Published In
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2024
Subjects
Farm bills -- legislation
Abstract
Next-generation farmers face immense challenges in securing land. In recent years, some state- and federal-level land access policy incentives (LAPIs) have been implemented to address these challenges. In this paper, we assess the Transition Incentives Program (TIP), an initiative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program that is funded by Congressional farm bills. TIP offers landowners two years of financial incentives for leasing or selling to a beginning or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher (categories of farmers defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture). In our study, we characterize TIP participants to understand where and how TIP assists beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. Our findings demonstrate that TIP serves some landowners and next-generation farmers, primarily in the Midwest and Mountain West. We demonstrate a spatial mismatch between where next-generation farmers live and high rates of TIP participation. Variable participation may be due to inconsistent outreach and limits to the program design. We identify key barriers and provide insights to improve TIP and other land access programs for next-generation farmers.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2024 Megan Horst, Julia Valliant, Julia Freedgood
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
DOI
10.5304/jafscd.2024.132.006
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/41357
Citation Details
Horst, M., Valliant, J., & Freedgood, J. (2024). An evaluation of the federal Transition Incentives Program on land access for next-generation farmers. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 13(2), 1-18.