The past year in a pandemic led to an even greater demand for locally sourced food as opposed to traditionally buying in grocery stores. This increased visibility of local farmers and ranchers has also shed light on many of the challenges and systemic barriers they face.
Farming and ranching are not easy! Even a well established operation needs to work through difficult issues, from production and labor to marketing and regulatory compliance. For those just starting out, these issues are even more insurmountable and can lead to burn out, fatigue, failing businesses, and broken dreams. We’ll talk about these issues, and the roles POST & KTA play in addressing the challenges of accessing land and capital, balancing conservation and agriculture, and the need for business planning and marketing support.
We are looking forward to sharing an open and honest discussion about how our two organizations are working to upend the status quo, uplifting the diverse spectrum of individuals doing this work, and collaboratively and equitably creating new and better systems and relationships.
This will be a moderated, 1-hour discussion with time for audience questions featuring Daniel Olstein, Director of Land Stewardship at Peninsula Open Space Trust, and James Nakahara, Farm Business Advisor at Kitchen Table Advisors. The conversation will be moderated by Mark Medeiros, Senior Community Engagement Manager at Peninsula Open Space Trust.
We look forward to you joining us for this important discussion!
This event is part of POST’s community event series, which is open to the general public as well as POST donors. We hope you’ll join us! We also curate a separate series of private events for our donors. Learn how you can support POST here: openspacetrust.org/support-post
Kitchen Table Advisors’ mission is to fuel the economic viability of small sustainable farms and ranches through a trust-based approach to personalized, in-depth business advising. Their work focuses on both directly supporting farmers and ranchers, as well as shifting the ecosystem within which they operate, to redirect resources and be more inclusive of their agricultural practices and their lived experiences. Learn more here
Peninsula Open Space Trust protects and cares for open space, farms and parkland in and around Silicon Valley. Since 1977, POST has protected over 80,000 acres in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties. Through POST’s farmland program, we are working to reverse the trend of disappearing farmland through a combination of land acquisition, legal land protection and strategic investments in infrastructure.