Preserving Agriculture in the Face of Current Federal Challenges

By Lily Verdone, Executive Director

March 11, 2025

We believe in local farmers and ranchers. We believe in the lands they steward and the regional economy they support. We believe in our community.

Successful agriculture requires consistent inputs – of labor, of time, and of capital. Over the past several weeks, an unprecedented number of federal executive orders and other administrative actions have created uncertainty across many sectors. Funding freezes and mass firings of federal employees are already affecting state and local governments, companies, nonprofit organizations, and individuals across the country, and in our own backyard.

The impact on Marin agriculture

These actions impact MALT, our partners, and the hard-working, local ranchers and farmers with whom we collaborate. Examples of this include:

• A $10 million USDA grant awarded to invest in Sonoma and Marin farmers and ranchers to implement climate smart agricultural practices over a five-year period is at risk with no word on whether funding contracts will be honored

• Once reliable matching funds from the Natural Resources Conservation Service to protect at-risk farmland through conservation easements are uncertain

• Harmful enforcement and rumors of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions are creating fear within our immigrant community for members who already experiencing extreme pressure with housing and job security

We know you are committed to conserving natural and working lands, preserving agriculture, and supporting the local family farms and ranches that make this place so special.

Here’s what you can do right now to help:

Contact your elected officials. Reach out to your elected officials at the state and federal levels and express your support for agriculture, the environment, and the values that matter to you. Your voice matters.

Stand with our immigrant community members. Our agriculture community has been built with the labor of immigrants. Stay informed, report ICE activity, ask questions, and defend constitutional rights.

Buy Local. Support farmers in Marin by choosing to buy their products. Explore how you can shop locally to strengthen our community and local economy.

Support the future of agriculture. Donate to MALT so we can continue to protect at-risk farmland, invest in on-the-ground stewardship projects with ranchers and farmers, and strengthen our community.

We will continue to diligently watch what is happening at the federal, state, and local levels and keep you updated on how it impacts our collective work here in Marin to protect farmland and build the future of agriculture.

Despite whatever challenges we face, our mission to permanently protect Marin’s agricultural lands for agricultural use remains unchanged. While we will continue to strategically leverage county and state resources to advance our work, we can’t succeed without supporters like you, people who believe in protecting local agriculture – the food, the people, and this place.

Thank you for believing in agriculture, the environment, and community.