Grow a Farmer fund - Northfield

MAY 11 UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who came to this week's Grow a Farmer fundraising breakfast in Northfield. Because of the amazing generosity of those supporters, the fund grew by $4,270 this week!

UPDATE: The Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation is seeding the Grow a Farmer fund with a $10,000 donation! We hope that inspires you to donate now!

When you contribute to the Grow a Farmer fund, you're supporting local food and new local farmers!

The Grow a Farmer fund is a resource for farmers with very low family incomes who don't qualify for conventional financing.

Here's how it works:

1. Aspiring farmers learn skills and create business plans through the Agripreneur Training Program at the Rural Enterprise Center.
2. They use the loan for supplies (chicks and feed) to raise flocks of free-range chickens at the center's business incubator sites. Each flock is 500 - 1,500 chickens.
3. Farmers pay back their loans after selling their healthy, humanely-raised, and tasty chickens.
4. The Grow a Farmer fund makes more loans!

Jose graduated from the most recent agripreneur training class and shared this thought: "What I need is financial support. . . I like working, but I don't have enough resources -- the means to start a business like this." Another training graduate, Jaime, is looking ahead: "I see myself taking good food to the tables of many families. I think with your help I will be able to achieve my goal."

You have the opportunity to help farmers like Jose and Jaime succeed -- not through handouts, but through small loans that make it possible for them to begin. You have the opportunity to be part of a creative, sustainable solution!