UKIAH, 6/18/24 – The Good Farm Fund, a Ukiah-based nonprofit dedicated to supporting farmers and ranchers in Mendocino and Lake Counties, awarded over $440,000 in capital and infrastructure grants to sixteen farms through its annual grant program. The grants were awarded in May. To raise funds for its 2025 grant cycle, which opens in March, the Good Food Fund is hosting a fundraiser at Mendocino Grove in Mendocino on June 23.
Here’s the official announcement:
The Good Farm Fund has awarded over $44,000 in grants to 16 farms in Mendocino and Lake counties. Grants were awarded in May, and are made possible through grassroots volunteer efforts, private donations and popular farm-to-table community dinners, and foundation sponsorships from Redwood Credit Union and Mendocino Grove.
Tickets are currently on sale for the Good Farm Fund’s next farm-to-table dinner at Mendocino Grove on June 23. The dinner will feature ingredients from several grant awardees, including Xa Kako Dile, a farm in Caspar that is led by Indigenous women and focuses on empowering and uplifting Indigenous communities.
“We are so excited about the work they are doing, and it was an honor to award Xa Kako Dile the largest grant of the funding cycle,” says committee member Elizabeth Archer, who co-owns a local beekeeping farm with her husband, Carson Elmer. Xa Kako Dile will be making improvements to their farmstand, which benefits many farms as well as providing coastal customers a convenient option for buying local food. Their project also will provide some funding for produce donations to local tribes. This project is designed to improve the infrastructure and operational efficiency of the Xa Kako Dile farmstand and to enhance its role as a community resource, supporting local agriculture and providing healthy, locally-grown food to the community
Mendocino Grove hosted three community dinner fundraisers to support the Good Farm Fund in 2023, all of which sold out. Says owner Teresa Raffo, “These dinners were created to showcase local farmers and the beautiful, delicious food they grow. I love to eat locally grown food and support the farmers who grow it. We do this in small ways at the campground by buying as much as we can locally. What better way to build community than around a shared meal, and an understanding of the people who contributed to it in a sense of our greater belonging.”
Since 2015, the Good Farm Fund has granted over $400,000 to more than 60 farms and ranches for capacity-building infrastructure projects. Applications are available once a year at www.goodfarmfund.org. Good Farm Fund fundraising also supports the Market Match Program at Mendocino and Lake County farmers markets.
The Good Farm Fund is a community organization dedicated to providing direct support to small farmers in Mendocino and Lake counties, as well as increasing local food access for underserved members of our community. The Good Farm Fund is a fiscally sponsored program of North Coast Opportunities.
