The mission of CCPP is to help to create a critical mass of farmers who will adopt regenerative farming practices, embodied in the principles of permaculture, in order to begin to reverse the effects of climate change AND, at the same time, help to address food insecurity.
In order to fulfil its mission, the following inter-related activities will be initiated by CCPP:
The Permaculture Incubator Program (PIP)
CCPP’s main activity is the PIP program—like a small business incubator, only for regenerative agriculture. A four-bedroom house, sitting on two acres of prime farmland, was purchased where CCPP will implement its PIP program.
Participant Training
The plan is to lodge four PIP trainees in the house and to subdivide two acres, located across the street, into four, half-acre plots, which will be assigned to the trainees. They will receive instruction in regenerative agriculture from world-class permaculture experts, like Peter Bane, and they will put what they learn in the classroom into practice on their plots.[1] The program will run for one year with a possible extension.
Market Opportunities and Community Outreach
The trainees will sell their produce through Community Supported Agriculture[2] as well as at the Farmers Market in Mt. Pleasant. A member of the CCPP Board of Directors oversees the Farmers Market[3].
The 3rd permaculture ethic is Fair Share. Trainees will be encouraged to share their abundance with families in need through donations to a local food pantry.
Research and Evaluation
The Soil Inventory Project[4], a non-profit building a soil carbon inventory to provide actionable data to farmers, scientists, and innovators, will help us to measure the amount of carbon that the trainees are able to sequester.
After a couple of years, the farmers will have saved money to make a down-payment on a farm of their own, lease some land, or buy a piece of farm machinery. And a new group of farmers will be inducted into the program.
Agriculture can be “one of the most promising and biggest solutions to the climate crisis” as long as carbon sequestration and regenerative practices are implemented
[1] https://permacultureactivist.net/permaculture-handbook/
[2] Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a production and marketing model whereby consumers buy shares of a farm’s harvest in advance. Consumers become CSA members by paying an agreed amount at the beginning of the growing season, either in one lump sum or in installments.
[3] http://www.mt-pleasant.org/departments/division_of_community_services/parks_and_recreation/recreation/farmers_market.asp
[4] https://thesoilinventoryproject.org/
[5] https://thefern.org/ag_insider/al-gore-promotes-carbon-markets-regenerative-agriculture-at-d-c-conference/