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Subject: Market Farming
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- From: "Mary E. Embleton" <mary AT oz.net>
- To: "market farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
- Subject: RE: who will farm
- Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 10:10:40 -0800
Title: SANET-MG archives -- January 2001 (#279)
Patrick, There are
currently a number of programs throughout the US that are actively working to “link”
beginning farmers with agricultural landowners. Most programs were developed in the mid- to late- 1990’s and
are operated by both public and non-profit organizations. The programs have several common
elements: all have the goal of
fostering viable and sustainable farm transitions. Eighteen “farm
link” programs currently exist in 20 states, including Arkansas, California,
Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Farm link program representatives formed the National Farm
Transition Network which serves as a clearinghouse for information on programs
and strategies to link beginning farmers and retiring farmers/ag landowners. The Network is based at the Beginning
Farmer Center at Iowa State University and can be accessed via the web at www.extension.iastate.edu/Pages/bfc/national.
Here in
Washington we recently started the Washington FarmLink program (visit us online
at http://wafarmlink.org ). We provide a matching service (farmland
seekers with farmland owners), a clearinghouse of information on a wide variety
of topics (e.g. farm business and estate planning, farm product marketing, access
to financing, leasing, etc.) as well as access to technical assistance. We launched the program in June, 2000, and
have had nearly 200 inquiries about the program since that time. We currently have about 60 enrollees
(i.e. they completed a questionnaire regarding the specifics of their desire to
farm or the specifics of the farmland they have available) and have conducted
two all-day workshops (about 40 participants each). We have made two successful links. Unlike similar programs, we currently have a higher
percentage of landowners enrolled than beginning farmers. In short,
there is a lot of interest and we continue to foster an environment in which
small scale agriculture can be economically viable and sustainable. Regards, Mary
Embleton Washington
FarmLink -----Original
Message-----
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-
who will farm,
Patrick Stine, 01/19/2001
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- RE: who will farm, Mary E. Embleton, 01/19/2001
- Re: who will farm, pfarms, 01/20/2001
- Re: who will farm, Lynn Byczynski, 01/20/2001
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