RAFI Joins Farm Hack to Document and Promote 17 Years of Farmer-Driven Innovation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2014

RAFI Joins Farm Hack to Document and Promote 17 Years of Farmer-Driven Innovation
Nonprofit campaign hopes to fund open-source resource library of 500 farm projects

Pittsboro, NC — The Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) has teamed up with Farm Hack to achieve a long-held dream of creating an online library of innovative farm projects and a book of sustainable models for family farmers. Farm Hack is an open-source online community that has spurred success by joining like-minded farmers and innovators in working toward resilient solutions in agriculture. RAFI is partnering with Farm Hack to collaborate in the creation and promotion of Growing Innovation, a project to celebrate a 17-year history of farmer innovation in North Carolina.

RAFI launched a campaign last week to raise funds to publicly document hundreds of farm projects. Since the inception of its Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Fund (TCRF) in 1997, RAFI has allocated grants to fund more than 500 farmer-led projects across North Carolina. These will all be featured in Growing Innovation as a model for other farmers to learn from. “We look to TCRF grantees every year to demonstrate profitable ways to make a living in small and mid-scale agriculture, and to share their lessons with their neighbors and community members,” said RAFI Farm Sustainability Director Joe Schroeder. The dual nature of the TCRF program entails both the funding of projects and facilitating peer-to-peer learning opportunities for farmers. In addition, the TCRF seeks to fund projects that are replicable, in order to ensure the potential of wider adoption and to have a greater impact on rural economies.

RAFI is a 501c3 nonprofit organization based in Pittsboro, NC. RAFI’s mission is to cultivate markets, policies and communities that support thriving, socially just, and environmentally sound family farms. Learn more at www.rafiusa.org. Farm Hack is an open source community for resilient agriculture. Learn more at http://farmhack.net/.