Featherstone Farm Campaign

We are turning to shareholders, friends, and supporters near and far, for support in a fundraising effort to help us recover from unprecedented crop losses in 2016, and to propel us forward into the Featherstone Farm 3.0 era . . . the next 20 years.
We've suffered crop losses in 2016 and are fighting against a loss of $350,000 to stay in business. We are initiating a recovery and renewal campaign at Featherstone Farm this autumn, seeking to generate $150,000 in contributions by the end of November.

You will find the complete campaign prospectus here: Featherstone Farm campaign prospectus.

Q: Why support a for-profit business like Featherstone Farm? Shouldn’t the business succeed on its own merits and efforts?

A: Featherstone Farm has never seen itself as an isolated, stand alone, for-profit business, outside of a broader environmental and social context. It has always existed in service to larger values and ideals, and it has always engaged actively in educating and advocating for those values, locally, regionally, and nationally. Featherstone Farm is widely considered to be a "flagship farm," furthering values that affect small farming initiatives:

Small farms in the “regional food system” context
*  Small scale, organic, “market farm” agriculture is a local solution to global issues of all kinds.
*  One part of a necessary (re)think and (re)imagining of a regional food system for the eastern half of the United States (and Canada).
*  Large numbers of financially viable, environmentally responsible “market farms” can and must be part of a sustainable landscape in the Midwest for generations to come.

Small farms in the “domestic fair trade” context
*  Manual labor—particularly agricultural labor—is dignified and important, and should be respected and honored by society at large.
*  Farm employers like Featherstone Farm have a responsibility to set out clear and transparent, just terms for employees, and to implement them fairly and respectfully.

Small farms in the educational, “community building” context
*  A “market farm” like Featherstone Farm exists in a community of employees, farmers, neighbors and customers, which is supportive and sustaining for each.
*  These relationships have a grounding in shared values of openness, integrity and inclusiveness. Moreover, the idea that a farm like Featherstone Farm has a certain responsibility to build, educate and nurture this community with a view for the long term.

Small farms in the environmental context (local, national, global)
*  It is necessary and critical to reimagine the role of agriculture in the environment, from the smallest particles of soil to the largest view of climate.
*  Agriculture should be held to a very, very high standard of environmental sustainability; that it can and must be part of “the solution” to environmental issues of all sorts, from air and water quality to energy use and climate change.

Responses to the other important questions about the farm situation can be found  in the campaign prospectus.  Or you can click to see individual answers.

Q: What steps have we already taken to "tighten the belt" and deal with 2016 crop losses internally? A:

Q: If persistent (surplus) rainfall is so universally bad for vegetable crops, why don’t we hear more outcry from other regional farms? What’s so unique about FF’s losses this season? A:

Q: How is any of this going to change in 2017 and beyond? Why is the current campaign for recovery and renewal not “too little, too late”? A:

Q: Why can't Featherstone Farm simply downsize a bit, restructure and rebound from 2016 crop losses like any other business recovering from an economic downturn? Why does this campaign seem to be an "all or nothing" proposition? A:

Q: Why is Featherstone Farm proposing to spend so much money on IT operating system this winter, when we are so depleted financially? A:

Please go to our website for more information and news about how you can help: Featherstone 3.0. 

Thank you for your time and consideration!