Local Nonprofit Aims to Save Agriculture in SC by Educating Young Farmers

Lowcountry Local First (LLF) is a great organization that encourages area residents to support the local economy by buying local. What better way to buy local than purchasing fresh, local produce from farmers in the Charleston area? According to LLF, the average age of SC farmers is 59, so what will happen to agriculture in our state when these farmers are unable to work? That’s the question that LLF is addressing with their “Growing New Farmers Incubator Project.”

http://www.thedanielislandnews.com

According to a recent CharlestonCurrents.com article:

Growing New Farmers is designed to work with farm interns to train the next generation of farmers, strengthen our local food economy, preserve and steward farmlands, and improve the health of our community. “What we have learned from the land and our own hard work cannot all be taught, but the experience of farming is a rare opportunity that can be shared by those fortunate enough to have experienced it themselves,” says Maria Baldwin, an organic farmer at Thornhill Farms who will be training a new crop of farm interns. “I am proud to share this beautiful farm and what we have learned with an eager mind. It will only help to shape us all for the better.”

Two Johns Island farmers, Sidi Limehouse of Rosebank Farms and Joseph Fields of Three J’s/Joseph Fields Farm, will also be hosting interns.

Want to donate to this program? Monetary donations of any amount are accepted and a private donor will match donations of $500 or more! Have a laptop, digital camera or Palm Pilot you aren’t using? Donate these items to the program so interns can document their experience and share it online. You can also provide housing for an intern in the 2010 growing season or provide a stipend for a farmer. Checks can be sent to Lowcountry Local First, 1345 Avenue G, #AA, North Charleston, SC, 29405. To learn more, call Elizabeth Beak at [email protected].

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