The Farming Club Coalition’s mission:
FCC's mission is to communicate the idea of farming clubs widely, pilot effective clubs in a few locations, use this experience to produce “starter kit” materials, a handbook and associated educational media, and supply start-up grants to incubate new clubs strategically across the USA.
Reponding to the Great Unravelling
As we go through the hourglass of systems change, FCC provides a strategic six year plan to spark regional action and cooperation
Grants for
Farming Clubs
FCC provides funds to farmers to lead Farming Clubs that restore soil, grow healthy food, and rekindle cooperative efforts for regional food systems
Strategic Relocalization
Grants are issued through an RFP, and will be chosen with an eye to first establish Farming Clubs then leverage regional resources for revivial
Why We Think This Will Work
Current systems are failing, and many people feel insecure in terms of finance and health. At the same time, social isolation reinforces lack of agency. Farming clubs offer the kinds of security people need in a crisis, basic needs and social bonds, while also being a fun kind of challenge under normal circumstances.
Scalable alternatives to farming clubs don’t exist. The family homestead model is too expensive, can be isolating, and often fails from the homesteaders’ lack of experience. And while buying from local farmers is a decent option, in the context of an economic depression with high unemployment rates this too may be unreliable and incomplete. The club model is a non-market alternative to food provisioning that aligns with the rise of informal economies during periods of duress.
Our approach is to train small farmers, preferably using organic practices who believe in sustainable food systems, on how to run a farming club. This curriculum would include the basics on how to “coach” for success. A coach’s job is to read the developmental level of their clients (physical, cognitive, and emotional) and adapt lessons accordingly. There are research-based systems for coaching sports that can be applied to teaching farming skills. In a farming club the members are there to become farmers, not to be told what to do as laborers.
After receiving feedback from many farmers following a podcast interview with Nate Hagens on The Great Simplification, we see the need to establish an organization that can provide “starter-kit” materials, coordinate peer networks, and distribute seed grants to clubs. Collaborations between expert farmers and non-expert club members who slowly become farmers themselves could be replicated in a variety of places with variable conditions, offering a unique response to contemporary challenges for land management, farmer livelihood, and human flourishing.
Farming clubs help revive civic engagement as they are a form of civic engagement. Once a farming club is established this will plant the seed of the idea in other areas of that region, even without a FCC grant. As staff are added, we will determine ways to efficiently leverage regional dollars, relationships, and media to create new farming clubs near existing ones. Further, by training prospective farmer-coaches they become part of the peer network referenced above, natural leaders and likely recipients of regional grants for expansion efforts.
We expect our RFP to attract potential clubs with a diversity of situations–both geographically and demographically–and plan for our materials and network to be adaptable in situations of greater and lesser resources of different kinds. The FCC is a response fit for the times. As global instabilities increase more people will naturally turn to local food procurement methods, but it is not obvious how these may scale since finance is not generally available to small, locally-oriented farmers, and the labor force for local farming is usually lacking. Collaboratively regenerating soil and cultivating healthy food brings together people of all ages and ethnicities, all educational levels, and political perspectives.
What is a Farming Club?
It is a new model of how people relate to farmland and their food, at least in this modern era. Instead of paying someone to grow food for them, people work together to grow their food under the guidance of an experienced farmer. Club members save money on food, develop meaningful skills, build community, have access to nature, get regular exercise, and eat a healthy diet. Farmers become valued for their expertise, socially connected instead of isolated, earn income, and farm and steward land with non-professional labor.
Background: Small Farmer Relies on Friends
Jason Bradford of Confluence Farms in Corvallis, OR, was injured in the winter of 2024 but instead of quitting farming, he asked his friends for help. The crew of about a dozen got the cash crops harvested while being taught how to grow food for themselves. Jason’s body has healed, but his friends won’t go away. The Confluence Farming Club has become a thriving association of new farmers, being trained in diverse skills and gaining experience in all aspects of farm decision making and work. As we begin the 2026 growing cycle, the Club is steadily developing a robust set of useful governance and how-to documents, balancing the need for both structure and creativity, and responding to the educational needs of the members.