AFT success stories are born from our commitment to support healthy farms, healthy food and healthy communities—now and for the future. Here are just a few:

Combating Climate Change
Farms and ranches have a major role to play in helping the United States fight climate change—whether by reducing their own greenhouse gases or by making changes that offset the greenhouse gas emissions of other industries. AFT’s research helped inform the Presidential Climate Action Plan, a detailed menu of recommendations to help the next president of the United States provide effective federal leadership on climate change.

Protecting Endangered Watersheds Like the Chesapeake Bay
An AFT pilot project is helping to reduce farm nutrient run-off into the Chesapeake Bay. Participating farmers in the Lower Juniata River and the Lower Susquehanna River watersheds are adopting new practices to reduce fertilizer applications up to 15 percent below current recommendations, knowing they will be protected from financial loss. The program is a model for how Chesapeake Bay watershed farmers can help protect this important environmental resource.

Helping Farmers Reduce Pesticides
AFT's joint work on an Integrated Pest Management program with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has helped to reduce pesticide use by more than two million pounds to date. AFT has fine-tuned IPM programs for fruit growers, provided more tools for farmers trying to grow organic potatoes and pears and supported efforts to certify and reward fruit and vegetable growers who “grow greener.”

Supporting Local Food Through Innovative Initiatives
Fresh Connecticut farm products just became easier to locate thanks to a new Web site launched in Connecticut by AFT and our partners. The statewide “buy local” Web site, www.buyctgrown.com, has an easy-to-use address finder to connect consumers with farm stands, farmers’ markets, restaurants, catering, you-pick farms, and other sources of locally grown food.

Transforming Federal Farm Policy
AFT proposals for a more equitable safety net for farmers in the 2008 Farm Bill helped to shape the new Average Crop Revenue (ACR) program, which could fundamentally transform the way subsidy programs operate. Because it is based on market signals rather than politically set targets, the program makes the system do what it was meant to do—help farmers when they need it and avoid payments when they do not.

Saving Critical Farmland Around the Country
Texas landowners gained a new tool in the fight against development this year with the formation of the Texas Agricultural Land Trust. AFT worked to establish this new organization modeled after agricultural land trusts in Colorado, Wyoming and California. The new land trust will help Texas farmers and ranchers to conserve their productive working lands, while augmenting public and private efforts across the state to stem the loss of rural lands.