The Land Access Dilemma How the Hub Can Help
PHOTO CREDIT: EARLY FROST FARMS, EMBARASS, MN
By Bonnie Warndahl Last February I began training as a Farmland Access Navigator—a support program under the umbrella of the Farmland Access Hub. The Hub, by its own definition, is a consortium of partners including non-profits, government agencies, local companies, and private citizens dedicated to assisting beginning farmers with their quest for land tenure. The Farmland Access Hub serves Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, with plans to create partnerships with Illinois and other midwestern states. It is grant funded through the USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) and support from Lakewinds Food Co-op. Farmland Access Navigator is a pretty groovy title if you ask me. It elicits curiosity and respect, though most folks have no idea what a Farmland Access Navigator does… I sure didn’t. Honestly, I’m still not sure I do, 100%. It varies so much from navigator to navigator and client to client. After a year of training and working with clients, there seems to be so much more that I don’t know, than what I do. What I have learned is that the world of land access is very complicated… and in some cases, cruel. In a nutshell, a Farmland Access Navigator works one-on-one with a land-seeking client. Most of these clients are beginning farmers, defined by the USDA as farming for 10 years or less. However,
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many of them are immigrant and BIPOC (Black Indigenous and People of Color) farmers with a great deal of farming experience—they just lack the means to rent or purchase land to run their businesses. Sometimes (most times, for both parties) these reasons are financial. In many cases though, the issue boils down to language barriers and/ or cultural differences. To simplify it, a navigator has three priorities: • Assess a farmer’s financial/ business readiness to achieve tenure; • Provide technical support and mentorship; • Equip farmers with the resources necessary to reach their goals. Pretty simple right? Except it’s not simple at all. Every client is different, with vastly different backgrounds, levels of experience and education, family needs, regional needs, and financial situations. The base goal of a Farmland Access Navigator is to help farmers achieve land tenure. We are here to get… farmers… on… the… land. Sometimes the most helpful action on my part as a navigator is reviewing a business plan for a loan application. Sometimes it’s helping someone write a business plan or connecting a farmer with grant or loan opportunities to advance their business. Sometimes it’s showing up to a meeting with an FSA loan officer to provide professional support and validation. And sometimes it’s as simple as helping someone find a piece of property that fits their
business and family needs. I have multiple clients with 5-10+ years of experience farming and running their own businesses. They qualify for financing through a conventional mortgage or a Farm Service Agency (FSA) loan—they have solid business plans and customer bases—but their pursuit of affordable land close enough to their markets has been hopeless. Some of them have been waiting three years or more, unable to expand production and advance their business, at risk of burning out and giving up. This loosely translates to the loss of even more food and fiber producers. Even more, you say? Are we losing producers? Why are we losing producers? How many have we lost? This part is simple. There is a generational gap in our farm force. In the last few decades kiddos in farm families stopped staying on the family farm. They started opting for the convenience and excitement of city living, pursuing more lucrative white-collar jobs. The remaining producers—the folks that grow our fruits, veggies, and grains; produce our milk, meat, leather, and wool— they’re aging out. Many have retired already, and many more will retire in the next 5-10 years. According to the most recent USDA Census of Agriculture (2017), more than half of current producers in the United States are over the age of 55. That means 50% of our producers are at or near retirement age, whereas the percentage of producers aged 35 or younger remains at 8%. The percentage of incoming farmers versus exiting farmers is disproportionately low. Additionally, many of those retiring producers are also the landholders… and they are generally relying on the sale of their land to fund their retirement. Often, that land goes to the highest bidder. Perhaps you can see where this is going? The rapid and permanent loss of farmland in the United States is arguably the most cataclysmic issue Americans face, yet it remains an imperceivable threat for most.