Get Your Hands Dirty with Marbleseed Grower Groups

get YOur HaNDs DirtY WitH

MARBLESEED GROWER GROUpS

BY JENICA CAUDILL

Imagine you have joined thousands of organic and sustainable farmers, self-organized around production interests and cross-cutting issue areas. Every quarter, your group meets— sometimes in person, sometimes virtually—to connect, discuss concerns, share solutions, and define the needs of your community. One of the farmers in attendance has recently participated in a meeting facilitation training with Marbleseed and helps keep the conversations on track. At the end of each meeting, your group relays its top priorities to Marbleseed. Here, our team of dedicated staff turn your ideas into action: resources to support the needs of your community, from farm viability and farm-life balance to innovative organic farm practices. This is the Marbleseed Grower Group model and it’s already underway, but we need your support to bring this vision to life.

A HISTORY OF GROWER GROUpS AT MARBLESEED

In 2020, Marbleseed was awarded funding from NCR-SARE (North Central Region-Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) to build out our original Grower Group model. Initially, these farmer-led Grower Groups planned to be organized around geographic location and production practices, utilizing support from Marbleseed to promote their groups and provide content for their gatherings as needed. Additionally, feedback from these groups would provide direction for new resources and programming from Marbleseed.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, the shape and format of these groups changed. Instead of meeting in person, groups met on Facebook. As our lives collectively strained under the weight of social isolation and ideological polarization, participating farmers chose to organize groups around themes like Growing Wellness, a mental health wellness group for farmers, and Farmers Against Racism, advancing anti-racism in agriculture.

Later, in 2021, Marbleseed worked with small groups of farmers organized around production focus to discuss the realities being faced on their farms and how 2022 conference programming could help support them.

MEASURING IMpACTS OF GROWER GROUpS

The results of Grower Groups so far have been encouraging— and this is just the beginning. In 2022, 43 of 54 workshops at the Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference were a direct result of Grower Group feedback and the Farmers Against Racism group inspired a popular 2022 Organic University of the same name. This year, we also launched the Ag Solidarity Network, enhancing the ability for groups to meet online and congregate in a space outside of the Meta Monster. As concerns around data and privacy, fake news, and ideological polarization find breeding grounds on social media, we are grateful to share and build this collectively-owned and community-focused platform.

In 2021, funding from the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) enabled Marbleseed to begin building out a Mental Health Peer Support Program inspired by the Growing Wellness group. So far, the program has provided training for 14 farmers to become certified peer support specialists. Right now, we are continuing to build out the program with a webpage and mental health resources coming soon on our new website and plans to expand the support network to reach farmers statewide.

The long-term goal of this project was then—and continues to be today—to build resilient organic communities throughout the region. With your support, Marbleseed can continue to invest in the growth of the Grower Group Model, but we need your support.

Jenica Caudill is Director of Development and Marketing at Marbleseed.

YOU CAN HELP ENSURE THE FUTURE

OF GROWER GROUPS!

This summer, we’re raising $20,000 to expand the Grower Group model and our friends at Lakewinds Food Co-op are helping us reach that goal by matching the first $5,000 in donations.

Here are two steps you can take right now to help ensure the future of this program:

DONATE EARLY TO DOUBLE YOUR GIFT! Donate online at: bit.ly/grower-groups Donate by check and mail to: PO Box 339, Spring Valley, WI 54767

FILL OUT OUR CONTENT SURVEY! Fill out our survey to join a Grower Group and tell us what your farm needs to thrive in 2023: bit.ly/marbleseed-content