Breaking Down Next-Generation Barriers

With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.

We all want a nice, warm, fuzzy farm or ranch transition. New legislation aims to discover why that is so hard.

Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Mike Braun (R-IN) introduced new legislation designed to break down barriers to farming and agricultural land ownership. The goal would be to help more Americans pursue farming careers.

The bipartisan Farm Transition Act of 2024 would, for the first time, create a Commission on Farm Transitions to study the issues impacting the transition of agricultural operations to the next generation of farmers and ranchers and make recommendations to address those barriers.

“Farmland is one of our most valuable assets, contributing to local economies, safeguarding our national food security, and putting us on the map with world-class products,” Baldwin says. “Many people interested in a career in agriculture are getting locked out and having to compete with Wall Street investment firms buying up farmland.”

As of 2021, American Farmland Trust says seniors 65 and older owned more than 40 percent of the agricultural land in the U.S.