Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Dianne Palmer-Quay <R_DQuay@compuserve.com>]

The general idea of a farm incubator is a place where a farmer wannabe can
experiment with growing produce or raising livestock without a huge captial
expense to purchase land and equipment.  It is like an extra-large
community garden with the addition of equipment and technical assistance
(including marketing assistance).  The farmers-in-training pay rent for
land and equipment use.  The Intervale has a for-profit composting business
which helps support that project so that the newest farmers can receive
reduced rent (www.intervale.org).  I think there are a few other farm
incubator projects in discussion or early start-up around the country -- at
least it seems like I am running into this idea frequently.  Everyone is
trying to creatively deal with the aging population of farmers and get
people with the interest into a place where they can build the knowledge
necessary to be successful at farming.  The one incubator that just started
in NC is called Raft Swamp Farms (www.raftswampfarms.org).

Dianne in SC