Comments on: Helping VT Farmers Find Food Funding http://www.clf.org/blog/vermont/helping-vt-farmers-find-food-funding/ For a thriving New England Thu, 14 Feb 2013 21:21:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Ben Waterman http://www.clf.org/blog/vermont/helping-vt-farmers-find-food-funding/#comment-2165 Ben Waterman Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:01:19 +0000 http://www.clf.org/?p=9019#comment-2165 Wonderful summary here Anthony and many thanks to you and CLF for contributing to this exciting project. While the Guide to Financing the Community Supported Farm is a large step towards providing farmers and community members the information they need to craft customized financing arrangements, much work remains to be done. Farms can be part of the solution to dramatically improve water quality, and communities can invest in farms that are investing in soil carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and a plethora of other practices that reduce nutrient/sediment loading in ground and surface waters. Flexible financing terms are key, and arrangements that don't require immediate or hefty financial payback can enable farmers to implement environmental improvements. Work remaining to be done includes creating simple ways for soil and water quality improvements to monitored on farm, enabling environmental farmer stewards to be better recognized, and creating more mechanisms that make it easy for customers and community members to invest in farm operations that hold environmental stewardship among their highest values. But the beauty of community financing is the simplicity of the concept, and community members who know their farmers can provide capital now, using the various mechanisms described in the Guide to Financing the Community Supported Farm and in other community financing circles. Ben Waterman Wonderful summary here Anthony and many thanks to you and CLF for contributing to this exciting project. While the Guide to Financing the Community Supported Farm is a large step towards providing farmers and community members the information they need to craft customized financing arrangements, much work remains to be done. Farms can be part of the solution to dramatically improve water quality, and communities can invest in farms that are investing in soil carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and a plethora of other practices that reduce nutrient/sediment loading in ground and surface waters. Flexible financing terms are key, and arrangements that don’t require immediate or hefty financial payback can enable farmers to implement environmental improvements.

Work remaining to be done includes creating simple ways for soil and water quality improvements to monitored on farm, enabling environmental farmer stewards to be better recognized, and creating more mechanisms that make it easy for customers and community members to invest in farm operations that hold environmental stewardship among their highest values. But the beauty of community financing is the simplicity of the concept, and community members who know their farmers can provide capital now, using the various mechanisms described in the Guide to Financing the Community Supported Farm and in other community financing circles.

Ben Waterman

]]>