immigrant farming project
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Combining Resources, Opportunities and People for Sustainability Lincoln, Nebraska. Immigrant Farming Project. P Street Community Garden. 46 th Street Community Garden. Training Farm Privately owned Volunteer farm manager 13 acres of total land - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Immigrant Farming Project
Combining Resources,
Opportunities and People for Sustainability
Lincoln, Nebraska
P Street Community Garden
46th Street Community Garden
Sunset Community Farm
●Training Farm ●Privately owned●Volunteer farm manager
●13 acres of total land●5 acres of farm land, divided into quarter acre plots
Photo: Talib marking his plot at beginning of 2006 season
Immigrant Farming Today
●Declining number of farmers overall●Large numbers of immigrants/refugees working in agriculture industries
● Immigrants/refugees with experience in home country
Farming Participant
Khalaf Amsikh●Yezedi Kurd from Iraq●US Resident for seven years●Second year farming participant, third year with CROPS
Picture: Khalaf Amsikh at his farm plot, July 2006
Khalaf at the Farmers' Market
Funding Sources
●Local Foundations●Heifer●State agriculture grants●Private donations●Selling produce
Successes
●Community Gardens●Training Farm Site●Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Project
●Partnership with Heifer International●New Farmers Market partnering and mentoring
Challenges / Lessons Learned
●Balancing needs and wants of farming participants
●Lack of funding, particularly for farm infrastructure
●Cultural and personality difficulties●Reasonable expectations on all sides
National Immigrant Farming Initiative (NIFI)
●Effort of Heifer International and other partners around the country
●Training Opportunities, including for trainers● Information Sharing●Advocacy
Resources
●www.communitycrops.org●www.immigrantfarming.org (NIFI)●www.heifer.org●www.nesfp.org (New Entry Sustainable Farming Project