Dear John,

In 2024, Farm Aid remains committed to building a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. This will be a critical year to bring change to our farm and food system—change that improves the lives of farmers, ranchers, workers, eaters: all of us. Specifically, our 2024 goals include:

Congress is back in session for the new year with the same challenges they had in December. Namely, a partial government shutdown that's looming for January 20th. They have less than two weeks to pass four appropriations bills. And, unfortunately, as these budget negotiations continue, progress on the next Farm Bill remains stagnant, with a best-case scenario for the bill’s introduction in March.

In March 2023, hundreds of farmers and their allies gathered in Washington, DC, for a three-day mobilization called Farmers for Climate Action: A Rally for Resilience. While there, we got a chance to speak with many farmers from across the country about the climate resilient practices they're putting into place on their farms, the ways in which they're being impacted by climate change, and the kind of support they need to steward their land and mitigate climate change for all of us.

Sophia Buggs of Lady Buggs Farm in Youngstown, Ohio, is one of the farmers we spoke with. Check out this clip, where she explains the basics of agroecology, summing up the practice beautifully: "When you're good to one, you're good to all." We're excited to share these farmer voices with you, and we recorded a lot of them. So stay tuned for more, or take a peak at the entire playlist here.