| | | | Hello! What does the world look like from where you sit on this Autumn Day? From my window, the bees and wasps move quickly to gather pollen and nectar from the late-flowering asters. The goldenrod has all but gone to seed, the pears weigh heavy on the trees, and the last of our tomatoes cling to their vines. It is a beautiful, bountiful, and very busy season for us all. Here at American Farmland Trust, our Women for the Land team has been busy planning our upcoming Tractor and Chainsaw Safety Learning Circle on Tuesday, October 17th at Fire Creek Farms in Livonia. You’ll find our invitation and registration details below! We are also thrilled to announce that our Women for the Land – New York webpage is live. Here you’ll find more information about our ongoing projects, upcoming events, resources, and opportunities to connect with other women in agriculture across New York. Finally, we’d like to share our recently published impact report on Wild Hill Farm in Ontario County. Wild Hill Farm is a member of our growing Demonstration Farm Network, which highlights conservation systems that build soil health and improve water quality. In this report, you’ll learn more about farm owner Erin Bullock’s experiences as a first-generation farmer, the soil health practices she implements on her 60-acre vegetable farm, and the many ways she works to build community to help people reconnect with the land through farming. See more below! Wishing you a happy harvest,
Caitlin Tucker, Agricultural Stewardship Associate | | | |  | Invitation to Join Our Next Learning Circle For anyone who identifies as a woman in any stage of agriculture, from those looking to turn a backyard space into something more productive to those already running a large-scale farming operation. We invite you to join the Women for the Land Community for a hands-on workshop on how to operate chainsaws and tractors safely and with confidence. Andrea Robarge, co-owner of Poplar Tree & Lawn Care, and Christina Day, Agriculture Safety Educator with the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health, will lead us in discussions and demonstrations on chainsaw and tractor safety, respectively. Participants are welcome to bring their own chainsaws and safety gear for hands-on assistance. We will meet in the farm shop at Fire Creek Farms, share lunch together (provided), and observe demonstrations of safety chainsaw and tractor use in the afternoon. Date: Tuesday, October 17th Time: 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Lunch will be served upon arrival Where: Fire Creek Farms | 3450 Plank Rd, Livonia, NY 14487 | | | | | | Wild Hill Farm Impact Report First-Generation Farmer Leading the Way Erin Bullock, owner of Wild Hill Farm in Ionia, NY, leads a woman-powered operation, employing seven women and non-binary farmworkers and apprentices. She brings her community together to nurture her land, growing organic vegetables on 60 acres south of Rochester, NY. Cover crops, long-term crop rotation, and beneficial insects are some strategies she employs to foster healthy soils and be resilient to climate change. Read her story here. | | | | | | | | | | The Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellowship Program is seeking participants! Climate change is reshaping the landscape of agriculture and forestry, bringing challenges like extreme rainfall and flooding, increased pest pressure, and drought to farms and forests in the Northeast and Midwest United States. The Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellowship (CAMF) Program is designed to empower farmers and agricultural advisors to gain and share both the knowledge and tools needed to be resilient in the face of climate uncertainty. This cohort-based learning opportunity is for farmers and agricultural advisors who are interested in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies and planning, as well as peer-to-peer networking and support. Programs will run in the following topic areas: - Dairy producers and advisors in Maine, Vermont, and New York
- Diversified agriculture and agroforestry producers and advisors in the Northeast
- Women and non-binary vegetable and small fruit producers and advisors in the Northeast and Midwest
Applications are due November 11th at 11:59 pm EST. Visit the CAMF Application for more information. | | | | | | Northeast SARE 2024 Call for Farmer Grant Proposals is now available! Northeast SARE offers grants to farmers to explore new concepts in sustainable agriculture conducted through experiments, surveys, prototypes, on-farm demonstrations, or other research and education techniques. Farmer Grant projects address issues that affect farming with long-term sustainability in mind. A wide variety of topics can be funded by Northeast SARE, including marketing and business, crop production, raising livestock, aquaculture, social sustainability, climate-smart agriculture practices, urban and Indigenous agriculture, and much more. The Farmer Grant program is open to all commercial farm business owners and farm employees in the Northeast region. Proposals are due November 14th at 5:00 pm EST. Visit the NESARE Farmer Grant Program for more information on eligibility, funding amounts, timeline, and proposal instructions. | | | | | |  | New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health (NYCAMH) is hiring Contract Agriculture Safety Educators! NYCAMH is a unique organization that is dedicated to enhancing agricultural and rural health by preventing and treating occupational injury and illness in NYS. A large part of this is done by educating farmers and workers on the hazards they face every day. We are looking for per diem contract educators to expand our services in strategic locations across the state. This position involves traveling to farms in your area to conduct on-farm training on specific safety topics. NYCAMH provides you with all train-the-trainer support and all materials needed. Offers very competitive pay and a flexible schedule. Bilingual speakers are a plus. Currently looking for trainers in the following areas: western NY, Finger Lake region, Central NY, North Country, and mid-Hudson/Long Island. However, can be flexible on other areas for the right person. To learn more or to apply, please reach out to Pauline Boyer at Pauline.boyer@bassett.org or by phone at (800) 343-7527. | | |  | Wild Hill Farm is hiring for 2024 Farm Crew Positions! Wild Hill Farm is a vegetable CSA farm in Bloomfield, NY, a half-hour drive from downtown Rochester, and close to the beautiful Finger Lakes region. We are going into our 9th season and feed hundreds of CSA families weekly, as well as offer U-Pick berries and host farm-related community events like barn dances. We use organic and regenerative practices and keep 56 beautiful acres free of pesticides. We have been woman-led from the beginning and tend to be woman-powered, although we don’t discriminate and welcome all genders! We’d love you to join our dynamic crew and add your style and strengths to our little farm community. Learn more about available positions here or contact Erin Bullock at erin.dandelion@gmail.com. | | | | | | | | | | See You There! We connect with our community through Learning Circles, which are informal, peer-to-peer networking events facilitated by highly skilled discussion leaders and technical service providers focusing on a topic of interest to women in agriculture in New York. These Circles take place at our women-led Demonstration Farms throughout the year, giving participants the opportunity to connect with successful women farmers and landowners like themselves. We provide learning materials, an online library, and service provider contact information at each event. These are free and open to everyone to attend. As we finalize our schedule for next year, we will update the event listings here and on our website and will send announcements to register when we open registration for each event. 2023 Learning Circles April 2023: Urban Farming, Lease Agreements, and Negotiation Skills at the Brady Farm & Market in Syracuse, NY June 2023: Landscape Scale Conservation with InSitu Designs at Ganondagan State Historic Site, Victor, NY August 2023: Biological Farming Methods & Composting Systems at Zeliff Farms in Middleport, NY October 17, 2023: Chainsaw and Tractor Safety Course for Women with Ontario SWCD at Firecreek Farms in Livonia Winter, 2023 (coming soon!): Beginning Farmer Resources & Mentorship at Wild Hill Farm in Ionia, NYPhoto by Rebecca Drobis | | | | Contact AFT American Farmland Trust
info@farmland.org | | | | No Farms No Food® is a trademark of American Farmland Trust | | | | | | | | | | | |
