SAFI

Sustainable Alternative Farming Institute

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Thinking Outside the Box Sustainably

Volume 2, Issue 1

Dear Friend of SAFI:

Your membership in SAFI supports the following activities:

1. Thinking Outside the Box Sustainably, a bimonthly newsletter with sustainable, alternative ideas for creating safe and secure local food systems, strong and healthy communities, and a higher quality of life for you, your family and friends, and future generations;

2. SAFI-sponsored training for individuals and institutions seeking to put sustainable agriculture activities into practice;

3. Sustainable, alternative agriculture “knowledge packets”;

4. Research plots and a research hotline to provide research data to farmers and consumers.

5. A non-profit general store that will provide sustainable agriculture information in the form of books, seeds, small farm equipment and appropriate technology.

6. Beginning farmers have an 85% failure rate. We feel a solid farm plan to start with would improve this considerably. Through grants and donations we are working on these projects:

   • We are presently assembling a farm plan via computer with approximately 150 enterprise budgets, a topographical map, a soils map, and an arial photo map. This program would give a beginning farmer a solid farm plan within an hour for given parameters. Example: You have $10,000, 20 acres, each family member can work 10 hours, and you want to make $3000. The program would use all the variables listed above and calculate a plan based on the farmers interests.

   • Another stumbling block for beginning farmers is machinery and equipment; how much should we pay, and where can we buy it? We are presently assembling a book that will include where to purchase appropriately sized machinery and how to use it in a sustainable manner.

It is concerned citizens like you that will make a sustainable future with a secure food system a reality. Join SAFI today and take a stand for the environment and your community. The future of our farmers and our food supply depends on you!

Nothing is more critical to our survival and health than high quality, nutritious food from a safe food system, grown by local producers.

The Sustainable Alternative Farming Institute^™ (SAFI) demonstrates that there is more than one way to farm and promotes sustainable, alternative farming, because it is the most profitable for farmers, provides the safest food to consumers, and improves the quality of life for the entire community.

When you support sustainable, alternative farming, you help insure a safe, sustainable food system for yourself, your family and friends, and for your community. Sustainable, alternative farming:
• supports safe, local food systems and viable rural communities,
• generates wealth for the local community,
• conserves our natural resources for future generations,
• relies on local producers selling directly to local consumers,
• develops relationships that strengthen community ties, and
• provides opportunities for future generations to have a better quality of life.

In brief, Dr. John E. Ikerd, defines the essence of sustainable farming as “...the pursuit of higher quality of life—for farmers, families, communities, for all people, both now and in the future.”

When you join SAFI, you join forces with other concerned consumers, farmers, and organizations that are dedicated to preserving the small family farm, the rural community, a higher quality of life for all people, and the sustainability of our society at large. You can help create a future that is economically viable, ecologically sound, and socially responsible.

Sincerely,

Ron Macher
President