Farmer Capacity Building

In exchange for locally-produced, sustainable, and nutritious food, farmers deserve a living wage and a supportive community. This, along with education and training, will attract the skilled, motivated workforce that healthy rural communities and landscapes require.

For more information, contact John Sheffy at john@farmshed.org.

We're committed to this goal of farmer capacity building.  Besides offering  affordable locally grown food,  the  other aspect is offering  a liveable wage that allows  a  working household to afford that local food; together these form a social justice aspect to the work. 

The most likely avenues for us to achieve this goal with its social justice aspect are normal humble means of outreach such as advertising our food growing services (CSA) as well as any employment opportunities that we may be able to create, through pedestrian advertising means such as direct mailers, Buyer's Guides and whatever other outlets are available.  The need to create additional off-farm or non-farm income streams within the umbrella enterprise containing the farm activities seems self-evident; these may in time generate employment options of their own, but only if they pay liveable wages; otherwise, why bother hiring people?

Thus far, none of these means of acquiring capital for farmer capacity building seem to be viable to our organization:  grants, bank loans (carrying the usury burden), angel investors, venture capitalists, initial public offerings, generous friends or community members, etc.

Lastly, thus far our aggregate local-food farm capacity seems to have been built in a highly idiosyncratic way.  Each place has been built in its own unique manner using whatever off-farm income-generating talents its founders may have to deploy.  This is typical across the continent.  But it would be interesting if a model could be created which is more replicable, and scalable, and applicable in <location whatever> sited in Kunstler's <Geography of Nowhere>.  We look forward to working with others in this latter sort of endeavor. 

To continue the dialogue, contact biodiversecity@charter.net.