HISTORY OF THE FARMER FUND

Following torrential downpours and floods that wiped out several local farms in 2015, Lauren Carey of Peachtree Road Farmers Market and Darla Millstein of Farm Burger created The Farmer Fund to support farmers facing increasing yet unpredictable natural disasters.

The fund assists farmers that feed the state of Georgia primarily through farmers markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), and restaurant sales.

In 2018, Georgia Organics assumed operations of The Farmer Fund and has continued to honor the intent and vision of the amazing crew who got The Farmer Fund off the ground. Along the way, we’ve picked up some key partners, including Food Well Alliance, Community Farmers Markets, Global Growers, Wholesome Wave Georgia, The Common Market, and The Conservation Fund, who have been instrumental in spreading the word in the broader community in acute times of need, like Hurricane Michael, the COVID-19 pandemic, and most recently, Winter Storm Elliott.

Since 2018, more than $390,000 has been donated to farmers facing emergencies and natural disasters. These funds have been a lifeline to our farmers to offset crop loss, replant beds, rebuild high tunnels and hoophouses, repair broken pipes, irrigation, fencing, and equipment, relieve medical costs, and more.

For information about how you can support The Farmer Fund, go to thefarmerfund.org.

RELIEF IN ACTION

WINTER STORM ELLIOTT (2023)

In the days leading up to Christmas 2022, Winter Storm Elliott brought Arctic air and historic below-freezing temperatures to Georgia. After months of planning, planting, and care, vegetables destined for local communities were decimated within days. Not only were winter crops in the field and undercover destroyed, there was also costly infrastructure damage from wind and freezing pipes. Livestock ranchers reported loss in animal life, and many fruit trees perished throughout the state.

In just two months, our community contributed $230,000, enabling us to provide support to 60 farms in 35 counties devastated by December’s deep freeze. We want to thank all of our donors and funders, as well as our partners – Food Well Alliance, Wholesome Wave Georgia, Community Farmers Markets, The Common Market Southeast, and The Conservation Fund, who collaborated to raise funds and awareness on behalf of so many farmers.

COVID-19 PANDEMIC (2020- 2021)

In March 2020, the Georgia Organics Board of Directors approved pandemic outbreaks as an explicit emergency purpose of The Farmer Fund and we teamed up with Food Well Alliance, Community Farmers Markets, Global Growers, Wholesome Wave Georgia, The Common Market Southeast, and other partners to collaboratively address emerging needs of our local, sustainable and organic farmers.

HURRICANE MICHAEL (2018)

After Hurricane Michael, many smaller sustainable and organic farms sustained serious damages to crops and infrastructure but were not protected by federal crop insurance policies which are mostly designed for large commodity farms. Due to the generous support from local donors and businesses, the Farmers Fund was able to distribute over $50,000 to several farms to help them rebuild and keep going including Clark & Sons, Farmers Organic, Heritage Organics Farm, Local Lands, and Lola’s Organic.