An article in the Marin County Independent Journal describes how the non-profit, Sebastopol-based organization, California Farmlink, helps new farmers get started with land, loans and education. We learn about two young farmers who have benefitted from Farmlink’s offerings – Annabelle Lenderlink and Jesse Kuhn.
Lenderink’s farm – which rarely comes close to turning a profit – might not have been able to afford its irrigation hose if not for the help of the Sebastopol-based nonprofit California FarmLink, which became a model for a national pilot program in the 2008 federal farm bill passed by Congress on May 15.
Under the savings plan, Lenderink made regular deposits into a special fund; for every $1 she invested, FarmLink promised a $3 match.
The nearly $10,000 Lenderink, 48, netted helped her buy tools such as a tiller, hoes and a ripper, which, she said, “has three shafts that you drag through the soil.”
Without the savings and fund-matching program, purchasing the equipment for her small-scale farm “would have been very hard,” she said. But nearly as valuable as the cash, said Lenderink, was learning how to get a financial handle on her farm.
“The best part about it is there’s a lot of education that goes with it. Financial stuff – margins and figuring out how much cash flow you have, record-keeping.”The educational component of the savings program, called individual development accounts, or IDAs, is a crucial part of the competitive program targeting low-income and minority farmers, said Steve Schwartz, executive director of California FarmLink.
Cash-flow projections, a business plan, tax preparation, cleaning up credit – these requirements of the program help farmers do “all the things to put them on solid financial footing,” Schwartz said.
California Farmlink has been around since 1998, with a primary purpose of connecting startup farmers with affordable land. It has connected itself with a nationwide network of farming advocacy organizations and, as a model program for helping new farmers successfully enter the business, it expects to get additional federal funding under the recently passed Farm Bill.
I have the land, need some help to off set costs in building green houses, hen houses, and getting livestock. We have 18 acres. I have also found out the hard way that Riverside County is not friendly toward the small family farmer. Need help with the over exhausting fees.
Regards,
Carl Kepner