Farmstarts and Incubator hubs support a new generation of economically resilient urban farmers & growers with work-based training and mentoring. Farmstarts help new entrants to food production learn all the skills they need in a supported environment. Many farmstart sites provide opportunities for others to share their resources and knowledge…and help to incubate further social and community food production enterprises. Co-Farming is a variation where an area of land is divided up into plots that are worked complementarily by different people/ enterprises. It’s like a blend of Patchwork Farm and Incubator Hub. It can have processing, packaging and distribution facilities that everyone shares.
From the Landworkers Alliance website:
To help overcome some of the obstacles facing new entrants to farming, the Landworkers’ Alliance is working with member organisations running ‘farm-start’ and ‘farmincubation’ projects around the UK to develop a network of best practice and encourage the development of new opportunities.
Farmstarts provide an important opportunity for people to test their farming and growing ideas in a protected environment, whilst building the knowledge, skills, confidence and experience to progress to their own farm or market garden. By providing access to land, markets, equipment and training, farmstarts take
- Grow the Grower – Locavore, Glasgow
- Grow Wilder (previously Feed Bristol)
- Tyfu Cymru, Wales
- Kirkstall Valley Farm – Leeds. (CSA)
- Cofarm Cambridge