The Hidden Work of Keeping Farmland in Farming

There are about 2 million farms in the United States. Every year, a significant number of the farmers running them are approaching retirement age with no clear plan for what happens to their land when they're done. Farmland doesn't just disappear when a farmer retires. It gets sold, subdivided, converted, or absorbed into larger operations. And in a lot of cases, that means the end of a working farm, a community food source, and sometimes four generations of family work.

In this episode, Dana sits down with Molly Johnston Heck and Olivia Fuller from American Farmland Trust's Farmland for a New Generation program, a New York State initiative that connects retiring farmers with the next generation of land stewards.

Olivia isn't just a program staffer. She's a fourth-generation farmer who used AFT's own tools to navigate her family's transition out of dairy and into direct-to-consumer beef, pork, and sheep. She knows this story from the inside.

They cover:

• What conservation easements actually do (and what they don't)
• The Farmland Protection Implementation Program and how it puts real money in a farmer's hands
• Preemptive purchase rights and why they matter in high-pressure real estate markets like the Hudson Valley
• The land-linking platform connecting farmers who have land with farmers who need it
• Why a "bad match avoided" counts as a success
• The invisible crisis of farm transitions that wait until there's a foreclosure to begin
• The role of navigators, mediators, and social workers in the hardest conversations farm families face

This episode is a companion to a fuller story Dana is building. If you're a farmer thinking about what comes next, or a landowner who wants to see your land stay in production, this conversation is for you.

Resources mentioned:

• Farmland for a New Generation: farmlandforanewgeneration.org
• American Farmland Trust: farmland.org
• NY Farmland Protection Implementation Program (FPIG)
• Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) – federal
• Farm Net (New York farm counseling and financial support)
• New York State Agricultural Mediation Program
• AFT's current advocacy action alert (linked at farmland.org)

Production credits: Co-produced by Sonia Dhillon with sound design and original music by Russell Chapa.

Your Support for the Show Matters

1️⃣ Become an OBIE Insider

Stay connected, get behind-the-scenes updates, and explore more ways to eat and drink like it matters. Sign up here.

2️⃣ Leave a 5-star rating and written review

Written reviews on Apple Podcasts help more people like you find these conversations. But if that's not your thing, you can leave one here.

3️⃣ Share the episode

Screenshot it, share it, and tag @xoxofarmgirl on IG. Use #OneBiteIsEverything