AFT's Leadership

Protecting farms and farmland for our future

Connecting communities to fresh, local food

Working on the ground for change

Planning for agriculture and local food systems

Improving food, farm and land use policies

At farmers’ markets, restaurants, grocery stores, school cafeterias and food pantries across America, people are searching for healthy food that’s grown on nearby farms.  Meeting this demand will take more farms, more famers and more farmland growing local food. We're helping build sustainable food and farming systems to make fresh food from local farms a reality for everyone.

Food in the Path of Development, Market Value of U.S.
Food Production in Urban Influenced Counties

Market value of agricultural products by county supplied by USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service from the 2007 Census of Agriculture. Urban influenced counties are those assigned a 2003 urban influence code of 1, 2 ,3, 4 or 5 by the USDA Economic Research Service.

Learn About the Issues 

• Without local farmland, it's not local food
  Farmers are striving to deliver fresh food directly to consumers, retailers and restaurants within their local foodshed
• What's happening to our farms?
  Every day we're losing urban-edge farmland where most of our fruit and vegetables are grown
• Dig deep into farmland protection
  Visit our Farmland Information Center to learn more about techniques for protecting local farmland
• Local food and farm lingo
  A glossary of local food terms that let you talk the talk
• Local food by the numbers
  Get the facts on farms and buying local
• Food: a frequent flyer (pdf)
  Our food is traveling further than ever from farms to our plates—how about 2,200 miles for strawberry yogurt?
• A warming world and our food supply
  A look at agriculture production in 2080

More About Local Farms and Food Issues

Local Farms and Food Heroes

Nash Huber: A Farmer on a Mission

Washington state's Nash Huber has created a training ground for future farmers who are growing healthy food, supporting their local economy, protecting farmland and the environment, and providing safe habitat for salmon. Read more

Discover More Local Farms and Food Heroes