- News
- About 7,000 different species of plants have been raised as food crops in the history of human agriculture. Yet in part because of modern tendencies towards mass production, only fifteen plant and eight animal species are now relied upon for about 90% of all human food
- 99% of all turkeys raised in the U.S. are Broad-Breasted Whites, a single turkey breed specially developed to have a meaty breast. The breasts of these turkeys are so large that they are unable to reproduce naturally; according to the FAO, without artificial insemination performed by humans, this breed would become extinct in just one generation.
- According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), we are currently losing an average of 2 domestic animal breeds each week, iv and half of all domestic animal breeds that existed in Europe in 1900 are now extinct
Did You Know?
Land Donation
When farmers retire or pass away, sometimes the land is donated to a church or college, and it continues to be farmed chemically. More often it is sold to the highest bidder, typically a developer or an absentee landlord with no connection to the community and no feel for the value of the land as farmland. Through our Family Farm Preservation program, The John and Elizabeth Veenstra Foundation provides owners and inheritors of farmland with individualized options, including the opportunity to put an agricultural easement on the property to guarantee that it remains as productive farmland for future generations, to make the land available for sale or lease to new or existing organic farmers, or to make a tax-deductible farmland donation to our organization.
We conduct a full appraisal of the land, to determine the agricultural value and the full development value. The owner may then donate the land to us at full development value or donate the development rights to us. In either case, The John and Elizabeth Veenstra Foundation impresses an agricultural easement on the property to ensure that it will remain farmland in the future. For land we have acquired, we then make it available for purchase at the lower, agricultural value. The farmer who acquires the land can then economically produce healthy food for generations to come.
When we have the financial capacity to do so, we will purchase land that is not available for donation. We then apply the same appraisal and easement impression process.
Proceeds from land sales that The John and Elizabeth Veenstra Foundation receives are placed into a revolving fund, to acquire additional land and support our ongoing mission.