Congress aims to assist new farmers with accessing land in OH, nationwide

Mark Richardson

Ohio ranks fourth in the nation for the number of farms, with more than 75,000, and beginning farmers in the Buckeye State and nationwide may soon be getting a boost from Washington.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines beginning farmers as those in business for 10 years or fewer. The bipartisan "New Producer Economic Security Act," recently introduced in Congress, proposes the USDA help new farmers overcome challenges such as securing land, funding operations and accessing markets.

Nicholas Rossi, policy specialist for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, explained the growing pressure to find new farmers.

"The average age of a farmer in the United States is 58 years old, I think a little above 58 years old," Rossi pointed out. "We see in the next couple of years there's going to be one of the largest transfers of agricultural land this country's seen in a long time."

Between 2017 and 2022, Ohio saw very little growth in the amount of available farmland, making it harder for young farmers to get started. The program could fund low- or no-interest loans, land-access grants and community-ownership models such as land trusts and co-ops.

Nationally, the 2022 Census of Agriculture showed beginning farmers make up 30% of the country's more than 3 million producers, an increase from just over 26% in 2017.

The stakes are high when it comes to who gains access to farmland in the years ahead, Rossi emphasized.

"A lot of that land that's transferred is either going to go and just continue to make the biggest farms bigger, or it can go towards this next generation of farmers," Rossi stressed. "We can hope we try and reverse that trend of decreasing amount of family farms in the U.S., and also looking at decreasing the average age of farmers in the United States."

Statistics show states along the East and West coasts had a higher share of farms with beginning producers compared with those in the Midwest. Rossi hopes to see the pilot program become a permanent part of the comprehensive Farm Bill.