag groups pushing for more action to expand farmland access for young producers

Some ag groups say more needs to be done to ensure the next generation of U.S. farmers and ranchers have access to prime farmland.

Tristan Quinn-Thibodeau with the National Family Farm Coalition says outside land use pressures continue to drive land values higher.

“There’s been a 40 percent increase over the past five years,” he says. “Corporations and financial corporations buy the very best farmland in the very best farming regions. They pay above market rates, so in that way, they’re really setting the market.”

Vanessa Garcia-Polanco with the National Young Farmers Coalition says long-term policy changes are needed.

“We need to improve competition and the fairness of the competition overall,” she says. “We need to authorize and fund critical programs so that we can actually have mechanisms and allow for community-based solutions to put farmers on the land and to address their land tenure challenges.”

Both say creating meaningful solutions could help create new pathways for new and beginning farmers to establish their operations for years to come.

More than 80 state and national ag groups are asking the U.S. House to consider the Farmland for Farmers Act to help address some of these land access challenges.

Quinn-Thibodeau and Garcia-Polanco made their comments during a recent call with reporters.