History
Farmers and ranchers founded the AFT in 1980, partly in response to the 1979 report of the National Agricultural Lands Study, titled Where Have the Farm Lands Gone? The organization has worked to pass state laws and local ordinances intended to enable the preservation of farmland.
Since AFT’s founding in 1980 by a group of farmers and citizens 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.
- 1979: The National Agricultural Lands Study releases the report Where Have the Farm Lands Gone?
- 1980: A group of farmers and conservationists concerned about farmland loss found AFT
- 1981: Passage of the federal Farmland Protection Policy Act in the 1981 Farm Bill
- 1982: Four states have authorized Purchase of Development Rights/Purchase Agricultural Conservation Easements (PDR/PACE) programs
- 1985: AFT publishes Soil Conservation in America: What Do We Have to Lose?, which leads to the creation of the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in the 1985 Farm Bill
- 1987: AFT publishes the first Farming on the Edge report, which analyzes the impact of suburban sprawl on farming
- 1988: With help from AFT, Pennsylvania enacts its state PDR program
- 1991: AFT holds its first national conference on farmland protection
- 1992: AFT opens its Center for Agriculture in the Environment (CAE) in partnership with Northern Illinois University to undertake research on land use and environmental subjects
- 1994: AFT creates the Farmland Information Center (FIC)
- 1996: Creation of a national farmland protection program in the 1996 Farm Bill
- 1997: The publication of Saving American Farmland: What Works, AFT’s comprehensive guidebook for farmland protection
- 1997: AFT awards the first Steward of the Land Award in honor of founder Peggy Rockefeller
- 2002: The federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program receives $600 million in funding in the 2002 Farm Bill
- 2005: Twenty-seven states and more than 50 local governments have authorized PDR/PACE programs
- 2008: Long-time AFT president Ralph Grossi retires; Jon Scholl becomes president of AFT.
- 2008: AFT begins work with partners in developing a unique water quality trading market for agriculture to improve water quality and help sequester carbon in the Sauk River watershed in Minnesota
- 2009: AFT releases the study, Think Globally, Eat Locally: San Francisco Foodshed Assessment and launches Growing Local, a new initiative to promote agriculture’s role in local and regional food systems.
- 2009: The report, Sustaining Agriculture in Urbanizing Counties, is released.
- 2010: American Farmland Trust celebrates its 30th anniversary.
- 2010: AFT promotes the idea of a statewide strategic plan for agriculture in the Golden State, titled California Agricultural Vision, and facilitates the process for the State Board of Food and Agriculture.
- 2010: AFT holds its first No Farms No Food® Rally in New York.
Read more about this topic: American Farmland Trust
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