Re-Generation With No. IL Young Farmers
Part 2 of Q&A with Christine Johnson, plus event update and more jobs
Re-Generation With Northern IL Young Farmers
On Monday, Local Food Forum published an excerpted Q-and-A with Christine Johnson, focused on the first year of Wild Trillium Farm (Richmond, Illinois), which she co-owns with two friends. The article below is part two of that conversation, which focuses on the developing Northern Illinois Young Farmers Coalition (NIYFCI), in which Christine has taken a leadership role.
Christine also has a day job as Program Manager with Midwest GRIT, which — as we reported March 2 — is seeking farmers of food-grade grain for a year-long peer learning program.
In the following piece, Christine mentions a successful webinar that NIYFC staged last month on the crucial topic of land access, which many young farmers describe as their biggest obstacle to building their careers. Tomorrow at 6 p.m. central, The Land Connection, in collaboration with The Conservation Fund and Liberty Prairie Foundation, is presenting a free webinar on the Illinois Farmland Access Initiative. Click the button below to register.
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Q: Please give me your progress report on the Northern Illinois Young Farmers Coalition.
A: Our leadership team is the same still. It's me and Sheri [Doyel of the Center for Agrarian Learning] and Jeannie Jansen, who worked at Mint Creek Farm for a while…And then Laura Calvert at Elewa Farm…
Our biggest push right now is to get more people on the leadership team. Putting together this land access meeting, we started planning for that at the beginning of December, and it just got really drawn out because we're all so busy. And that's not going to get easier for me and Sheri in the summer or any of us... So we're trying to find more people that can step up and help with the planning because… ideally we'd like to have at least some working groups or subcommittees that can take on more of the intermediate planning parts of events and things…
The land access event was awesome. And we are talking about lengthening it into a series based on the needs of our members. We really want more people to just get together and share their experiences. And I think that it's just eye-opening for farmers and advocates alike. It's like continuing against all odds, that storyline is kind of how it feels like right there to me. It's nice to hear people's successes and also in equal measure it really drives me when I hear about failures because I'm like, This is why we gotta keep trying.
And then I’ve been talking with Jeff Hake [of the Central Illinois Young Farmers Coalition]. We're going to initiate a joint policy committee between our two chapters to make sure that our voices are unanimous in talking about federal policy for young farmers from the state of Illinois. And so being able to connect our chapters to our federal Representatives in those conversations, the first thing that we're going to be doing is hosting a series of Farm Bill info sessions and listening sessions and getting farmers engaged in that because that's the priority. That's the big thing on the plate right now…
Q: So as we've discussed with the Coalition, land access has not surprisingly emerged as issue number one. Is the situation getting any better, are you finding more opportunities, or is it getting worse because of high land costs and things like that?
A: Are you asking personally or both? To be honest, I'm not engaged in looking for land, mostly because it's not a financial possibility. And also our relationship with Gary and Sue is really positive. [Longtime farmer Gary Gauger and his partner lease the land on which Wild Trillium Farm grows.] And I'd like to see how we can grow that to be beneficial to each other more.
I think that once we hit that five-year mark, I ’m unsure if it will be. I have to have serious conversations with my business partners, because the commute is not forever. It's not a reality. We share a very small farmhouse at the farm as well as [living together] in the city. So we’re literally around each other all the time, and we're adults that need lives. There are pressures coming from every angle. But realistically that's not happening now.
For other farmers, I think that there are more links happening that give hope for that, but I don't know the rate of success that that's happening… The notable comment for me during the land access panel was from Nathan Aaberg [of Liberty Prairie Foundation], where we're losing farmers faster than we can get land to them. And that's true.
I think that there's so many good educational and incubator programs that exist in this area, the Midwest if you will or the Great Lakes, but there's no bridge to the other side of real full-time farming. It's just like a lot of really active engaged people are kind of just poofing out and dissipating. So that worries me more.
I think the people that are technically skilled and devoted to farming, they'll find land no matter what. We need to help folks get over that hump and know that farming and living in rural areas is the real road that they want to be on.
And I also think credit, debt and those sorts of things are critical. It's fully halted me in my hopes to find land. I’ve basically written off the thought that I could ever have a farm. Like that's not real. So now I have to find versions b, c and d that might make sense for me in my life.
Those two things, coupled with systemic racism, are holding a lot of people behind those walls.
Q: We need a solution to this for generic reasons, but also because it feels like there's a real opportunity here. Between the Great Recession and the great disruption that COVID has caused, it's caused so many people, I would say especially younger people, to consider what their interests are, how they consider their future.
All the traditional career trajectories have gotten kind of blown up. And if the trajectory is not finance and law and banking and make your first million by the age of 28, it's working in a cubicle somewhere, then you start thinking, is this the way I really want to live my life, or do I want to do something with my hands and do I want to grow food for people? I've become acquainted with so much of this brilliant young and beginning farmer talent and we’ve got to find ways to get them on the land so they can grow because it’s stupid if we don't. It's short-sighted.
A: We're running out of farmers.
Q: If the average age of farmers is me, that's a bad thing for the United States of America. Seriously.
A: I just turned 35 and I'm like, I don't know how much longer I'm physically… I'm going to need knee surgeries.
Reminder: Live Local Conference in Two Weeks
Just a reminder that 2022 Live Local: Local Food & Farmers Market Conference is coming up in two weeks — March 23 and 24 — in Peoria. This event is co-presented by Illinois Farm Bureau and Illinois Farmers Market Association (ILFMA), and has great speakers, breakout sessions, and of course networking opportunities.
Early-bird pre-registration and lodging rates for ILFMA members expire at midnight tonight. Here’s an event description from ILFMA.
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Join us for the 2022 Live Local Conference!
The 2022 Live Local: Food & Farmers Market Conference is just a few weeks away. You won’t want to miss the networking opportunities, great presentations and informative breakout sessions. Topics range from the nuts and bolts of market management to the ins and out of insurance, making metrics work for you, grass-roots fundraising and more.
The Live Local Conference is March 23 & 24 at the Embassy Suites in Peoria, and ILFMA members receive a discounted registration rate! Pre-registration and block room rates close March 9 at midnight. Click below to register.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Do Good Work With Urban Growers Collective
Urban Growers Collective is a leading advocate for urban agriculture and food equity in Chicago. Founded in 2017 by principals Erika Allen and Laurell Sims as the successor to Growing Power Chicago. the organization runs eight farms in the city. The largest of these, the 14-acre South Chicago Farm, symbolizes the generational changes in Chicago’s economy, as it is located just across Lake Shore Drive from the former site of U.S. Steel’s massive South Works.
Urban Growers Collection is… growing… with four current job openings listed below. Click the button for more information and application info for each position.
• Seasonal Urban Grower
• Farm Administrative Coordinator
• Strategic Partnership and Volunteer Coordinator
• Fresh Moves Mobile Market Sales Associate
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