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American Farmland Trust



The American Farmland Trust is an organization founded to preserve farmland and ranchland in the US and to promote sustainable agricultural practices.

Farmers and rancher founded the AFT in 1980, partly in response to the 1979 report of the Natural Agricultural Lands Study. The organizations worked to pass states laws and local ordinances intended to enable the preservation of farmland.

Since AFT's founding in 1980 by a group of farmers and citizen concerned about the rapid loss of farmland to development, the organization has helped save millions of acres of farmland from development and led the way for establishing sound environmental practices on millions more.

To protect farmland from development on the local level, AFT creates public and private conservation easement that keep farmland forever farmland. The programs are designed to enable farmers and ranchers to resist constant pressure to sell land for development by compensating them for giving up their rights.

The AFT contends that, as the single largest user of land and water resources in America, farms and ranches can be kept part of the solution to the United States' most critical environmental challenges, including water quality and climate change. The American Farmland Trust feels that addressing unsustainable farm practices, US agriculture can improve degraded waterways and reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions.

As an incentive for farmer and ranchers to adopt certain practices, AFT initiated the Best Management Practices challenge in 1998. The BMP Challenge, pay farmers cash if yield and income are reduced while participating in the BMP Challenge. Unique performance guarantees allow participants to try conservation practices on their own land, observe performance over time in side by side comparisons, and evaluate economic impact, without risk to income due to yield loss.

They also have the America's Favorite Farmers Market Contest, an annual competition that brings national awareness to help preserve America's farmland and the food system they sustain. The contest provides a platform for market mangers to connect with customers, community leaders and local media as well as a way for market customers to show their support for their markets and farmers. The contest runs throughout the summer months and culminates during the National Farmers Market Week in August. The American Farmland Trust website holds a portal for the market customers to vote.

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