American Farmland Trust Announces New Initiative to Empower Farmers and Ranchers at Idaho Summit

Dec 19, 2025

By Phoebe Silag

American Farmland Trust co-hosted the Governor’s Summit on Agricultural Viability in Boise on Thursday, in partnership with Idaho Governor Brad Little, the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation, and the Idaho Farm and Ranch Center. The summit focused on how Idaho farmers and ranchers can implement communal and adaptive practices to help sustain and grow agriculture into the future. AFT announced the launch of a new initiative, Thriving Farms and Ranches, at the event.

The Governor’s Summit on Agricultural Viability in Idaho brought together landowners and leaders of Idaho agribusiness, academia, conservation, development, and government to explore the challenges of balancing growth with Idaho’s valuable agricultural economy. Idaho’s working lands are being lost to development at an alarming rate according to recent data, the rate of conversion is 96 times faster than expected.

“We could see it in the field that the significant population growth here in Idaho since 2016 was accelerating the path of growth of our cities at the cost of surrounding agricultural land,” said AFT Idaho Senior Program Manager David Anderson. “What was surprising about this new data is how much of the land conversion has been low-density residential outside our cities and especially in rural ranch country. Idaho has a bad case of rural sprawl. Our rural county government planning systems are not prepared for the scale of growth coming at them.”

Thriving Farms and Ranches aims to increase the capability for farmers and ranchers to strengthen the resilience of agriculture and rural communities across the country. It will empower farmers and ranchers and their communities to be more resilient, profitable, and competitive in a rapidly changing marketplace.

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Video: Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Darcy Unger just invested millions to build a brand-new seed plant on his farm in Stonewall, Manitoba so when it’s time for his sons to take over, they have the tools they need to succeed.

Right now, 95% of the genetics they’ll be growing come from Canadian plant breeders.

That number matters.

When fusarium hit Western Canada in the late 90s, it was Canadian breeders who responded, because they understood Canadian conditions. That ability to react quickly to what’s happening on Canadian farms is exactly what’s at risk when breeding programs lose funding.

For farmers like Darcy, who have made generational investments based on the assumption that better genetics will keep coming, the stakes are direct and personal.

We’re on the brink of decisions that will shape our agricultural future for not only our generation, but also the ones to come.

What direction will we choose?

On The Brink is a year-long video series traveling across Canada to meet the researchers, breeders, farmers, seed companies, and policymakers shaping the future of Canadian plant breeding. Each week, a new story. Each story, a piece of the bigger picture.

Episode 3 is above. Follow Seed World Canada to catch every episode, and tell us: Do you think the next generation will have the tools they need to success when they takeover? How is the future going to look?