Goals & Needs

​​

Wild Farm Alliance (WFA) is a national nonprofit, founded in 2000, working to bring nature back to the farm and build a wild and resilient agricultural movement. Our mission is to promote a healthy, viable agriculture that helps to protect and restore wild nature. Our programs are focused on assisting growers with integrating practices that support agricultural production and protect natural resources. Integral to our work, we’ve helped farmers and ranchers with identifying conservation opportunities and helping them with implementation, including installing hedgerows and riparian plantings, restoring native plants in areas too steep to farm, and creating wildlife corridors with trees and shrubs. 

 

WFA's GrizzlyCorps Fellow will promote practices that build resilience and biodiversity through the creation of conservation plans and habitat implementation with California farmers. The Fellow will work with WFA staff to create conservation plans and implement habitat plantings that will sequester carbon, build farm resilience to climate change, create wildlife corridors and support pollinators and beneficial insects and birds. In addition, the member will facilitate and organize a training series made up of interactive webinars, field days and meetings on the benefits of and implementation and monitoring strategies for sustainable pest management. Finally they will help promote WFA’s work through outreach at events and conferences and through social media and other online platforms. A day in the life of a Fellow will vary, but activities include outreach to farmers, meeting farmers to assess their site and needs, creating plant lists, drafting plan text, installing habitat, conducting outreach, organizing webinars and meetings and facilitating engagement.

 

California farmers are experiencing the negative impacts of climate change on-the-ground everyday - unpredictable weather patterns, flooding, drought, and increased invasive species. While farmers and ranchers are adaptable by nature, these additional challenges make it even harder to operate a viable business. Fortunately, biodiversity conservation practices can be used to improve soil health, sequester carbon and reduce GHG emissions. They also provide a myriad of benefits including water quality protection, erosion control, increased habitat for beneficial birds and insects and improved pollination services. In turn, farmers who implement such practices are not only helping to manage the effects of climate change, but they are also preparing their farms to be more resilient to the unpredictable future.

​

​

Capacity Building Projects

​

Capacity Goal 1: Provide assistance to farmers in developing conservation plans and installing pollinator habitat. 

• Conduct outreach offering our assistance with planning and installing conservation habitat plantings. 

• Work with farmers to identify the conservation plan they need to meet goals, assist with writing the technical plan and deliver a final plan.  

• Work with staff and farmers to identify practices that will support pollinators, develop plant lists and implementation plans and participate, as needed, in the installation. 

• Assist with planning and participating in other presentations and online events promoting the project. 

• Assist farmers as needed to identify funding for conservation plan implementation. 

 

The creation of conservation plans and installation of pollinator habitat allows us to work with more farmers in new ways. By having more capacity to assist growers with conservation planning and habitat installation we can help more growers be better prepared to apply for programs through the Farm Bill Programs (EQIP, CSP) and CDFA programs (Pollinator Habitat Program, Healthy Soils Program).  

​

Capacity Goal 2: Participate in organizing and facilitating a training series for farmers and agricultural professionals made up of interactive webinars, field days and meetings on the benefits of and implementation and monitoring strategies for sustainable pest management. 

• Work with staff and partners to recruit speakers for webinars, field days and events. 

• Conduct promotional activities to recruit participants for the training series through a variety of methods. 

• Create an online platform for those interested in sustainable pest management and build membership through targeted outreach.

• Develop and implement an engagement plan for the online platform that includes monthly activities.

 

These activities will build capacity to reach a new audience with our training series events. In addition, recruiting and engaging participants will allow for our work to expand as more adopt sustainable pest management practices. Finally, webinars will be recorded and used online in an ongoing series for those who cannot attend live webinars, further expanding our reach.

 

Capacity Goal 3: Conduct outreach and communication about the projects through communication channels and outreach events. 

• Attend and participate in community events to talk with farmers and others about our work.

• Assist with creation and implementation of social media strategy that engages our growing base of supporters. 

• Assist with email communication with supporters about the progress of WFA’s work. 

 

These activities will allow WFA to communicate more with our community about our work and improve and expand our reach on social media.

​

Organizational & Community Highlights

​

Wild Farm Alliance is a small but mighty organization. Our executive director is based in Aromas, CA, the Deputy Director is based in Minneapolis, MN and we have five additional program staff based in remote offices in CA, OR and MN. We have a flexible work environment and culture, balancing the need for our presence behind a computer and out in the field. Our entire staff does most of our work remotely (work from home) and are in almost constant communication, via Zoom and other platforms. Our previous GrizzlyCorps Fellow was based in Santa Cruz, located on the Central Coast. The area is known for growing strawberries, apples, lettuce and a host of other vegetables. The Central Coast is home to people of varied ethnic backgrounds and diverse communities, with a large Latinx population.

 

While we don’t currently have a physical office, we are open to creative solutions and will identify physical office space for our GrizzlyCorps Fellow. We are open to having a Fellow reside in one of three areas (each close to staff): Aromas/Watsonville/Santa Cruz - where our Executive Director is located; San Luis Obispo - where a program staff is based; Berkeley - where a program staff and our former GrizzlyCorps Fellow is based. 

​

​