We are proud to share the final report of over two years of intensive community listening, where we interviewed 90 past and current farm program participants, partners, community leaders, and past and current staff.
The result: our continued focus on market development, land access, education opportunities, resource development support, and fresh, culturally-familiar food access in Greater Portland.
Our community farm program–previously known as the New American Sustainable Agriculture Project (NASAP)-was launched in 2002 by Coastal Enterprises, Inc. as a farmer training program and then adopted by Cultivating Community in 2009. Since then, we are proud to have supported hundreds of community members with opportunities that have had a positive impact on food security in Maine.
Our program has evolved into two community farms where we offer secure land access, shared infrastructure, training, and farming support to over 50 farming families from immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking backgrounds. This includes growing and supplying our participants with over 40,000 culturally familiar seedlings every season.
Our work means these farmers provide sustenance and food security by growing and selling traditional crops that nourish their communities, preserve cultural heritage, and expand economic opportunity.
Cultivating Community supports farmers in chemical-free production, focusing on organic growing practices and soil fertility techniques. These practices are not only grounded in what farmers in our programs tell us is healthiest for their families and communities; chemical-free agriculture is also foundational to climate resilience.
Within the context of our changing environment, we continue to learn, teach, and support farmers in climate resilience practices as part of our vision for ongoing community food security.
Cultivating Community also offers technical assistance that is informed by farmers’ articulated interests, while also uplifting their needs to partners and service providers with whom we collaborate and call upon for support.
Examples of workshops include:
- Tractor safety training
- Food safety training
- High tunnel production
- Soil health
Hurricane Valley Farm
In 2018, Cultivating Community partnered with Falmouth Land Trust to start its second community farm on 62 acres of land. The farm is now home to over 50 community gardeners and farmers and their families, growing on 3,000 square-foot plots.
You can learn more about the Falmouth Land Trust’s work to save the historic Hurrican Valley Farm barn, lead habitat conservation, and solarize the farm on their website.
Packard-Littlefield Farm
Packard-Littlefield Farm has been the cornerstone of our program over many seasons. Now owned by the Daley Family, this 500-acre property is protected by the Androscoggin Land Trust and the Maine Farms for the Future Program.
Here, our program offers advanced marketing support and business development services that are accessible within a multicultural and multilingual context.
This program is made possible through community partnerships!
Contact for Inquiries
For inquiries and questions about community farms, please reach out to info@cultivatingcommunity.org or (207) 761-4769.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that here in Maine we are on Indigenous land, the territory of the Penobscot, Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Abenaki nations. We are grateful for their continued stewardship. We are mindful of how this impacts our work with community agriculture.
Header and footer photos by Greta Rybus