Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund
Agri-tourism & U-Pick
2011 Projects
Hardin Farm Store
The Hardin sisters and family grow hay and grain which they sell for feed to their close knit community of farmer neighbors. With assistance from grant funds, their small operation will be developed into a full-fledged farm goods grocery store. The shop will be an outlet for the pork, eggs and veggies that the Hardin’s raise on their farm, as well as carry farm products from 20 area farmers at the store.
Sweet Cherry Trees for Pick-Your-Own Operation
Steve will be using a portion of his farm to produce cherry trees for his pick your own operation which will give extra value to his blueberry and peach pick your own operations. This grant will be used to purchase supplies and materials to plant these cherry trees. www.buttermilkcreek.net
An Innovative Historical and Educational Approach to Marketing Agriculture
David will be retrofitting an old farm house to use for events, and to market farm products produced on his farm and other neighboring farmers. The plan is to emphasize the historic nature of his century farm and orchard, and will allow him to host production classes for grafting his southern heirloom apple trees throughout the year, as well as a place to sell his trees and value added products. This grant will be used on construction, plumbing, painting, and supplies to retrofit this farm house. www.centuryfarmorchards.com
Tumbling Run Hay and Feed Store
Robin will be turning two unused tobacco barns into feed and hay stores that will offer internet delivery. The grant will be used to purchase a marketing consultant, hire the labor of an electrician and carpenter, and for the supplies and materials needed.
Grietje’s Garden-Addition of Processing Meeting Area
Penny makes jams, jellies, breads, cider and non-alcoholic wine with ingredients from her farm. With assistance from grant funds, she will be constructing facilities to accommodate product storage, agritourism events and an area to host potential clients so that they can sample her wares. Penny’s non-alcoholic wines are a favorite choice for weddings and parties of all kinds. http://grietjesgarden.blogspot.com/
Specialized Evergreen Production
To supplement her family’s tobacco farm and Christmas Tree Business, Virginia has been making custom wreaths, kissing balls, and other holiday décor using greenery shipped from Oregon. With grant funds, Virginia is growing test groves of 30 tree varieties for her products using cultivars that are predicted to do well in her region, among them unique varieties of Cypress, Magnolia, Holly, and Aborvitae.
Hank’s Place
Henry and Sheila have a cotton, soybeans and corn farm near the Roanoke River where they have recently begun creating a hunting and fishing business. The two are converting several buildings to cabins and need a larger building to accommodate events. Grant funds will be used for the purchase and construction of an event facility.
Pick Me Berry Farm
After losing her poultry contract, Joan converted her chicken houses into goat shelter and vermin-composting facilities. She also has a hog operation, along with raising corn, wheat and soybeans. Currently she is developing 5 acres of her land into a pick-your-own berry farm. Grant funds will be used to install drip irrigation, deer fencing, and bird netting.
Farm Equine Therapy
Gail and her husband raise American Quarter Horses. Over the past three years she has developed an equine therapy service she provides to individuals with mental health problems. Grant funds will allow her to make repairs on her existing facility in order to grow her business. She will also develop her website and direct targeted marketing efforts at institutions and rehabilitative service providers.
Off of the Beaten Path, Dalure Farms
Lulu recently returned to her family farm where she hosts agritourism events and raises about an acre of lufa, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, asparagus and squash. Grant funds will be used for irrigation equipment. Lulu is excited about the market potential of her lufa, which is easy to grow, edible, and can be dried and used for bathing and washing dishes.
Watford Prawn Operation
Howard, a 4th generation farmer, plans to dig a 1 acre pond to raise prawn, the jumbo cousin of shrimp. Grant funds will allow him to supplement his existing equipment so that he can build the pond and cement the bottom as is customary in prawn production. Howard believes that prawn production, still relatively new in North Carolina, is an excellent opportunity for catfish farmers to expand into.
2010 Projects
U-pick/wholesale
Marty is adding strawberries and blackberries to his Christmas tree farm and agri-tourism business. This will bring in new customers, and build on the existing product and services offered by his farm. (Information: 919-323-7587)
The Farmer’s Barn
Hobbs lives off of a heavily traveled highway between North Carolina and Myrtle Beach. He plans to build an “old time” country store with a petting zoo and picnic areas. (Information: 919-259-4101)
On Batch at a Time (herbs)
Deborah will erect a processing and packaging room that doubles as a classroom for her herb farm. This will increase her capacity to sell her herbs, and bring in a new customer base. (Information: 919-323-7587)
Steep Grade Growing Sock Strawberry Farm Project
Brad is a strawberry and Christmas tree grower in Ashe County with land on a very steep grade hill on the main road through the county. This project will allow him to put this land in production for a U-pick operation. (Information: 919-323-7587)
2009
The Farmer's Daughter
Douglas grew up on her parent’s farm, learning about vegetable production early on. She has a natural ability to network with surrounding farmers and create markets for their products, and her business is just beginning to show that talent. She started “The Farmer’s Daughter” last year by selling to neighbors, friends and family and has quickly expanded to market into the larger community. Her project includes the construction of an on-site retail building and the laying of black plastic on her small four-acre plot. At the time of the site visit she had several vegetable varieties growing under the newly laid plastic, and a fully functional retail shop selling her own vegetables, jams and baked goods as well as neighboring farmers’ products to balance out a diverse mix to offer the public twice a week from her store. (information: 919-621-0534)
Continuation of Griggs Century Farm
This grant was used for the development of a combination u-pick blueberry/bee keeping operation. The project gives Davidson County its first u-pick blueberry farm, and serves as a model for other farmers wishing to incorporate the beneficial farming technique of berries and honeybees. (information: 919-621-0534)
Windmill for livestock watering, irrigation, aeration, agritourism
