Women Preserving Farmland for the Future

Presented by the Appalachian Resource Conservation & Development Council, facilitated by Dana Ensor of Grand Oak Farm and Green Earth Connection, and sponsored by the USDA this workshop will equip women land owners with the tools and knowledge they need to preserve their farmland for future generations of farmers.

This course will consist of 3, 4-hour sessions directed by women professionals in the industry and will include lunch for each day. Each participant will receive a toolkit of resources including the University of TN’s Planning Today for Tomorrow Farms – A Workbook for TN Farm Families.

Women in Agriculture

• Nationally, there are 1 million women farm operators and over 500,000 additional women who lease their land to farmers.
• Over the next 20 years, about 240 million acres of farmland is expected to change hands as farmers retire or pass their land on to the next generation.

Farmland Under Threat

• From 2001 through 2016, in the U.S., 11 million acres of farmland was paved over, fragmented, or converted to uses that jeopardize agriculture.(Farms Under Threat – State of the States)
• Tennessee accounted for 659,000 of those acres.

How can we halt the loss of farmland & empower women?

• According to American Farmland Trust and the Women and Food Network, women farmers are committed to conservation and invested in stewardship.
• But, women farmers face gender and age barriers as well as, sometimes, a lack of training and preparation, which affect their ability to maintain their land for long-term sustainability.
• To address these barriers, the ARCD will conduct six courses over the next three years to equip women land owners and farmers to Start the Conversation with local professionals, legal advisors, and their families.

This workshop is inclusive to all individuals who identify as women, and to non-binary folks. NOTE: This workshop is capped at 30 attendees; if registration is full and you would like to be added to the waitlist, please register under the “WAITLIST” ticket. Registering for the waitlist does not guarantee you a spot, but you will be contacted if a spot opens up for you or if we add a second workshop.