Farmless Farmer Campaign
Farmers Need Access to Affordable Land, Reliable Water
Help New Farmers Succeed by Creating Protected Agricultural Areas like Bastrop Intervale
The good news is that farmer training programs like Farmshare Austin and Austin Community College’s Sustainable Agriculture Entrepreneurship Program in Elgin are graduating new farmers who know how to grow good, clean, fair food that cares for the Earth and your health. The bad news is that when farmers can not access quality farmland near their customers, they leave Texas. Farmers can’t compete with developers. To ensure a reliable local, regenerative food supply, farmers need protected Agricultural Zones like our proposed Bastrop Intervale. Our Farmless Farmer Campaign below highlights some of our top farmers sharing their concerns.
Local Food Facts
With fewer than 40 certified organic vegetables farms in Texas, our state ranks at the bottom in organic food production.
Metro Austin is losing 16 acres of farmland each day (up from 11 acres just four years ago).
The list of local sustainable, organic farms threatened or no longer in business grows longer each year. East Austin’s Springdale Farm is being replaced by a housing development. Phoenix Farm in Cedar Creek shut down two years ago. And when JBG Organics closed, the largest organic vegetable operation in the state with more than 200 acres in production along the river corridor, stopped providing food to restaurants, schools, hospitals and Austinites. This organic farmland is not protected and will likely go to the highest bidder.
Interview With Steelbow Farm, East Austin
Farmer Jane Taylor Shares Her Farm Search, Bastrop Intervale
Why We Need a Farmless Farmer Campaign