Duckworth’s farm is a small scale diversified operation with pastured hogs, cattle, and produce, and soon catfish. He purchased a windmill for several reasons, “I wanted to be off the grid so that my hogs and cattle aren’t dependent on electricity for water, but I also wanted to attract visitors to my farm.” This strategy is paying off for Art with new visitors stopping by to see it. He has especially catered to elementary school classes that want a tour of his farm. At the time of the site visit, he had already erected the windmill and proudly demonstrated its success, turning very little wind into a steady flow of water to his holding tank. Arthur is marketing his farm with the windmill’s image, and plans to host a “farmer field day” to help other farmers take advantage of similar ideas and opportunities to fold agritourism and practical innovation into smart business practices. (information: 919-621-0534)
Timber Woodworking Workshop
Gary has been a full-time farmer and part-time carpenter in the off-season his entire life. He came to RAFI with the understanding of farmers’ need to come up with new potential income streams, and used his experience to make the case that it could be done through fine woodworking. Gary believed that there were enough people who could appreciate custom built furniture and cabinets that there could be a market for his products. He also thought that he could have something to offer other farmers who wanted to make use of their farm timber, but without the know-how and equipment or space to do it. His project idea was to build a workshop out of an old quail house with all the necessary tools and space to allow him to teach farmers how to add value to the timber they brought in. Gary said that he has developed a list of farmers from around Rockingham County and southern Virginia who are interested in participating. When I visited him he was pouring the concrete for the expansion of the building, and it was finished in early May. He will start workshops as soon as the harvest season ends. (information: 919-621-0534)
Bee Hives & Blueberries
Steve Rivers has worked in a factory his entire adult life, and was introduced to the idea of growing blueberries a few years ago by his neighbor, who was a retired blueberry farmer from Florida. He quickly gained an appreciation for it and has since built a u-pick operation into his fresh market berry business with hopes that it will provide an income to support himself and his college aged son in the near future. In the process of transitioning to organic, he learned about the benefits of keeping honeybees on site to help pollinate the plants and get a much larger yield. When he applied to RAFI, he had already experimented with bees and learned the great benefit to his blueberry crop, but had to overcome the nuisance the honeybees caused to his u-pick customers. Working with his son, the two have now come up with a model for combining the two with the added benefit of marketing blueberry honey along with his berries. Last year they sold berries in the Weaver street market in Carrboro NC, and are looking forward to the added business potential the bees bring. (information: 919-621-0534)
Blue Ridge Farmers Market
Collette Nester’s project is an indoor farmers’ market featuring her pasture raised pork as well as an array of all-local products including meats, cheese, milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables. Collette proved to be an excellent resource for farmers in her region around Alleghany County, and had already laid the ground work for a successful market before the doors were open, through networking and sourcing of a diverse product mix, and completing a marketing strategy. The storefront was not yet available at the time of the site visit. Collette has dealt with challenges from not anticipating the level of capital investment in the start-up phase of the store. Since the visit however, she has opened the store with great success in her first few weeks and is hearing praise from farmers and shoppers alike. (information: 919-621-0534)
Homestead Cheese project
Carol’s Homestead is a true working old-time homestead with a blacksmith shop, large gardens, and a goat-cheese operation, offering agritourism and home-made goat cheese. She has modeled an affordable milking parlor for replication by small herd producers to contract with her for milk supply. This allows her to expand her cheese production in her impressive cheese-making kitchen without the extra land and workload raising more goats would require. With the RAFI funds she has purchased a cheese press to make hard cheeses, to expand her line and allow her to age cheeses. She now shares a market with another High Country goat cheese producer, and the hard cheese gives her a different market without causing too much competition. She is in the process of hiring a new employee and expanding her production in anticipation of her new capacity. (information: 919-621-0534)
2007
Agritourism-Direct Marketing
This family plans to market to schools through farm-to-school programs and to offer school field trips to the farm to supplement their income from a u-pick strawberry operation. They are planning educational activities at the farm, which will be continued in the cafeteria as children get to eat the products they saw growing in the field. The grant funds paid for cold storage facilities adequate to allow the farm to service the farm to school market. (information: 919-621-0534)
Hunting/Fishing Family Trips
Mr. Blizzard planted wildlife plots on the farm and renovated a small house to attract families for hunting/fishing trips. The project will provide income to the farm during the offseason, allowing the operation to employ their laborers year round. (information: 919-621-0534)
Plot Pros
This project helped Mr. Carver start a wildlife plot planting business. The plots are attractive to hunters and wildlife enthusiast; few homeowners have the equipment necessary to plant and care for wildlife plots. The grant assisted Mr. Carver to purchase equipment to enable him to efficiently put in the plots. (information: 919-621-0534)
Plantains at the Country Store
Marilyn use the grant to establish an on-farm retail outlet and for the production of plantains for sale. The project incorporates agritourism and direct marketing while satisfying an ethnic market for plantains in Davidson County. (information: 919-621-0534)
Farm Market Expansion
This project has enabled Mr. Bowman to make improvements on an old barn for use as a farm stand. He also used grant funds for advertising. The improvements to the farm stand have enabled Mr. Bowman to switch from wholesale sales to the better prices of a retail farm stand. His biggest problem has been that advertising drew in too many customers early, before he had an adequate supply of product. (information: 919-621-0534)
2005
1998
Complete Equine Facility
Wayne County
This project will develop a horse training and riding facility which will give area residents an opportunity to make connections to farming and will demonstrate a new souce of income for area tobacco farmers. Local FFA nd 4-H grlups will be involved.
Catfish and Grapes
Columbus County
This project is designed to combine two enterprises, a fish-your-own catfish operation and a pick-your-own grape vineyard (irrigated by the fish ponds.) This famer also inends to market the catfish and grapes by order and will dress and clean the fish at the farm.