Growing a Farming Community, Cultivating a Complete Life

Farmer-Mentor Workshop

by Kimberly Barnes

In February 2009, the North American Biodynamic Apprenticeship Program was officially inaugurated with the first Farmer-Mentor Circle workshop, held at Hawthorne Valley Farm in Harlemville, New York. Thirty-one biodynamic and organic farmers and gardeners gathered for a weekend of presentations and discussions exploring the art of on-farm mentoring. As the group members shared their experiences, challenges, successes, and strategies for working with apprentices, they began to formulate a common vision of the gift that they as farmer-mentors might offer to the next generation of young farmers.

This vision was thoughtfully developed by Nathaniel Thompson in the final presentation of the weekend. Nathaniel, who manages Remembrance Farm in Trumansburg, NY, offered a reflection on the ways in which a more collaborative approach to farming has enabled him to develop a balance between his inner and outer life, a difficult challenge that every farmer faces. It is part of the mentor farmer’s responsibility, he suggested, to model a healthy lifestyle and to support young farmers in developing the same for themselves. Nathaniel encouraged the group of mentors to consider how the development of cooperative farming communities might allow beginning farmers to envision and create high-quality lives.

In Nathaniel’s twelve years as a farmer, he has experienced a lot of transitions and encountered many obstacles. Through trial and error, he has succeeded in building a business that is both financially viable and supportive of his personal needs. Remembrance Farm along with two other farms is part of a cooperative Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) venture, known as the Full Plate Farm Collective. The collective preserves the CSA marketing model while allowing each farm to focus its efforts on specialized crops. Thus, each farm operation is streamlined, but can still maintain a connection to the broader community through the CSA. Administration and bookkeeping is managed by a third party non-farm-family member, and the association is strengthened by the friendship and trust that exists among the farmers involved. Nathaniel has found that working within the collective has relieved a great deal of the pressure he felt when farming on his own. He can produce a higher quality product and, with less stress and more time, live a more complete life.

The collective model has also opened doors to greater community outreach. The Full Plate Farm Collective is collaborating with several other local farms and the Cornell Cooperative Extension to launch the grant-funded Healthy Food For All program, which offers lower-priced CSA shares to low-income community members. Because there are several farms involved, there is more grant funding available for the project. Funds for this program are also raised at all participating farms through events such as on-farm dinners. For Nathaniel, the opportunity to Growing a Farming Community engage in this kind of broader com munity outreach is a key part of a fulfilling life, an aspect he could not Cultivating a Complete Life have developed to such an extent without this kind of collaboration.

Nathaniel spoke about the painful experience of watching many of his farmer friends struggle and “tread water” as “slaves to the farm or to their off-farm jobs.” Why, he asked, are so many young farmers resigned to lives of financial destitution? It is possible, albeit difficult, to make a living as a farmer, especially given the growing demand for local, organic produce. What is lacking, Nathaniel suggested, is guidance from farmer-mentors beyond the apprentice’s initial training experience on the farm. The farmer-mentor must offer guidance to beginning farmers as they craft their business plans and envision their futures. How, Nathaniel asked, might we begin to grow a community that can encourage and support the possibility of a successful and balanced life for the young farmer?

The consensus in the group was that the work has already begun in earnest. The Farmer-Mentor Circle workshop is a first step in the development of a strong farmer-mentor network, which will provide support and opportunities in a number of ways. First, it is the foundation for a culture of guidance. Through workshops and conferences, mentor farmers will help each other to become better teachers. They will develop the ability to provide their apprentices with a fuller understanding of what it is to be a farmer.

The farmer-mentor network will also serve as a valuable pool of advice and support for the apprentices beyond the two-year program. A mentor might use the network to direct young farmers to appropriate partnerships or to resources that might help them gain experience and insight. Because of the network, farmer-mentors may know, for example, who might be hiring an assistant manager, who has an excellent poultry operation, or who has experience working with land trusts.

Of course, each mentor farmer can benefit from the network in the same way, using the network connections to build collective CSA ventures, share equipment, order bulk supplies, or get advice on a production problem. This collaboration and mutual support creates a lower stress, higher quality of life for the farmer-mentor, and this support system ultimately becomes a living example of collaboration for apprentices to observe and take advantage of in the future.

As Nathaniel explains on his website, “I wish to lead a life in which the outer conditions of life support and nurture my inner search for self-knowledge.” This is an ideal to which we all can dedicate ourselves as we progress on our journeys, and this awareness is perhaps the greatest gift that can be offered to the young farmers who find their way to the mentor farms of the North American Biodynamic Apprenticeship Program. May we succeed in providing it to them!

Read more about Nathaniel and Emily Thompson see remembrancefarm.webs.com

For the Full Plate Farm Collective see www.fullplatefarms.com

For the 2023 North American Biodynamic Farmer Training Program, visit biodynamics.com/farmer-training

This article was forwarded from the Agriculture Section in North America of the School of Spiritual Science [www.rudolfsteiner.org/school]