Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** immigrants and refugees…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** immigrants and refugees (collectively, new americans) have always played a major role in the U.S. Farm economy. Many new americans who aspire to owning and operating farm businesses bring with them a wealth of agrarian expertise and grit to contribute to their food systems, but despite their enormous potential, they face critical barriers to becoming successful. Meanwhile, the US is losing small farmers at a high rate, threatening its food supply and sustainable use of its land and water resources. The international rescue committee (IRC) developed the new roots program in 2006 to enable new american farmers to leverage their existing agricultural skills to become productive agricultural entrepreneurs in the U.S. The gaining ground project will operate in salt lake city, UT, phoenix, AZ, sacramento, CA and charlottesville, VA, to assist 300 economically distressed and underserved agricultural producers new american farmers to become independent agricultural entrepreneurs. As part of the project, new american farmers will receive financial training and opportunities to build agriculture credit and capital to help them participate fully in the US economy and avoid catastrophic circumstances such as predatory lending. Farmers will also receive targeted support in agricultural production and marketing to help their businesses become successful. Part of this assistance will include assistance with outreach to local USDA programs and service providers who themselves are also working to overcome barriers between themselves and these populations that are due to limited literacy, english language skills, or differences in cultural competency. Finally, the project will provide technical support with land access, helping new american farmers to identify land resources, improve their ability to negotiate contracts and access loans, and grow their productivity.through these methods, IRC's gaining ground project will support a vulnerable but hardworking set of farmers to gainthe skills, resources, and market opportunities to expand their farm businesses. In turn, these farmers contribute to improved community nutrition and health by producing and selling culturally relevant and familiar produce sought by local communities, build a more resilient food supply chain by increasing and diversifying the local farmer population, and protect soil and water resources by using organic and regenerative farming methods.