By: Community Alliance with Family Farmers
Today 50% of California’s farmland is currently owned by the top 5% of landowners—as California farmland is increasingly scooped up by investment firms and hedge funds, land reform policy is urgent and necessary.
“Agriculture Land Reform in California: A Policy Platform for a More Just Land Transition” is a bold, new framework to combat systemic inequities in land access and create a sustainable, equitable food system.We must ensure that family farmers can have thriving land-based businesses, particularly those who have been pushed out of land ownership by a history of land removal policies, unjust lending practices, forced labor, and limited access to support services. Agricultural land reform is crucial for a just food system that supports sustainable rural livelihoods, biological diversity for agricultural ecosystems, and reliable access to good food for all Californians.
This policy platform outlines actionable solutions toward greater land equity and focuses on the following core actions:
- Guarantee land security for beginning and underserved farmers and land stewards
- Combat land accumulation and consolidation by the wealthy and speculative pricing
- Promote farmer cooperatives to facilitate greater collective power and management of resources and stronger local food economies
- Reform insufficient policies and programs to facilitate greater allocation of resources to address land access inequities
“It’s never been clearer: we need transformative state and local policies now—or we’ll face a future further dominated by the wealthy, deepening racial and economic divides,” Jamie Fanous, Policy & Organizing Director at CAFF, said. “This platform provides a clear set of policy reforms that must be enacted to ensure our rural communities and small-scale farmers have a fighting chance at land security and economic stability.”
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“As a first-generation farmer whose family once worked these same fields without ownership and little to no protection, I know firsthand how urgent land reform is. Access to land is about more than acreage—it’s about healing historical wounds, restoring relationships to place, and making sure our communities can grow food, build livelihoods, and thrive. This platform isn’t just policy—it’s a chance to rewrite the future of farming in California,” Justina Salinas, owner/farmer of Araceli Farms, said.
