April 29, 2024

Dorothy Suput (Senior Fellow) and Lori Hylton (Senior Associate, pictured above center) attended and spoke at the 2024 National Farm Viability Conference hosted by WVA Cooperative Extension. Dorothy offers her reflections on the event:

“It was a wonderful opportunity to reunite with colleagues from across the country (the 2022 conference was virtual due to the pandemic) and to learn from peers. I was able to dig deep into questions such as how to sustain and build CDFI financing for low income and BIPOC farm operators, shaking up and extending risk management frameworks to include resilient thinking, and how to manage programs that integrate business technical assistance with climate, conservation, and environmental initiatives.” 

Lori also noted how it was a great chance to finally meet other organizations part of the American Farmland Trust’s Growing Equity Partnership national cohort: 20 partner organizations providing business technical assistance (BTA) to underserved farmers and ranchers.