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Recently, 168 organizations and businesses, including the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association Organic Farmers Association (OEFFA) and Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake Counties Farmers Union, sent a letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, urging the full restoration of the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access (ILCMA) Program. This program funds fifty community-based, locally-led projects that directly address the barriers facing young and beginning farmers across the country.
Regardless of geography, or whether they grew up on a farm, finding secure access to farmland is the greatest barrier faced by young, beginning, and aspiring farmers, and the number one reason farmers are leaving agriculture. The ILCMA Program was created to address the land access crisis, and the interrelated challenges of capital and market access.
The letter to Secretary Rollins details the alignment between the purpose of the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program and the administration’s goals to address the aging U.S. agricultural workforce and improve public health.
The new generation of farmers and ranchers, as well as retiring farmers and farmland owners, are depending on ILCMA projects for assistance with farmland down payment costs, low-interest loans to finance farmland purchases, predictable markets for their products, beginning farmer training, farmland succession planning, and more. Most of these crucial projects have been put on hold due to the federal funding freeze.
“OEFFA signed on to the letter supporting the ILCMA program because USDA needs to honor its commitments to farmers and the organizations that support them,” shared Milo Petruziello, policy director for OEFFA. “Just like the many other grant programs that this administration has frozen, altered, or canceled, every one of those ILCMA projects represent an agreement that was made with the USDA in good faith and directly benefits farmers and their communities. Even more troubling is that many of the farmers impacted by this program are beginning farmers who tend to struggle finding affordable land and accessible financing, and usually need a lot of technical assistance and support. The organizations receiving grants like these are often a key source of that support and community for the farmers they serve. OEFFA’s survey of our members showed the pause in USDA contracts has caused widespread uncertainty for the farmers in our network and decreased trust in an agency they should be able to rely on. Regardless of the specific program and its details, no American farmer should have to worry about whether their government will make good on its promises.”
“We were ready for a year of growth and now, with the funding freeze, we are in a year of ‘Let’s hold on to what we have. Over the last 20 years, the nonprofit has trained hundreds of urban farmers in the region how to farm and get their businesses off the ground,” said Brien Darby, Executive Director of Cultivate KC, an ILCMA grantee. “As agricultural land around Kansas City has been swallowed up by development, this grant project is intended to secure farmland for the next generation of farmers in our community, as well as develop sustainable pathways to help beginning farm businesses access the capital they need to succeed. USDA made a commitment to the agricultural community by investing in innovative solutions to some of the industry’s most pressing challenges for beginning farmers. Freezing these funds has undermined trust with the agency, and we urge Secretary Rollins to uphold these contracts to restore faith in the agency’s commitment to the next generation of farmers.”
During her confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, Secretary Rollins stated, “The average age [of a farmer today] is 58 years old. If we really think we’re going to have a sustainable thriving ag community in 20 or 30 or 50 years, after you and I [have probably] gone to meet our maker, then we have to reverse that trend.” Later in the hearing, she stated, “If we hope to revive and restore our rural communities and go back to our family farms, we have to address [the aging agricultural workforce] immediately.”
“We agree with Secretary Rollins that our nation’s aging agricultural workforce puts the security of our farm and food systems at risk, and this threat must be addressed immediately,” stated Amanda Koehler, Land Policy Associate Director for Young Farmers. “The Secretary has an opportunity to meaningfully address this crisis, while improving public health, by ensuring that Land, Capital, and Market Access contracts are fully restored and that the program is protected moving forward.”
