The Conference of Mayors and American Farmland Trust announced the formation of an urban-rural coalition to work on policies that would promote city revitalization and preserving farmlands. The coalition is planning a number of joint ventures including conducting farm-city forums between Mayors and agricultural leaders to discuss public policies that will promote smarter land use decisions to include the reuse of brownfield sites and the preservation of farmlands. The announcement made during the Sunday plenary session was followed by a press conference with the leadership of the Conference of Mayors and Ralph Grossi, President of the American Farmland Trust.

"We have formed this partnership because we realize that many of the goals of both organizations complement each other," said Conference of Mayors President, Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini.

"What happened in our cities over many years of neglect is that we have many old industrial sites, old gas stations sites, old abandoned sites that have not been redeveloped because of fear of liability issues or environmental contamination with the net result of having businesses going out to the green spaces of our farmland at an alarming rate," Corradini stated.

Ralph Grossi, President of the American Farmland Trust, told the Mayors that rural, urban, and suburban areas all face a clear threat from the population shifts that are hollowing out cities, destroying the countryside while confronting suburbanites with an increasingly frustrating litany of problems like traffic congestion, over-crowded schools and higher taxes. "The partnership between the Conference of Mayors and the American Farmland Trust recognizes that urban and rural interests must unite because neither recycling brownfields nor protecting green farm fields can be fully accomplished without the other. Revitalized cities will take pressure off farmland and protected farmland will encourage urban infill and redevelopment," Grossi said.

Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke, Immediate Past President of the Conference, emphasized the importance of saving farmland and recycling brownfields. Helmke stated, "One of the nation’s most pressing environmental concerns is the loss of open space-- farmlands and forests-- brought about by our continuing patterns of urbanization." He continued, "We recycle glass, aluminum and paper but as a nation we don’t fully recycle our land... this pattern of throwing away our land must change."