Who Gets to Farm America Tomorrow?

When We Train the Next Generation for Agriculture, We Must Also Make Sure They Have Somewhere to Farm.

I woke up this morning and read an article about Riverview's effort to cultivate the next generation of dairy leaders.

And honestly, my heart broke.

Not because young people are being trained in agriculture.

We desperately need agricultural education.

Not because internships are bad.

They aren't.

Not because large farms have no place in American agriculture.

They do.

My heart broke because I couldn't stop thinking about a much bigger question:

Who is preparing the next generation of Americans to actually own the land they farm?

That is the question we need to start asking.

And we need to ask it loudly.

The article that stopped me in my tracks

Riverview, LLP describes itself as a family- and employee-owned agricultural business whose primary focus is dairy farming, along with beef cattle and a growing milk-processing operation. Its internship program offers young people paid, hands-on experience across dairy production, beef systems, agribusiness finance, operations and maintenance, permitting and compliance, veterinary work, and other areas. Riverview says these internships provide skills it looks for in future employees and opportunities to explore career paths within a growing agribusiness.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that.

In fact, there is something admirable about investing in the next generation.

But it forced me to confront something that has bothered me for a long time:

America is very good at preparing people to work in agriculture.

We are not nearly as good at ensuring that they can own agriculture.

And those are not the same thing.

The land question

According to USDA's Economic Research Service, the aging farm population, increasing concentration of farmland ownership, and competition for land from urban and environmental uses can create serious barriers for beginning farmers trying to enter agriculture or expand their operations. USDA specifically identifies limited financial resources and other constraints on buying or accessing farmland as challenges for beginning producers.

That matters.

Because we can tell a young person:

Go to college.

Study agriculture.

Get an internship.

Learn dairy science.

Learn agribusiness.

Learn precision agriculture.

Learn farm management.

Become a leader.

But then what?

Where is the farm?

Where is the affordable acreage?

Where is the capital?

Where is the pathway to ownership?

Where is the opportunity to build something that can actually belong to that person and eventually be passed to the next generation?

That is the part of the American agricultural dream we cannot afford to lose.

America still has family farms—but scale is changing the landscape

The picture is more complicated than simply saying “corporations are taking over.”

USDA's latest data show that family farms still dominate American agriculture. In 2024, family farms represented approximately 97% of U.S. farms, 91% of agricultural land operated, and 85% of total production value.

But look deeper.

Small family farms accounted for about 86% of all farms, yet they operated only about 40% of U.S. agricultural land and generated about 17% of production value.

Meanwhile, large-scale family farms represented only about 5% of farms, but operated roughly 33% of agricultural land and generated about 50% of production value.

That distinction matters enormously.

Because agricultural consolidation does not require every farm to become a corporation.

Concentration can occur within family-owned agriculture too.

The question isn't simply:

“Is it a family farm?”

The question is:

“How concentrated is agricultural land, production, capital, infrastructure, and market power becoming?”

And what does that concentration mean for the person who wants to start farming today?

The Riverview expansion illustrates why this conversation matters

Riverview is currently seeking to expand its West River Dairy near Morris, Minnesota, from 7,855 cows to 18,855 cows.

The resulting facility would contain approximately 26,397 animal units and would become the largest dairy operation in Minnesota if approved as proposed. The project also calls for approximately 13,200 acres of land for manure application.

This is not a small change.

It is a massive agricultural project.

And that is precisely why the environmental-review decision deserves public attention.

On June 22, 2026, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency announced that it would not require a full Environmental Impact Statement for the expansion. MPCA explained that it had completed an Environmental Assessment Worksheet and concluded that the project's greatest concerns could be mitigated through required water-appropriation and feedlot permits.

To be clear:

An EIS was not required.

That does not mean there was no environmental review.

There was an Environmental Assessment Worksheet, public comments, a public meeting, and permitting processes.

But an EIS is a more comprehensive examination that can evaluate environmental consequences, alternatives, and mitigation measures in greater depth. The Minnesota Farmers Union argued that the unprecedented scale warranted that fuller examination.

More than 400 people attended the April public meeting, according to Riverview's own account, and the state received substantial public comment during the review process.

This is exactly the kind of moment when Americans should be paying attention.

Not because every large farm is automatically bad.

But because when agricultural operations reach unprecedented scales, the public deserves to ask unprecedented questions.

What happens to the watershed?

Large livestock operations have real environmental considerations.

The EPA recognizes that concentrated animal feeding operations can create risks to water quality and regulates qualifying CAFOs under the Clean Water Act's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System framework. EPA specifically identifies manure management and nutrient management as important components of CAFO regulation.

This is not an argument against livestock.

It is an argument for accountability.

Water doesn't care who owns the farm.

A watershed does not recognize a corporate logo, an LLC, a family name, or a political party.

If nutrients, pathogens, sediment, or other pollutants enter a water system, the people downstream experience the consequences.

And that means environmental review and enforcement cannot become secondary considerations simply because a project promises jobs, economic activity, or increased agricultural production.

