Small Family Farm Needs a Little Help

Greetings, Community Supporters of Local Family Farms

Rebecca and I, Farmer George, are reaching out to you, our community, on behalf of South Coast Farms, our cherished, local family farm nestled in the last remaining "country" left in South Orange County.

South Coast Farms is not just a farm; we are a vibrant community that nourishes both the land and the people who call it their local go-to source for delicious, safe to eat, affordable, fresh fruits and vegetables.

Since 1996, South Coast Farms has been a beacon of sustainable agriculture, cultivating organic and pesticide-free produce while fostering a strong sense of community. Our commitment to safe farming practices, local food production, and providing fresh, locally grown produce, from field to you, has made us an integral part of San Juan Capistrano and its surrounding neighborhoods for almost three decades.

Our Challenge:

Our first plea for help was answered by you, our friends and family in an overwhelming fashion. Rebecca and were humbled by this show of faith in our mission to grow healthy food for our community. It really is and always has been our purpose and goal: We grow food.

Like many community farms today, South Coast Farms faces significant financial challenges that threaten its ability to continue its valuable work. Hyper-inflated operating costs (fertilizer, seed, labor, etc.), weather uncertainties/extremes, competition from both non-profits that deceitfully benefit from our reputation and foreign agribusiness have put a strain on our resources.

The first go around on this platform, our plea for help was able to keep us going for the past year but we face some serious long term financial problems which we need to address. Unfortunately meeting those problems in the world of small scale local farming is sometimes, or so it seems, nearly impossible.

As we previously shared, the USDA FSA was supposed to help us with a Pandemic Assistance Relief Program and approved us for $125,000. That would have paid our outstanding debts and set us back on track in the fields we love. But we only received $11,500 of the approved $125000. That led us to our plea on Go Fund Me. We opted to ask our Community for half of the USDA FSA funding, $65,000 knowing we needed the full amount and hoping we could make up the rest farming this past season. No such luck there though. We are barely breaking even and not being able to plant strawberries last season denied us the You Pick Strawberry Season we really need to be successful.

This fall we were able to plant strawberries for the upcoming 2025 season. Farming is never easy, but farmers have mastered the arts of learning, adapting, and persisting for the sake of healthy and sustainable food systems.

Occasionally the USDA FSA attempts to help the small farmers of our country with programs designed to support the little farms, farms such as ours. In December of 2024 a program of the USDA FSA was launched called the Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC).

This program was designed specifically to help small growers of fruits and vegetables, growers like us. Of course the program was underfunded given the huge demand for help needed by small growers all over the country. But anything was better than nothing and anything would have helped us get over the hump and into the spring harvest season.

We received final approval for funds right after the program deadline passed on January 10, 2025. We were going to make it into spring!

But last week we were informed the federal government has suspended all further payments under the MASC program for 90 days and in reality there was little hope the payments would ever be issued given the current political environment.

Thus we've re-launched this GoFundMe campaign to rally the community and beyond to support South Coast Farms in overcoming these challenges. Your generous contributions will go directly towards ongoing operating costs of the farm, costs we have been unable to service right now.

Why Support South Coast Farms?

With your financial support, no matter how small, will continue to make a significant impact on the health of our Community.

Please spread the word! Share this campaign with friends, family, and on social media to broaden our reach.

Engage: Volunteer your time or skills to support South Coast Farms directly.

Together, we can ensure that South Coast Farms continues to provide healthy local food fresh picked daily.

Thank you for being a part of this important journey.

With gratitude,

Farmer George & Rebecca