Teaming Up - Georgia Organics

As a part of our goals to better serve our regional market farming community we approached Georgia Organics to discuss how we could better support their organization and their goals.

Georgia Organics' mission is to "invest in organic farmers for the health of our communities and the land" - they "champion organic agriculture, food justice and healthy families by prioritizing farmer prosperity, engaging children with good food in their school, and convening [their] partners and local leaders to address food access issues".  Important work!

In the coming year we will be working with Georgia Organics by promoting and attending their annual Conference & Expo, hosting a series of cooperative purchasing opportunities for Georgia farmers, participating as a coach in their Farmer Accelerator Program, offering discounts to Georgia Organics Farmer Members, and sharing news and resources for Georgia farmers.   

(photo credit : M.F. Espinoza and Lydia Hsu)

In December, 2022, we attended Georgia Organics' Farmer Field Day, which served as the introductory meeting and orientation for 2023-24 Farmer Accelerator cohort. Click here for a recap on their blog. This is a smart and exciting program which aims to help farmers improve their operations through education and capitalization suited to the individual farm and farmer's needs. It was a pleasure to hear about the experiences of the program alumni and discuss the challenges, goals and opportunities that lay ahead for the incoming cohort.  We look forward to working with Accelerator farmers one-on-one to help them refine their soil health goals and plans.

We encourage any and all Georgia Organics farmers who have questions about soil health, fertility planning, pest or disease management, cover cropping, etc., to consider us as a free, go-to resource for farming advice. We have two full-time, in-house crop advisers who would be happy to help you review soil reports and talk crops, bugs, soils or or seeds.    We hope you will read more about Georgia Organics and what they do, and if you're in the region, please consider attending the Georgia Organics Conference & Expo this February. 

Some of the programs that Georgia Organics offers include:

• The Apprenticeship Program - Launched in the summer of 2023 to create a pipeline for new and beginning farmers while supporting a cohort of farm hosts as they increase their business capacity. Georgia Organics seeks to pair nine beginning farmers with farm hosts that will train apprentices in regenerative farming practices and sustainable business techniques.
• The Farmer Accelerator Program - This program aims to combine expert coaching with tailored, on-farm investments to grow the vitality and resiliency of Georgia farms and improve the quality of life for its farmers. Their Accelerator farmers receive coaching in the fields of accounting, business and finance, profit analysis, loans and leasing, production, and employee management. Each Accelerator farm is eligible for financial support to offset the cost of infrastructure, continued education, employee stipends, healthcare costs, and climate-resilient investments.
• In addition to the programs mentioned above they also offer Organic Certification Consulting, an Emergency Farmer Fund, and Kaiser Bridge Health Insurance.