Beginner farmers and ranchers (BFRS) struggle to start or take over and then run viable businesses with significant barriers from rising costs of land, housing, health care, childcare, and student…

Beginner farmers and ranchers (BFRS) struggle to start or take over and then run viable businesses with significant barriers from rising costs of land, housing, health care, childcare, and student loan debt. BFRS are increasingly first generation farmers who enter farming without land or the training necessary to be successful. Black, indiginous, people of color (BIPOC), lesbian, BI-sexual, GAY, trans, queer and other underrepresented communities face systemic barriers from institutional discrimination, exclusionary policies, and structural racism. Corporate land ownership and policies favoring non-agricultural investors and large-scale agriculture also challenge economic viability and sustainability of BFR operations. An estimated 10.5 million acres of oregon farmland will change hands in 20 years. Unless we work together more land will be lost to development. Without farmers and ranchers who have the resources and skills for successful enterprises we will lose the foundation of economic strength to support a resilient food chain. Without a diversity of oregon farm operations we will lose choice, quality, and diversity of what we can eat. We need to support our BFRS otherwise we risk reliance on imported food and could easily find ourselves in a position where we are unable to feed our own population. The beginner farmer and rancher (BFR) working group supports training, resources, and facilitated land access. This funding will enable the group to increase coordination to advance collaborative efforts, to build future strategies, obtain additional resources to support unmet needs, avoid duplicative efforts, and to increase diversity of leadership and participation via dedicated advisory committees. We will use funding to support participation by socially disadvantaged farmers in these efforts so that we can best support all BFRS in oregon. We will provide a central location for updated BFR resource information, increase engagement within the BFR community, and strengthen organizational connections to support the viability of BFRS in oregon. These efforts will greatly increase the effectiveness of BFR service providers. We aim to see that BFRS remain farming past the 10 year mark with viable, successful businesses, spread out across the state. This work will help to pave a clear pathway so that all BFRS in oregon are able to access farmland, with the skills and resources required to successfully and sustainably farm. This work is a part of a greater effort to not only see agricultural land remain in food production, but that the land owners represent the racial and gender demographics of oregon at large, and that BIPOC and underserved groups have equal access to land and resources.