Moderator and Organizer: Ben Grosscup, NOFA/Mass Community Farm Initiative, 22 High St #1, Amherst, MA 01002. Phone: 413-658-5374; e-mail: ben.grosscup (at) nofamass (dot) org
Workshop 1. Organizing a Community Farm in your Town (9:00am-10:30am)
How Community Farms can Serve your Community, Lynda Simkins, Natick Community Organic Farm
What is a community farm? What needs of its community does it serve? In this workshop, Lynda Simkins will identify latent sources of desire and enthusiasm for community farms that can be found in any community - and how to organize a core group of productive, dedicated citizens working to build and sustain a community farm in their town. She'll cover a few real world examples, and participants will leave with concepts for visioning and organizing community farms where they live. Lynda Simkins has been director of the Natick Community Organic Farm for almost thirty years.
Perspectives from an urban grower, Greg Maslowe, Newton Angino Community Farm
What are the unique challenges presented by organizing and implementing a small scale, urban market garden/farm? After three successful years, Greg Maslowe will reflect on the promise and pitfalls of intensive growing in an urban/suburban setting. He will address issues of community involvement, management, financial sustainability, political tensions, and balancing competing demands for time and space on a small farm. All of this will be discussed within a general framework of maximum transparency and integrity to mission. Greg Maslowe is the farm manager at Newton Angino Community Farm.
Organizing the Medway Community Farm, Heather Scott, Medway Community Farm
How can a small citizen committee gain local government support for creating a new community farm? How can such groups learn from and collaborate effectively with existing ones? In December 2007, Heather Scott began a grassroots effort in her town to create the Medway Community Farm. In just a year, the group has formed a working board, won unanimous town meeting support for designating two town-owned conservation parcels for a farm-based educational use, and begun drafting a proposal to farm these parcels. Participants will learn tools to get started from someone who has done it recently.
Workshop 2. Financing Community Farms (1:00pm-2:30pm)
Business Planning for Community Farms, Jed Beach, Natick Community Organic Farm
How do community farms create a sustainable funding base from farm sales, educational programs, and fundraising efforts? How can aspiring community farm organizers make "the business case" to land trusts, municipalities, and potential donors? In this workshop, Jed Beach will cover basic business planning principles for existing and nascent community farms. He'll cover legal structure, marketing, finances, and staffing and examine how these components interact with each other as a system. He'll consider real world models and leave participants with a few concrete planning tools for their own projects. Jed Beach is Assistant Director at the Natick Community Organic Farm and a Green MBA candidate at Antioch New England University. Jed Beach is assistant director at Natick Community Organic Farm.
Funding the Mission through Earned Income, Amanda Cather, Waltham Fields Community Farm
How can a community farm support its not-for-profit mission and its capital expenses through earned income from CSA shareholders? Over the past two years, WFCF has created a programmatic budget to show the interplay between the income and expenses of the farm operation and of our nonprofit parent organization, which conducts education and food access work as an integral part of our farm's mission. This presentation will demonstrate how a programmatic budget helps to maintain rigorous accounting practices and to integrate a revenue-driven agricultural operation with nonprofit mission work. Amanda Cather has served as farm manager at Waltham Fields Community Farm for the past five seasons.
Growing and Thriving Without Selling Anything, -- Verena Wieloch, Gaining Ground
How can a farm survive when it gives away everything it grows for free? Over the last fifteen years, Gaining Ground has grown to become one of the premier sites for meaningful volunteer experiences in and around Concord, MA, welcoming hundreds of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds. It's also a trusted resource for diverse, high-quality organic produce - all donated to a dozen meal programs, food pantries, and directly to people in need. Farmer, Verena Wieloch, will talk about the liberating aspects of running a farm committed to keeping finances separate from volunteers' experience of the farm. She'll also explore strategies for fostering the deep support, financial and beyond, that makes this unusual non-profit model work-including support from individuals, community institutions, and via Gaining Ground's innovative "Read For Seeds" fundraiser.
Workshop 3. Educational Programs on Community Farms (4:00-5.30pm)
Creating a Learning Community on the Farm, Regina Fritz and Ursula King, Natick Community Organic Farm
A dialog to explore the path of building a learning community on a farm. Join us to recapture the historical and economical context of creating a way to engage the community in everyday farming. A short presentation of the pathway on the Natick Community Organic Farm will lead the participants to an interactive process of thinking about their place and its educational opportunities.
The Farm-Based Education Community Today, Brooke Redmond, Farm-Based Education Association
Brooke Redmond of the Farm-Based Education Association will present a recently completed national survey of farm-based education projects. Participants will gain inspiring ideas based on best practices and affirmation of their commitment to this rewarding and fast-growing field.
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This page was last modified on December 05, 2008 at 8:32:51 AM.
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