NWI Farmer Support & Resources

For many reasons, supporting farmers and farm viability is our top priority. To mend our damaged relationship with food, there are critical questions we need to answer: how do we produce sufficient food that’s healthy for both the people who produce it and the people who eat it? How do we ensure our food systems are fair, resilient and equitable? How can we feed our growing global population and protect our planet for generations to come? The answers to these questions start with farmers.

We must empower farmers to drive solutions and be at the forefront of a global regenerative revolution by making them an integral part of building thriving community food webs. They can help build the system of products and services that are locally relevant and reduce dependency on chemical inputs and imported food.

 

Hey Farmers!

We invite you to connect with us! Here are some things we have going right now to empower farmers —

  • Receive advance/forward contracts to grow food for schools and food insecurity programs. Get paid market price to grow food for the most vulnerable in our region. Advance contracts happening now for our Local Foods for Schools program and FarmHer to Mama program.

  • Join Region Roots Local Farm and Food Hub for support and market development. Region Roots is a non-profit mission driven food hub that ensures farmers receive 100% of the price they set and develops strong wholesale market buyers with chefs, restaurants, schools, hospitals and other grant programs.

  • Access double-up and matching dollars for SNAP/WIC at farmers markets

  • Get one-on-one assistance with your farm or food business from our growing team of value chain professionals. Value Chain Professionals are here to enable you to achieve your dreams of farm viability.

  • Underserved or historically marginalized producers have unique opportunities to join new communities and cooperatives of growers. The Local Food Purchase Agreement Program (serving both BIPOC and underserved) and the FarmHer to Mama program (serving women) are just two examples of opportunities!

We work to provide NWI farmers with:

  • Technical assistance: Workshops on a wide range of topics to support farm viability, support finding funding resources, support with government farm programs, support with farm grants, mentorship opportunities, land access resources, permitting and ordinance information, legal resources, insurance resources and much more.

  • Connection: We facilitate farmer co-operatives, listening sessions and gatherings, relationships and mentorships and other peer-to-peer support.

Future Farmer Support Initiatives:

Our future initiatives include:

  • Develop strong land access programming by working with our local Land Banks, Land Trusts and lenders

  • Create a revolving loan fund with low interest rates to support land access and operational needs of beginning and small farmers in NW Indiana

  • Establish a Local Food Fund to provide grants for farmer infrastructure development 

  • Collaborate on programs and projects to address and repair native land dispossession, historic redlining and institutional racism toward black farmers, and labor conditions for migrant farmworkers. 

  • Offer affordable or free business services like bookkeeping, grant writing and marketing with staff dedicated to farmers’ needs.