There aren't enough young farmers. Congress is looking to change that

There aren't enough young farmers. Enlarge this image toggle caption Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images "During the pandemic, when food access was tight, people were like, 'We want to buy local food. Enlarge this image toggle caption David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images "What's happened time and time again over the last several farm bills is everyone goes in with being one of their priorities, but somehow it falls off the list as the farm bill gets created," said Rob Larew, president of the National Farmers Union, during a panel at the Minnesota Farmfest. Groups like the National Young Farmers Coalition are pushing for lawmakers to address land access and barriers to USDA programs in the upcoming farm bill. "We're at this moment now where young people are in crisis in terms of land access, and we need our federal government to act," said Rippon-Butler of the National Young Farmers Coalition, "and we need equity to be at the center of that so that we are creating policies that really center young farmers and ranchers of color and lifts up our whole next generation of young farmers as a whole."