The Small Farm Initiative is a farmer training program that teaches people how to farm in urban spaces using regenerative growing methods.
Small Farm Initiative
Program Overview
The Small Farm Initiative is an urban farmer training program in the heart of the Salt Lake Valley. Our farm resides on 1.5 acres of traditional and ancestral homelands of the Paiute, Shoshone, Ute, Navajo, and Goshute tribes. Here, our program staff train the next generation of farmers how to grow as much food as they can in as little space as possible. We practice regenerative farming practices, a way of stewarding the land that focuses on soil health, pollinator habitats, cover crops, low-till, and human-powered skills.
Our goal is to continue to build the soil food web and the farm ecosystem as a whole. No-till farming practices have been implemented that include polycultures with annual market crops, perennial herbs, and medicinal shrubs. This system makes up a diverse farm structure of growing fields and hedgerows. Birds, snakes, parasitic wasps, soil nematodes, worms, and pollinators have the ability to thrive in an urban ecosystem.
Learning Opportunities
To learn on our farm, we offer Farm Apprenticeships and Farm Stewardships. As part of these learning opportunities, we facilitate and offer a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. The CSA provides real business training for aspiring farmers and financial support for our programming.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
CSA’s are offered to community members who are interested in eating local, sustainably grown food while having an interest in supporting our mission. To further our mission at making healthy food more equitable, our CSA’s are offered on a sliding payment scale. We are also in the process of getting set up to receive SNAP and Double Up Food Bucks benefits. To learn more about our CSA program, click here.
If you are interested in learning how to become an urban farmer or how to grow more food for your family, check out our Farm Apprenticeship and Farm Stewardship today!
How to Support This Program
Purchase a CSA or Canner's CSA share.
Receive fresh vegetables, greens, fruits, and herbs all season long by purchasing a CSA share. The produce is grown on our Community Farm in South Salt Lake City by our farm staff, interns, and volunteers. In doing so, you are directly supporting our Small Farm Initiative and urban agriculture education in our community.