Help Local & Organic Survive at Red Fire Farm
Donation protected
Hi folks,
We have a big ask of each of you.
Our costs for this growing season are up 34% over last year. We did not anticipate that big of a change when setting CSA share and retail prices. We are now in trouble financially, and we are asking for your help.
We love our work. We know we are feeding more than 7,000 people in the Commonwealth and making a difference in your health and well-being. We are one of the largest organic farms in the state- the cost to operate organically and hire and train labor to grow over 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables for a CSA, farm store, farmer's markets booths and local grocers is immense. We are proud to have been in farming over 30 years and hope that this tough year isn't our last.
We hate to be in this position, but we don’t see how we can keep farming without your help this year. We are no strangers to hard years in farming, but the challenges before us now are bigger than we can face alone. We are asking EVERYONE for help in keeping this incredible farm going.
What’s going on? Here are some of the biggest things contributing to our financial challenges...
- Our labor costs are up to keep our great crew going in this tight labor market.
- The war in Ukraine and continued pandemic-induced shipping and production issues have made all our growing inputs more expensive, as well as the many things we purchase from local sources. Fuel alone is up 53% over last year.
- Months-long drought damaged crops and caused increased costs in labor, equipment and fuel to irrigate the fields.
- CSA prices got set well before we knew of these cost changes. Last winter we did a big Early Bird push to get folks on board the CSA for 2022, and signed up many of you without a price increase at that time (and we so appreciate your support of that program which has worked well every other year!!). The rest of the shares for this year had price increases of 4.5-9.6% over last year, nothing nearing the 34% cost increase we are now experiencing.
- The farm entered the 2022 growing season already financially reeling due to the loss of about half our winter storage crops in 2021 because of the unprecedented rains and resulting field flooding. Due to this, our winter sales were half of normal, meaning we entered the 2022 growing season already financially behind.
- Our delivery trucks needed serious repairs over last winter and this year and we had to purchase two used trucks and spend 10's of thousands on the other trucks in order to deliver produce in 2022.
Being that the CSA is such a huge part of our farm’s income, we are looking at a significant shortfall of well over $200,000 for meeting our costs for the year. We love to feed you!! We want to keep this harvest going.
We are hoping to raise $200,000 over the next 30 days. This will help cover the costs of the summer and bring the harvest in to keep the farm going. We are also working with CISA (our local non-profit farming advocacy organization) and a consultant for financial assistance and planning - this fundraiser is part of that work. We will keep you all in the loop as we move through this challenge.
We never imagined we’d be in this position, and circumstances out of our control have led us here, which is why we are turning to you. Thank you for your help.
Your farmers,
Sarah and Ryan Voiland, and all the Red Fire Crew
Organizer
Ryan Voiland
Organizer
Montague, MA