Mission Area: Promoting Sound Farming Practices
Highfield Hollow Farm
Amanda Lee-Milner grew up on Highfield Hollow Farm, an operation begun by her parents in 1972, where they raised sheep, goats, and honey. Amanda is now the primary operator of the farm, which is situated on 90 acres in Gardners, Pennsylvania. After working with AFT’s Women for the Land team, now, two seasons into the farm transformations, the changes are paying off. Her pastures are greener despite extended periods of low rain. Her hay yields have tripled.
Red Cat Farm
Red Cat Farm is funded through an American Farmland Trust Women for the Land Cohort supported by a Conservation Innovation Grant from Pennsylvania Natural Resources Conservation Service and a Northeast Sustainable Agriculture and Education program grant. Bailey and eight other women farmers in the Susquehanna watershed participated in this year-long cohort, which focused on advancing soil health as part of whole-farm systems.
Farmer-Led Advances in Soil Health
Breaking Down Barriers to Biochar Adoption on Farms from Coast to Coast
There is no one silver bullet for building soil health and adapting to and mitigating climate change, but biochar can be a powerful tool in the Soil Health Toolbox. Biochar is a material added to soil to increase its carbon content and enhance fertility.
Gulf Coast Restoration
American Farmland Trust (AFT), in direct collaboration with USDA – Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), is actively engaged in conducting outreach and education and administering financial and technical assistance for producers in Nueces County, TX, to encourage the adoption of agricultural conservation practices to enhance water quality and restore the beloved Gulf of Mexico.
Rowantree Farm
“Our food is our medicine”. For Rowan, healthy soil is not only making the land and animals healthier, but it also contributes to human health; by nourishing the soil, she can then provide nourishing food to others.
Climate-SMART Crops
AFT is partnering with Truterra of Land ‘O Lakes to catalyze a self-sustaining, market-based network to broaden farmer access, scale up adoption of climate-smart, soil health-promoting practices, and sustainably produce wheat, soy, cotton, and dairy commodities with verified and quantified climate benefits.
Water Resilience
Through on-farm learning events and informational support, this three-year project will build a set of stories, and case studies and support a network for farmers of all sizes and scales around water resilience farming practices.
Climate-Smart Beef
AFT and its 15 partners were recipients of a $30 million Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant as part of the flagship USDA program to reduce emissions in the production of agricultural commodities and create new markets for climate-smart beef.
Iowa Women in Agriculture Advancing Climate Resilience
AFT is helping advance a network of women farmers and landowners across Iowa who are working to adapt to and mitigate climate change-related impacts on their farms.