So what are we? What do we call ourselves? Are we part-time farmers? SPIN farmers? small-scale farmers? neo-agrarians? farmers with off-farm work? hobby farmers? aspiring full-time farmers? craft farmers? micro-farmers? foolish amateurs? really big gardeners? food entrepreneurs? It is very interesting question as names define and give impressions about supposed next steps and intentions.
If we try to describe ourselves, a few contradictions seem to jump out. We are farming by choice, but we also want the $, stimulation and satisfaction of non-farm work. Our defined goals don’t include trying to earn a complete living from the farm (at this time), but we approach the market gardening enterprise as a business (separate from the farm as a really great home). Yes we love growing good food for people, but it is not a hobby or charity. The market garden needs to provide a fair return for our labour, investment and risk. Martyrdom or losing money with each sale are not on our list of aspirations (back to the farming by choice thing). At the same time, we are very committed to making this work. Practicing small scale, sustainable agriculture, stewarding three acres and building this business a little bit each year is as much a statement of our ecological values as it is our entrepreneurial spirit.
It may seem odd to see to much text devoted to $ on an organic farming blog. But farmers need to earn a fair return or all of the benefits – good food, resilient local economies, reduced food miles, conversations at the farmers market, building living soils, etc… can’t happen. The good news is that the potential exists to leverage all that good into a real point of differentiation and value, and thus a fair return.
It is hard to be a category of one, but the really great thing is that there are more and more people doing similar things for similar reasons.
Turned on CBC Sunday Edition and heard the preview for piece called “Down to Earth”. We joked about whether we would know who they were profiling. Someone from Farmstart or Ignatius Farm CSA in Ontario or Victoria’s City Harvest? It is funny how small the world of organic farming is, and we’ve made a number of great connections through our jobs, associations and our time in Guelph about 10 years ago. Guelph has since become a hotbed of sustainable agriculture insurgency. The 25 minute piece profiled a number of young (late 20’s early 30’s) new farmers in southern Ontario including a friend of ours, Tarrah Young. 
Roxy went to university and a semester in Guatemala with Tarrah. We also has a bizarre chance encounter in 2002 with her while WWOOFing on a Oberhasli goat farm outside of Santa Cruz, California. Tarrah and I both apprenticed at Greenfields Farm (at different times) and she has since gone through the FarmStart new farmer incubator and bought a farm a few years ago. Tarrah has become a poster girl for this new movement of farmers getting started in agriculture. Previous press coverage can be found here, here and here. The CBC piece can be heard here.
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Down to Earth: Here’s one picture of a farmer: tough, weatherbeaten, pitchfork in hand, a bit grim, proud member of a vanishing breed. Here’s another picture of a farmer: Thirty years old, five foot two, fresh-faced, female, city-bred. Meet Tarrah Young, proud and very determined member of a NEW breed. Tarrah – and people like her – are real risk takers. They’re not starry-eyed back-to-the landers, and they know know what they’re up against. Across Canada, the number of farmers under thirty-five has declined by more than 50% in the last ten years. For those who want to loosen the grip of the agribusiness giants, to spurn cheap pesticide-laden imports, and to eat local – this is really bad news. And we all have enough of that! So this morning, venture out with a few of agriculture’s young pioneers. Frank Faulk’s documentary is called “Down to Earth” |
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The piece was really well done and it touched on a number of the things that this growing trend of young and second career farmers have in common.
- farming is a way to practice their environmental values
- most grew up in the city, not on a farm.
- many are university educated (Enviro Sci a popular major) or have established careers.
- they have taken many paths to learn about farming (apprenticeships, WWOOFing, courses, books)
- they need to focused on the bottom line and quick, positive cash flow due to the cost of entry and other commitments (e.g. student loans)
- they want to farm, but not give up their connections to urban areas (amenities, friends and culture)
Even with all these commonalities, folks are finding all kinds of innovative paths to farming. The CBC touched on some of those different options including a partnership between Mapleton’s Organic Dairy and another new farmer. The farmer is letting her use a parcel of the farm free of charge to start a CSA vegetable farm.
We feel that we are in a really great place right now, doing something that is both personally meaningful and connected to something bigger. Linking to other new farmers, discussing some of the challenges and joys of balancing farming/work/the rest of our life are some of the goals of this blog. One of these day’s we’ll publish a blog communications plan.
