ISLAND programs: supporting beginning farmers

It is hard starting a farm. Land is expensive, and loans are hard to get without farm management experience. But farm managerial positions are few and far between. 

Farm incubator programs help beginning farm entrepreneurs establish a business by providing resources like land, shared equipment, and business consultation.

ISLAND's innovative new farmer residency program is a farm business incubator located at the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy's Maple Bay Farm. Our goal is to minimize the barriers to farming, building our local foodshed one successful farmer at a time.

“I would love to see an incubator project that allows for independent farmers to come in and pilot their business to be able to build up the capital and take the farm business off site. This type of resource is very hard to find, and being able to work with a program that acts as a stepping stone between doing an internship and becoming a farmer/landowner/business owner is ideal.”  —response to ISLAND’s farmer residency needs assessment

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