Local Food
New Farmer Initiative


What We Fight For

  1. Increasing family farmers’ access to local food markets, credit, discrimination, and mentoring programs
  2. Raising public awareness of the challenges farmers face across the country
  3. Funding and resources for beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers
  4. A healthy farm-to-school network that mutually benefits local family farmers and students

Barriers to Local Food Marketing

In many regions throughout the country, the demand for local food is far greater than current levels of supply due to the multiple barriers that family farmers face in trying to get their products to markets. At the same time, nearby consumers who want access to affordable, healthy food often rely on large suppliers to meet their food and budget needs.

Aging Farmer Population

America is experiencing a generational gap in the farm population. This means there are more farmers retiring than there are farmers to replace them. With the current US farm population at 1.5% of the total population, we cannot continue to lose farmers if want a supply of sustainable food.

Farm to School

According to the National Farm to School Network, farm to school is broadly defined as: “…a program that connects schools (K-12) and local farms with the objectives of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing agriculture, health and nutrition education opportunities, and supporting local and regional farmers.”