A Coalition Driven Campaign

Target Outcomes

Our current conventional agriculture education and technical assistance systems are not adequately addressing the fact that the average farm in America is losing over 5.8 tons of topsoil per acre per year, facing historic losses from flooding and drought, and adding 4% to farm debt annually. America’s farmers, and the institutions that support them, need urgent access to updated education that promotes resilient, healthy soil and the transition to regenerative agriculture, based on the latest cutting-edge science and context-based principles for climate adaptation. Education, not only for farmers and ranchers, but also for USDA, Technical Service Providers, Extension services, and other educators, and expanded implementation assistance, are critically important tools for regenerating American agriculture. This must include education not only for cropping systems, but also for the regenerative management of pasture and rangeland systems, with an emphasis on the opportunities for the integration of crops and animals. Soil health-focused education is the first essential step in rebuilding the resilience of our family farms, while rebuilding soils, restoring biodiversity, replenishing fresh water sources, and sequestering carbon.

Summary of Policy Requests:

1. Make regenerative agriculture and soil health education and training available to all farmers and ranchers, and provide incentives to encourage farmer engagement.
2. To ensure appropriate support for farmers and ranchers, require relevant USDA staff (prioritizing NRCS, FSA & RMA) to undergo soil health and regenerative agriculture education and training, and make the training available to all Technical Service Providers (TSPs).
3. Expand funding for, access to, and farmer enrollment in, existing USDA working lands conservation programs, and prioritize conservation practices that result in land regeneration, and ensure an emphasis on holistically-managed, pasture-based livestock systems and integrated crop-livestock systems.

Relates to Farm Bill Titles: II (Conservation) and VII (Research, Extension and Related Matters).

Target Outcomes

The widespread adoption of soil health and regenerative agriculture requires that USDA programs provide equal opportunity and access to all producers. Historically underserved producers (BIPOC, tribal, women, beginning, limited resource, and veteran farmers and ranchers) as well as small farms are often likely to use soil health principles in their operations, but face barriers in accessing government programs and support. As a result, historically underserved producers and small operations struggle to access and retain farmland, and have to fight to start out and keep up in the farming business. By removing barriers and improving equitable funding, education, and access to all USDA programs, the Farm Bill can support the rapid adoption of soil health practices on a wide variety of diversified farms and ranches, and prepare USDA to serve the next generation of producers, addressing injustices and advancing both regeneration and equity.

Summary of Policy Requests:

1. Strengthen access and outreach for USDA programs to better serve historically underserved producers and small farms, leading to more equitable access to implement regenerative agricultural practices.
2. Support hiring and training at USDA to ensure that employees who possess adequate/relevant knowledge (including language, cultural understanding, and local context) are readily available to best serve historically underserved producers – particularly field staff and technical assistance providers.

Relates to Farm Bill Titles: II (Conservation) and XII (Miscellaneous)

Target Outcomes

The current lack of access to local processing and markets for producers is preventing a huge opportunity to increase net farm or ranch profitability and keep more food dollars inside local economies. Investing in local and regional access to infrastructure, processing and markets will help regenerative producers make new products available and meet the increasing consumer demand for their products, while reducing foreign supply chain dependence and increasing domestic food supply. Increasing access will allow more farmers to integrate regeneratively managed livestock or specialty crops into their cropping systems (building soil health and reducing reliance on chemical inputs), while improving public health and providing local food security during times of crisis.

Summary of Policy Requests:

1. Invest in local and regional processing and distribution infrastructure (such as meat processing facilities and mills), equipment and training for successful operation. 
2. Remove barriers to participation in local and regional markets by adjusting regulations and providing business and technical assistance to level the field for small and regenerative producers, and small processors.

Relates to Farm Bill Titles: VI (Rural Development) and X (Horticulture)

Target Outcomes

Current federal nutrition programs benefit large producers and corporate retailers over small producers and local markets. By shifting purchasing power to within regional, regenerative systems, nutrition programs can increase access to fresh, healthy, grown-in-America food, while driving larger direct markets for regenerative producers. USDA’s nutrition programs, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), touch the lives of one in four Americans each year and offer a far-reaching tool to ensure equitable access to safe, healthy, and nutritious food for millions of families. The Nutrition Title (IV) receives three quarters of total Farm Bill funding, and thus is a major leverage point for driving regenerative food systems.

Summary of Policy Requests:

1. Improve federal nutrition and food distribution programs to better support local and small-scale producers.
2. Improve access to healthy, local food for food insecure households through federal nutrition programs.

Relates to Farm Bill Title: IV (Nutrition)

Target Outcomes

Secure land access is the number one challenge facing young and aspiring farmers. With as many as 400 million acres of farmland expected to change hands in the coming years, we need to ensure that this land not only remains in production and accessible to small- and medium-scale producers, but that it also supports a regenerative agriculture system. However, record high land prices (more than doubling over the last decade), increasing land consolidation by corporations and foreign-owned investment funds, conversion for development (over 2,000 acres per day), limited access to capital, student debt, and a lack of technical assistance, put land access out of reach for many BIPOC, tribal, women, young, and beginning farmers who plan to farm regeneratively. In addition, farmers and ranchers who rent land (accounting for 40 percent of all working lands) face unique barriers to implementing soil health practices. Key policies can help to increase land access and ownership, support farm viability and keep farmland in production, and facilitate secure land tenure for the next generation of farmers and ranchers to participate in building a resilient agricultural system.

Summary of Policy Requests:

1. Increase land access for producers who are, or are planning to, use regenerative agriculture, especially BIPOC, women, small, and beginning farmers.
2. Keep farmland in production and strengthen succession planning to incentivize regenerative transition.

Relates to Farm Bill Titles: II (Conservation), V (Credit) and XII (Miscellaneous) 

Target Outcomes

The finance and insurance products that farmers rely on have immense potential to support a transition to regenerative agriculture, but current policies have created a system that often undermines, or even actively prevents, common sense soil health practices that reduce risk on farms – resulting in large scale soil loss and land degradation at an enormous cost to US taxpayers. Crop insurance and lending policy must be adjusted to support regenerative agriculture by removing outdated barriers and creating incentives that recognize the risk-reduction benefits of soil health and conservation management practices.

Summary of Policy Requests:

1. Crop Insurance: Remove barriers and expand incentives for producers to adopt risk-reducing soil health/conservation practices and more diversified operations. 
2. Lending: Develop offerings (such as lower rates, loan deferments and flexible terms) that fasttrack and vastly expand the viability of a large-scale transition to regenerative agriculture.

Relates to Farm Bill Titles: V (Credit) and XI (Crop Insurance)  recommendations.