Listing Information

Check all experience and education that apply to you and your farming partners

Agriculture-related college degree, Farm/Crop management (over 3 years), General farming (over 3 years)

Briefly describe your current occupation(s) and responsibilities and list previous agricultural employment and experiences. If you are currently farming or ranching, please state the size, type(s), and location of the operation.

This summer I will be working at the Western Montana Growers Cooperative in the warehouse and maybe driving delivery trucks. This season will be my 3rd growing an 1/8 acre of vegetable and flower seed crops at Clark Fork Organics for the Snake River Seed Cooperative, Montana Survival Seed, and Packet sales at the farm stand. I am responsible for all aspects of management and production for the farm but benefit from the developed infrastructure and tools available to me through my work trade with Clark Fork Organics. I have over a decade or so of experience growing a diverse array of organically grown vegetable crops in a small-scale (<10 acres) environment as well as experience landscaping and operating small machines.

Additional agricultural experience includes:
Lifeline Produce: Field Hand
Fresh Roots Farm: Organic seed production intern
Montana State Research Station: Research assistant
PEAS Farm: Teaching assistant coordinating sustainable agriculture education
Riverbank Farm (Roxbury, CT), and Claudia’s Organic Herbs (Orleans, CA): 3 years of organic vegetable production as field hand/intern.

Counties of interest

Missoula, Ravalli

Acreage

1-5

Planned Operation

Vegetable, Other

Farming Practices

Organic

Please elaborate on the type(s) of agricultural operation you plan on running.

My goal is to create a small-scale organic vegetable and flower seed farm. In the next 3-5 years I'm hoping to expand from 1/8 acre selling to non-organic seed companies to 1-2 acres of seed production by certifying organic and expanding sales to the Triple Divide Seed Coop and larger regional and national organic seed distributors. Inevitably vegetable crops will be added in addition to a distribution method for extraneous vegetables resulting from the seed production process. Eventually I’d like to incorporate perennial crops and animals to further diversify the farm and incorporate practices more aligned with my ecological ideology.
My background is primarily in organic vegetable production and whenever possible I utilize the development of healthy soil as the principle method for cultivating productive crops. Ideally the farm would involve out-of production fields as pastures for animals, cover crops, and compost from manures for nutrients and the development of organic matter in soil.

Land Tenure

Buy/Sell, Cropshare, Lease, Partnership

Please elaborate on the kind of additional training/information that would help you:

Since most of my experience is related to the cultivation of vegetables in the field, I haven’t had ample opportunities to interact with most non-field elements of operating a farm. Any assistance with construction, infrastructure development, vehicle/tractor maintenance and operation, business planning, record keeping, financing, and tax management would help