Blog Category: Policy

Policy for new and young farmers

MAR 5, 2025: ONLINE – GROWING KNOWLEDGE & ADAPTATION SUPPORTS

Posted by Melana Roberts on December 20, 2024

CURIOUS ABOUT FARMER MENTORSHIP PROGRAMS? LOOKING FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR YOUR FARM? UNSURE WHERE TO START? JOIN THE CONVERSATION! With approximately ⅔ of new farmers in Canada not coming from family farm backgrounds, many have limited access to inter-generational knowledge. making it tougher to  weather unpredictable weather changes, assess soil conditions, predict market demands and volatility, and adapt. This capacity is essential for new farmers, many of which have limited access to capital and access to land, to stay afloat in a changing agricultural landscape. In this final instalment of the Breaking Barriers: Growing Future Farmers Webinar Series, we will … Continue reading MAR 5, 2025: ONLINE – GROWING KNOWLEDGE & ADAPTATION SUPPORTS →

FEB 12, 2025: ONLINE – ACCESS TO CAPITAL

Posted by Melana Roberts on December 20, 2024

LOOKING FOR OPERATING CAPITAL? WANT TO UNDERSTAND FARM CAPITAL IN CANADA? INTERESTED IN NEW APPROACHES TO ACCESS FUNDING FOR FARMING? In Canada, the agricultural sector is at a crossroads, with new, young, and underrepresented farmers facing significant challenges to accessing the capital needed to succeed. The third installment of the “Breaking Barriers: Growing Future Farmers” webinar series will shine a light on this critical issue, emphasizing the need for comprehensive support to empower the next generation of farmers. At the heart of the struggle for many aspiring farmers is the concept of market failure in Canadian agriculture. This failure manifests … Continue reading FEB 12, 2025: ONLINE – ACCESS TO CAPITAL →

Jan 15, 2025: ONLINE – Farmer Wrap Around Supports

Posted by Melana Roberts on December 20, 2024

NEED MORE SUPPORT? TRYING TO NAVIGATE EVERYDAY CHALLENGES, LIKE ACCESS TO HOUSING, LABOUR, CAPITAL AND LAND? WANT TO KNOW WHAT OTHER FARMERS ARE DOING? JOIN US TO FIND OUT! As the agricultural landscape evolves, so too does the need for innovative responses to support new, young, and underrepresented farmers. This second instalment of the “Breaking Barriers: Growing Future Farmers” series sheds light on the role wrap-around support programs can play to tackle and reduce the challenges new and young farmers face. These complex challenges impact new farmers across the country, and the compounding weight of barriers—access to capital, land, labour … Continue reading Jan 15, 2025: ONLINE – Farmer Wrap Around Supports →

MAR 15-16, 2025: PARHAM, ON – NATIONAL POLICY JAM / JAM POLITIQUE NATIONAL

Posted by Ayla Fenton on December 20, 2024

Policy Jam

[EN; texte français ci-dessous] Calling all new farmers and farm policy nerds! You’re invited to the “Breaking Barriers: Growing Future Farmers” National Policy Jam in eastern Ontario this March 15 and 16, 2025. Join us to connect and mobilize around policy action to support new farmers across Canada. The gathering will be a coast to coast convening of new and young farmers, farmer organizations, farm policy leaders and allies looking to learn, connect and mobilize around better supports for new and young farmers, including access to land, capital, knowledge, and wrap-around supports. About the Policy Jam The Policy Jam will … Continue reading MAR 15-16, 2025: PARHAM, ON – NATIONAL POLICY JAM / JAM POLITIQUE NATIONAL →

NOV 13, 2024: ONLINE – Land Access: Strategies and Stories

Posted by Melana Roberts on October 22, 2024

TROUBLE ACCESSING LAND? CURIOUS ABOUT LAND ACCESS MODELS? If you’re a new farmer and want to learn land access strategies, this webinar is for you! Help grow the national conversation on land access for new farmers! Land access is one of the biggest challenges new and young farmers face. With over 40% of Canadian farmers retiring by 2033 (RBC, 2023), and growing land speculation across the country, stable access to growing space and farmland is increasingly difficult. Many established farmers need to use their farmland to fund retirement, creating further pressure on land prices with a 51% increase over the … Continue reading NOV 13, 2024: ONLINE – Land Access: Strategies and Stories →

Growing the Next Generation of Farmers – Policy Recommendations

Posted by Darcy Smith on August 20, 2021

Young Agrarians launched in 2012 as an educational farmer-to-farmer resource network. Now in year 10, we’ve connected with thousands of farmers across Canada online, at events, through our land access, business development, and apprenticeship programs, and through farmer consultation and advisories. The federal, provincial, and territorial governments fund agriculture through 5-year agreements – many of you will have heard of Growing Forward 1 and 2, and the current funding agreement, the Canadian Agriculture Partnership. Negotiations are currently under way for the Next Policy Framework, which will determine what programs and funding are available to farmers starting in 2023. There is … Continue reading Growing the Next Generation of Farmers – Policy Recommendations →

Young Agrarians

Posted by Sara Dent on September 08, 2014

Article by Courtney White, originally published by A Carbon Pilgrim  | AUG 27, 2014 and adapted from Grass, Soil, Hope: a Journey through Carbon Country. “The agrarian population among us is growing, and by no means is it made up merely of some farmers and some country people. It includes urban gardeners, urban consumers who are buying food from local farmers, organizers of local food economies, consumers who have grown doubtful of the healthfulness, the trustworthiness, and the dependability of the corporate food system – people who understand what it means to be landless.” – Wendell Berry A few years ago, I traveled up New … Continue reading Young Agrarians →

The NFU and The Nouveau Youth of Canadian Agriculture

Posted by Alex on January 08, 2013 1 Comment

A few years ago my partner and I started a small market garden, Wind Whipped Farm, on Southern Vancouver Island. Like many new farmers, we didn’t come from farming backgrounds, didn’t have much money and had only a few years experience working on a farm. Critically, we had support from other farmers in our community who shared their time, knowledge, equipment, and manure.  They helped us get started and encouraged us to keep going.  Our experience made us realize how crucial it is to be part of a community of farmers: to learn from each other, to help each other … Continue reading The NFU and The Nouveau Youth of Canadian Agriculture →

Slow Food Youth Network Terra Madre 2012!

Posted by Sara Dent on November 01, 2012 1 Comment

We’re just back from Slow Food Internationals 2012 Terra Madre event in Turin, Italy. It was an honour to be there as a representative of Young Agrarians- thanks to the fundraising efforts of Slow Food Vancouver and FarmFolk CityFolk. The global youth food movement is doing good things everywhere. It’s amazing to feel part of something bigger focused on ‘good, clean, fair’ foods. We connected with and tasted foods from peoples all over the world. It is impressive the scale at which Slow Food International is networked. I have some prep to do for Food Secure Canada’s conference this weekend. … Continue reading Slow Food Youth Network Terra Madre 2012! →