Give Hope, Opportunity & Training to New Farmers

Photo: Shawn Peterson

The Green Urban Lunch Box, a project of the Community Foundation of Utah, is preparing to launch an incubator farm in the spring of 2014.

An incubator farm offers urban farmers access to land on which they can start their own growing operations with guidance from experienced farmers. The Green Urban Lunchbox’s planned incubator farm is located in Layton, UT on an old fruit orchard leased from the Utah Department of Transportation.

 As the average age of independent American farmers continues to rise, there is an increased need to provide opportunities for young people interested in local food production. In an effort to combat the high costs associated with farming, primarily the cost of land, this incubator farm will lease small parcels of land to interested growers. Growers will also have shared access to the orchard’s mature fruit trees.

“I have been contacted by numerous people who see the value in incubator farms,” says Green Urban Lunch Box Executive Director Shawn Peterson, “This new approach to farming allows fledgling agriculture start-ups to get going and provides healthy, low-cost food to the community without having to take on crushing debt or prohibitive economic risk.”

To raise seed money for the incubator farm, The Green Urban Lunch Box is launching a crowd-source funding campaign through Razoo running from November 5th to November 27th. Check it out!