Opportunities to support beginning farmers and ranchers in the 2023 Farm Bill

Abstract

Beginning farmers and ranchers represent an important segment of U.S. agriculture, yet they face financial challenges relative to more established operations. This article provides an overview of emerging research on the financial performance of beginning farm and ranch operations, with a lens toward implications for the 2023 Farm Bill. First, we use U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Resource Management Survey data to explore descriptive statistics relative to beginning farm and ranch usage of: local food markets, Federal crop insurance, and financing mechanisms. Subsequently, we leverage a farm-level panel dataset from the USDA Census of Agriculture and regression analysis to examine the relationship between key financial metrics and beginning farmer success. Results show: (a) beginning farm performance over time is associated with both increases in scale and productivity, as well as participation in agricultural programs, (b) access to credit is important, and

Sustainable and regenerative agriculture: Tools to address food insecurity and climate change

“…We must listen to farmers about what works best for them, while ensuring that the tools and programs we offer are flexible enough to make room for innovation and new ideas. This means broadening access to programs in the 2023 farm bill and beyond that support both established and new farmers (Jablonski et al 2022), and expanding the scope of existing programs to ensure broadscale participation. By doing so, we can make greater progress toward eliminating structural exclusion that has historically limited the participation of women, Black, Indigenous, and farmers of color in federal agriculture programs (Van Sant et al 2022).…”

The motivations, challenges and needs of small- and medium-scale beginning farmers in the midwestern United States

“…The high capital requirement to start a farm and the limited land available to buy or rent are seen as challenges for beginning farmers across a variety of contexts (Ahearn & Newton, 2009;Calo, 2018;Carlisle et al, 2019;Katchova & Ahearn, 2016). A recent study by Jablonski et al (2022) also reaffirmed that many beginning farmers are constrained by a lack of access to credit and to federally subsidized crop insurance.…”

“…In 2020, the FSA allocated $3.4 billion to beginning farmers through direct and guaranteed total loan assistance (USDA ERS, 2022). These institutional initiatives and efforts have evolved over time to help interested individuals enter agricultural production, improve beginning farmers' access to information and other resources, facilitate collaboration between beginning farmers and other stakeholder groups, and promote environmental sustainability practices among beginning farmers (Niewolny & Lillard, 2010;Jablonski et al, 2022;Suryanata et al, 2021).…”

“…While increasing attention has been given to issues involving beginning farmers among agricultural policymakers and practitioners, preconceptions about this population are varied and shifting (Ahearn, 2011;Iles et al, 2020;Jablonski et al, 2022). There is still much to learn about how these farmers decide to enter the farming business, how they manage their farms, and what barriers and opportunities they face throughout this process, as in-formation about beginning farmers is relatively unknown in comparison to the more established farmer population (Ahearn & Newton, 2009).…”

Beginning farmer status and financial performance differentials

“…Previous research documented that the financial performance of BF and their decisionmaking differ from established farmers (EF). Differences include technology adoption (Detre et al, 2011), farm specialization through value-added activities (Jablonski et al 2022b;Mishra et al, 2009) and participation in direct payment and crop insurance programs (Jablonski et al, 2022a;Kropp and Katchova, 2011). Factors affecting these decisions and farm growth and survival include access to credit and land (Ahearn and Newton, 2009;Key, 2022;Stevens and Wu, 2022), the age distribution of BF (Williamson, 2016), the geographic area of the farm (Hartarska et al, 2022) and producer demographics (Ahrendsen et al, 2022), among other factors.…”