We should be capable of doing both:

Producing food and protecting the resources that make future food production possible.

And then there is the part that really hurts

Riverview is investing in the next generation.

They are teaching young people.

They are providing internships.

They are developing leaders.

They are creating career pathways.

Again, there is nothing wrong with that.

But I want America to ask:

Where is the equivalent national urgency behind developing the next generation of independent farm owners?

Where is the massive investment in helping a young person purchase their first 40 acres?

Where is the infrastructure helping a veteran transition into farm ownership?

Where are the programs making it easier for retiring farmers to transfer land to qualified beginning farmers?

Where are the policies preventing productive agricultural land from becoming inaccessible to the next generation because the price has simply moved beyond ordinary working families?

Where is the national strategy for keeping agricultural land in agricultural hands?

And where is the protection for the farmer who doesn't want to become enormous just to survive?

We don't just need farm workers.

We need farm owners.

America needs mechanics.

It needs veterinarians.

It needs agronomists.

It needs agricultural engineers.

It needs dairy managers.

It needs equipment operators.

It needs financial professionals.

It needs agricultural scientists.

But America also needs farmers who own land.

Farmers who can make independent decisions.

Farmers who can build diversified operations.

Farmers who can raise families on the same land their parents worked.

Farmers who can pass something to their children.

Farmers who can steward soil and water because their future is physically tied to that land.

Farmers who don't have to compete against unlimited capital simply to purchase the ground beneath their feet.

That is the agricultural future VYFA wants to help protect.

This isn't about going backward.

VYFA is not asking America to abandon technology.

We aren't asking farmers to stop growing.

We aren't asking agriculture to become less productive.

We aren't asking America to reject large-scale agriculture where it has a legitimate role.

We are asking something much more fundamental:

Don't build a future where the only realistic way to participate in agriculture is to work for somebody who already owns it.

Technology should make farming more accessible—not merely make large operations larger.

Innovation should help beginning farmers compete—not simply increase the advantages of those who already possess enormous amounts of land and capital.

Agricultural education should create owners as well as employees.

And public policy should recognize that land access is agricultural infrastructure.

The American dream requires somewhere to stand

For generations, the American farm represented more than an income.

It represented independence.

It represented family.

It represented responsibility.

It represented stewardship.

It represented the possibility that a person could take a piece of land, work hard, build something, and leave something behind.

We cannot preserve that dream by putting it in a museum.

We preserve it by making it possible for someone to live it.

Today.

Tomorrow.

And fifty years from now.

That means protecting productive farmland.

That means confronting excessive concentration.

That means improving beginning-farmer access to capital.

That means strengthening farm transition programs.

That means protecting water and soil.

That means demanding meaningful environmental review for projects of unprecedented scale.

That means enforcing environmental laws consistently.

That means creating opportunities for veterans and young farmers.

And it means having an honest national conversation about who gets to own America's agricultural future.

VYFA believes we need to be louder

Organizations like VYFA cannot sit quietly while these questions are being decided around us.

Neither can farmers.

Neither can veterans.

Neither can young people who want to farm.

Neither can rural communities.

Neither can Americans who care about clean water, healthy soil, local economies, food security, and the preservation of American agricultural history.

We need more voices.

We need more research.

We need more public participation.

We need more agricultural land-access programs.

We need more beginning-farmer support.

We need more farmer-to-farmer mentorship.

We need stronger policies against destructive concentration and monopolization.

We need environmental standards that actually keep pace with the scale of modern agricultural operations.

And we need lawmakers to understand something very simple:

If we want another generation of American farmers, we have to make sure there is land available for them to farm.

This is not an attack on the next generation.

It is a defense of their choices.

A young person should be able to say:

“I want to work for a large agricultural operation.”

Absolutely.

But they should also be able to say:

“I want to start my own farm.”

“I want to buy my family's farm.”

“I want to buy 40 acres.”

“I want to raise cattle.”

“I want to grow vegetables.”

“I want to run a dairy.”

“I want to build a regenerative operation.”

“I want to farm organically.”

“I want to use conventional agriculture.”

“I want to diversify.”

“I want to build something different.”

Those choices are part of what makes American agriculture worth protecting.

We cannot call it freedom if the choices disappear.

So yes, VYFA is going to be louder.

We will continue educating.

We will continue building programs.

We will continue preparing veterans and young farmers.

We will continue advocating for land access.

We will continue pushing for responsible agricultural policy.

We will continue defending family farms.

We will continue demanding that policymakers look beyond short-term economic numbers and consider the long-term consequences of land concentration, environmental risk, and barriers to entry.

And we will continue asking the question that woke me up this morning:

Who are we preparing to own America's farms?

Because training the next generation to work in agriculture is important.

But making sure they have the opportunity to own a piece of America's agricultural future is even more important.

That is the fight.

That is why VYFA exists.

And that is why we cannot afford to be quiet.

Veterans & Young Farmers Alliance

Serving Those Who Serve the Land.