Sustainable Agriculture 2002 - 2016

During a 15 year period, Cedar Tree Foundation provided over $17,600,000 million in funding to 44 organizations promoting sustainable agriculture. These grants were mostly multi-year and large (over $100,000); many were general support. The Foundation established trusted partnerships with many dedicated nonprofit leaders and organizations; through these partnerships Cedar Tree was able to have an impact with grant funding.

Cedar Tree grants made as part of this program employed a series of strategies to help promote and expand sustainable agriculture throughout the United States. Some programmatic work addressed barriers to success of beginning farmers, including training, crop insurance, and access to credit and land. Other projects used state and federal policy work as a vehicle for achieving change on both the local and national level. Several programs worked on reducing toxic chemical exposures for farm workers and their communities, while others explored the use of wholesale markets to support mid-size sustainable farms. Four projects under this umbrella targeted specific cities, and worked to expand urban agriculture in Kansas City, Denver, Providence, and Detroit.

Pesticide Action Network

In 2003, Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNA) received a 3 year grant to support a big idea: the development of portable equipment that would allow farmworkers and community activists to document their exposure to toxic chemicals drifting from nearby fields. With Cedar Tree support, PANNA successfully developed and deployed the ‘Driftcatcher’, a simple to use device that collected air samples which a laboratory could test for exposure levels to airborne pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. This powerful tool enabled communities that are often ignored to fight back with compelling data that could be used in lawsuits and with agency scientists. Between 2003 and 2008, Cedar Tree awarded PANNA grants totaling over $3million to support the Driftcatcher and companion advocacy programs.

Keep Growing Detroit

Starting in 2010, Keep Growing Detroit became a long-term Cedar Tree partner whose work was essential to the expansion of Detroit’s urban agriculture. In 2019, Keep Growing Detroit supported 25,000 residents growing food in over 1500 gardens and farms in Greater Detroit. These resident gardeners are eating healthier as a result, consuming twice the average amount of fruits and vegetables, and a greater variety. One gardener said, “My daughter is growing up with [the garden]. It’s kind of amazing how much she likes vegetables.”

Land Stewardship project

The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) promotes sustainable agriculture while creating positive, transformational change in our food and farming system through a series of strategies that include federal policy work and educational programming geared towards new farmers. LSP primarily works in Minnesota, though their reach extends across the upper midwest and into national policy.

Cedar Tree funded LSP between 2002 and 2015; several of the grants focused on their support of beginning farmers, such as the hands-on Farm Beginnings program and their federal policy advocacy for programs like the Beginning Farmer & Rancher Development Program. LSP is also a 2017 grantee in Cedar Tree's Regenerative Grazing Initiative.

Land for Good

Land for Good works to ensure the future of farming in New England by putting more farmers more securely on more land.  They envision a vibrant landscape of working farms managed by thriving farmers, with entire communities benefiting from increased farming opportunity, healthy lands, and a more secure food supply.  Land for Good provides support and expert guidance to help farmers, landowners and communities navigate the complex challenges of land access, tenure and transfer.

Cedar Tree staff learned from Land for Good for years before the first grant was awarded in 2012.  This $100,000 general support grant helped LFG address the top need identified by most beginning farmers: secure land access.  This grant was part of a suite of grants made by Cedar Tree to support beginning farmers.   A two-year renewal grant was awarded in 2014 for $120,000, and a final grant of $60,000 was awarded in 2016.

Red Tomato

Red Tomato helps mid-sized family farms in the Northeast bring fresh produce to the wholesale market. They support the growth of a regional, ecological, sustainable and fair-trade food system as a way to a better future- for the farmer, for the planet, and for consumers.

Cedar Tree funded Red Tomato for 7 years, starting with a 2010 general support grant of $110,000 over two years.  This grant was renewed twice before a final one-year project support grant of $35,000 was awarded in 2016.

FoodCorps

FoodCorps’ mission is to work with communities to "connect kids to healthy food in school." FoodCorps places service members in limited-resource communities where they spend a year working with teachers and students to establish farm to school programs, incorporate nutrition education into school curricula, plant school gardens, and engage in other initiatives to improve school food.   Like Teach for America and Habitat for Humanity, FoodCorps is a grantee of AmeriCorps.

Cedar Tree’s first grant to FoodCorps was a 2-year general support grant of $150,000 in 2012, when the organization was just getting started.  The funding helped them expand to 50 ‘service members’ in schools to over 125.  A second grant was awarded in 2014, for $170,000 over 2 years; a final one-year grant of $50,000 was awarded in 2016.  During this time FoodCorps expanded dramatically in staff, budget, and impact. 

Updated 9/2020