Greetings Co-op Owners, Good Humus CSA Members and friends of small farms! At year’s end, we reflect on the gift of glorious local food we’ve received each season, and we thank you for supporting our small farms and local food movement. Now, with another boost from folks like yourselves, One Farm at a Time is poised to secure the Good Humus agricultural conservation easement in 2013!

Help us raise $13,000 for 2013! We have received matching challenges totaling $13,000 from the Columbia Foundation, Forza Communications, the Hoes Down Harvest Festival and Organic Valley for this easement project. Please help us meet this match! Make a tax-deductable donation to One Farm at a Time today!

Our region is blessed with staggering agricultural bounty — much of it from farms we can visit and farmers we know by name. But we must not take this relationship for granted. In California, there are now nine farmers over the age of 65 for every one under 35, and an average of 40,000 acres of agricultural land are being paved over each year. If these trends continue, will our children and grandchildren have the opportunity to visit the farms that grow their food?

With your help, we are creating a future where the people who enjoy local food can support the farms and farmers who provide it. Farms will be protected from development so they can continue to provide food for our community. Young farmers, some trained in local farmer training programs, will be able to connect with seasoned farmers and afford to take over farms that might otherwise be sold off to developers.

The goal of our pilot project is to purchase an innovative conservation easement that will preserve Good Humus as an affordable, working farm in perpetuity. The easement, which is expected to cost over $300,000, essentially removes all residential development value from this 20-acre farm.

With the completion of the Good Humus easement project, One Farm at a Time can begin serving as a model for food co-ops and farms to make a real difference in the future of regional food systems. Briar Patch Co-op in Grass Valley has recently pledged to join us as a new partner, and we expect more food co-ops to join us in the near future.

So far we have raised about $280,000, thanks in great part to people like yourself who care about where your food will come from in the future. If you can help us meet the challenge match, we will be able to finalize the groundbreaking Good Humus easement project and move on to preserve the next small farm!

Jeff and Annie Main began this campaign with the support of the Massachusetts-based nonprofit Equity Trust. The One Farm at a Time collaboration continues that work, with commitments from vendor partners who donate a percentage of product sales at the participating food co-ops. Over $16,000 has been raised so far in this way, from Equal Exchange Co-op ($9,270), Straus Family Creamery ($3,250), Frontier Natural Products Co-op/Simply Organic ($2,322) and Pachamama Coffee Co-op ($1,302).

Invest in the future of our local farms today and help ensure sources of fresh local food for generations to come. Make your tax-deductible donation online at www.onefarmatatime.org or send a check made out to TPCF/OFAAT to Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation 216 F St. #1844 Davis, CA 95616. If you can, pledge to give a sustainable gift with a monthly recurring donation on your debit or credit card.

Thank you for your continued support and best wishes for the New Year!