大象传媒

At on Detroit鈥檚 East Side, J酶n Kent and a team of volunteers use cardboard and paper bags to starve invasive weedy plants instead of using herbicides; they plant marigolds and lavender amid squash, melons, and collards instead of using pesticides; and they turn food scraps into lush, clean compost.

Kent and his business partner, Jean Parker, wanted to grow fresh produce for their working-class community, which Kent describes as a 鈥�.鈥� They also wanted to make sure their farming practices didn鈥檛 contribute to the area鈥檚 .

鈥淚n Michigan, we have been left with polluted waters in Black neighborhoods from Benton Harbor to Flint,鈥� he said. So Kent and Parker, who launched Sanctuary Farms in 2020, turned to practices, like alternating flowers with crops to attract pollinators and repel pests, to have a positive impact on the environment.

鈥淭he goal here is to really create a food-sovereign, energy-efficient, zero-waste place, so our community knows it鈥檚 possible to live off the land,鈥� said Kent.

Many young farmers share Kent鈥檚 commitment to sustainability, according to from the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC). In a survey of over 10,000 farmers across the country, 86% of respondents under 40 said they used regenerative farming practices, which the survey defined as 鈥渁n approach to farming and ranching that builds healthy soils and ecosystems, supports climate-resilient farms and communities, and addresses inequity in agriculture.鈥�

Of course, as the survey notes, regenerative farming practices aren鈥檛 new. Indigenous communities鈥攎any of whom were pushed off the land they stewarded for millennia鈥攊nnovated and for thousands of years.

鈥淵oung farmers today find motivation to farm in environmental conservation; anti-racism; and creating healthy, food-secure, and climate-resilient communities,鈥� said Vanessa Garc铆a Polanco, NYFC鈥檚 policy campaign director.

Overhauling the United States鈥� agriculture system will be crucial to meeting its climate goals. Farms cover about of all U.S. land, according to the most recent Census of Agriculture, and agriculture accounts for about of the country鈥檚 greenhouse gas emissions.

Some regenerative farming practices, such as no-till farming, cover cropping, and rotational grazing, can help the U.S. . 

But young farmers鈥攑articularly young farmers of color鈥攏eed more support. 

Fifty-nine percent of respondents said finding affordable land to buy was 鈥渧ery or extremely challenging.鈥� Among those those who identified as Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), that figure was 65%. Respondents also reported difficulty accessing capital, affording health care, and paying off student loans. In all cases, BIPOC respondents reported greater difficulties than their white counterparts. 

These challenges may explain why more young people aren鈥檛 taking up the profession. The average age of a U.S. farmer and is steadily increasing, according to the most recent Census of Agriculture. According to that report, less than 8% of farmers are under age 35.

Kent, 29, spent his early childhood in Detroit. 鈥淢y community is often hit with the reality that the government doesn鈥檛 always come through for us,鈥� said Kent, who is Black. Kent, who only recently paid off his student loans, said accessing capital to finance Sanctuary Farms was a challenge, but added, 鈥淚n spite of our lack of finances, we have faith. We just gotta keep puttin鈥� in that work.鈥�

Climate change poses another challenge. More than 73% of respondents said they experienced at least one 鈥渃limate impact,鈥� in the form of extreme weather, hotter temperatures, or excess precipitation on their farm, in the past year. That figure is up from 66% in 2017, the last time NYFC released a survey.

For some, climate change has wrought devastation.

Carolina Mueller, a farmer from Austin, Texas, and coalition manager with NYFC, said she suffered over $30,000 in losses when a winter storm in February 2021 froze much of the state. 

鈥淲inter Storm Uri last year was incredibly traumatic and damaging,鈥� Mueller said. 鈥淭emperatures plummeted quickly, and we lost a lot of our livestock and produce.鈥� All three members of the Texas NYFC chapter decided to stop farming after Uri.

For those young farmers across the country who continue to farm, there is an increased awareness of the need to adapt to the changing climate, said Debi Kelly, a field specialist and horticulturist with the University of Missouri鈥檚 extension program.

鈥淪ome of those old ways of agriculture can鈥檛 continue anymore,鈥� said Kelly. 鈥淲ith all these weather events and with population growth, we have to learn how to do things a little bit differently.鈥�

Kelly said younger farmers she works with tend to be more willing to take risks and change their practices than older farmers. She said she also noticed younger farmers tend to be more concerned with how their operations affect their surrounding communities. According to the NYFC survey, 83% of young farmers reported that 鈥渙ne of their farm鈥檚 primary purposes for existing is engaging in conservation or regeneration.鈥� 

The NYFC report comes out as lawmakers are debating the 2023 Farm Bill, a massive omnibus bill that goes before Congress roughly every five years and includes farm subsidies, climate resilience initiatives, and food assistance programs.

If the U.S. is to meet by 2030, which requires a reduction of 50% to 52% in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels, Polanco said she believes it will need a transformative farm bill, one that addresses the climate crisis and the rising costs of land. 

Land is climate infrastructure for our young farmers,鈥� Polanco said. But land costs are soaring. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), farmland values , or more than 12%, in 2021. The report, which notes that 鈥渓and ownership is rooted in the dispossession of Indigenous land,鈥� calls on the USDA to support Indigenous communities in securing greater land sovereignty and for the agency to seat the , a body created in 2018 to facilitate coordination between Native groups and the federal government.

Polanco said she鈥檇 like to see a farm bill that invests in community-led projects, prioritizing projects led by and benefiting and economically distressed farmers and ranchers. She said a successful bill would also invest in climate-smart farming adaptations.

These adaptations would look like an expansion of programs, like the USDA鈥檚 recently launched initiative, which supports the production and marketing of climate-smart commodities; increases funding for , and improves access to crop insurance programs. The Inflation Reduction Act, which set aside , presents an important opportunity for young farmers as well.

Getting young, climate-conscious farmers on the land 鈥渋s the best way we can fight climate change,鈥� Polanco said. 鈥淏ut we desperately need climate investments that are part of a safety net for farmers, so they can continue stewarding the land when a disaster strikes.鈥�

This article appeared in  with editing help from 大象传媒 Magazine and was made possible by a grant from the Open Society Foundations.  is an editorially independent, nonprofit news service covering climate change. Follow .