BFRDP Projects

Feed Rhode Island: Growing Sustainable Farms seeks to increase the number and success of limited resource and socially disadvantaged beginning farmers in the state. Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) accomplishes this goal by leading an experienced team to undertake four objectives: provide training and technical assistance, manage multiple incubator sites, offer on-farm apprentice training, and facilitate a land transfer working group. Partners include RI Department of Environmental Management, Brown University, RI Land Trust Council, Nature Conservancy RI Chapter, Northeast Organic Farming Association, Northern Rhode Island Conservation District, Young Farmers Network, and University of Rhode Island. 

Through this program, the organization leverages the experience and relationships of program partners into meaningful outcomes that would otherwise take years to achieve. Technical assistance and training for urban and rural farmers launches them onto their own farms. It moves urban farmers onto larger plots of land. It leads to new behaviors that increase production and strengthen co-operative marketing while improving sales and boosting Rhode Island's economy. Support for an expanded apprentice program increases the number of people who are prepared to begin their own farm businesses. Effective management of incubator space, combined with execution of a broadly supported land transfer strategy creates new independent farms in a state where land values are astronomically high. Feed Rhode Island: Growing Sustainable Farms helps SCLT create significant change quickly in Rhode Island.