American Farmland Trust (AFT)
Well-managed farmland supports clean water, increases resilience to natural disasters, and helps combat climate change. Yet we are losing millions of acres of farmland to topsoil erosion and development. At the same time, ownership of 40 percent of America’s agricultural land will be in transition within the next 15 years, putting both farmers and the land they steward at risk.
Since 2021, we have served as a learning partner to American Farmland Trust’s Women Veterans for the Land project which creates pathways to improve outreach to and educational opportunities for veteran women in agriculture. The mixed method evaluation is assessing economic, environmental, and social impacts resulting from peer-to-peer Learning Circles, a model where participants receive technical training along with a field tour or demonstration. Prior to initiating the evaluation, we collaborated with the Trust to execute a qualitative needs assessment to learn about veteran women farmers’ and ranchers’ training needs.