More than 165 food and agriculture organizations call on USDA to unfreeze Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program

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.… Continue reading