Farm Profile: Greenbank Farm
From A Growing Culture An Interview with Jessica Babcock, Farm Manager at Greenbank Farm Greenbank Farm’s collection of red buildings springs up from the slim green stretch that is Whidbey Island. North and a leap over the Puget Sound from Seattle, Washington, the farm brings together wild nature and agriculture, hikers and farmers, herons and […]
Farm Profile: Fortenberry Farm
From Downeast Maine comes a story of land sharing and community cooperation. When an organic blueberry farm nestled in between large commercial operations came up for sale, Peter Collin bought the property to save a small piece of Washington County agriculture for organic use, essentially preserving the existing organic status rather than letting it meet […]
Land Gifting Tradition and Agrarian Trust
The Schumacher Center for a New Economics, a partner of Agrarian Trust tells of the tradition of land gifting and our hopes for an agrarian future. On a shelf in the Library of the Schumacher Center for a New Economics sits a small wooden box with worn leather handle—13 inches by 8 inches by 2 […]
Project Profile: Cooperative Farming Research
This project is being led by Faith Gilbert, who is a big part of the greenhorns, a close partner with Agrarian Trust. It is a year-long project that started in March of this year. Cooperative farming, in which multiple farmers co-manage a single property, could be a powerful tool for keeping farmland in the hands […]
Back on Home Soil: Veteran Small Farm Training
The 2013 Armed to Farm training begins tomorrow in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The week-long session of farm tours and practical information is offered free to a limited number of U.S. veterans and their spouses. It is organized and hosted by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT). Priority was given to returning service personnel from Operation […]
Land Grabbing in Europe
The message that land grabbing is happening in Europe is urgently being spread by the agricultural activist group Via Campesina. Via Campesina is an international movement of peasants, small- and medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, rural youth and agricultural workers. Land concentration and land grabbing do not occur only in developing countries in […]
Farm Profile: Brookfield Farm
When working with alternative economic models, it is imperative to adopt alternative and innovative ways to do business. At Brookfield Farm in South Amherst, MA, no agreement at all has proved to be the best agreement for managing the 30-odd-year-old biodynamic farm. In 1986, The Biodynamic Farmland Conservation Trust (BFCT) was established by Claire and […]
Aggressive Land Buyers Threaten Local Tribes in Ethiopia
The Oakland Institute has reported that: Ethiopia has been the focus of aggressive foreign agricultural investment, leasing out nearly 3.6 million hectares of land for commercial farm ventures from 2008-2010. This investment has corresponded with widespread human rights violations. Most egregiously, the Ethiopian government’s villagization program will displace 1.5 million people by 2013–with the five […]
Small Dutch Farm in Cooperative Venture with Large Farm
The three women of Tuinderij de Stroom in the Netherlands started off their 3 hectacres CSA-type model by borrowing start up capital from friends and acquaintances. They’ve been there now for 7 years and have collaborated with a larger Dutch farmer. The trio rent 3 hectacres of the larger 100 hectacres farm. They are on […]
To Market: Growing an Economy Around Food
The Vermont Farmers Food Center is the home of Rutland, Vermont’s winter farmer’s market. Its founders maintain that the bright young farmers that are the future of agriculture are bringing new energy and innovation that will create a viable economic model around food and farming. Of themselves they say: VFFC is dedicated to furthering public […]