Immigrant Farming Project

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