Collaborative farming models such as incubator farms, co-operatives, and more informal arrangements are common agreements that can help farmers share resources and knowledge. In 2019 there were 1,779 agricultural co-ooperatives with nearly 1.9 million voting members (Wadsworth et al., 2021). These co-operatives can have financial benefits for farmers such as accessing new markets and reducing processing costs through economies of scale. Additionally, there may be potential environmental benefits to certain collaborative farming models that are not as frequently realized.
One of the regenerative practices I have been researching for my thesis is the integration of crop-livestock systems. Integrated systems allow for shared benefits between the two systems–livestock can feed on crop residues, weeds, or remaining cover crops while their manure fertilizes the soil reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers. Increased diversification is also beneficial for reducing the risk of income loss from price fluctuations or yield losses from extreme weather events. The trend however has been towards increased specialization; 30% of U.S. farms specialize in oilseed or grain production with 44% specialize in cattle/dairy (USDA, 2019). While the reintegration of crop and livestock and increased farm diversity is desireable environmentally, it would entail a large amount of resources to transition a highly specialized farm to a diversified one. A more accessible alternative may be to work towards more collaborative farming communities, where specialized farmers work together to share resources and create a more closed-loop system…the concept is explained by Lemaire et al (2014):
“…from a planning perspective it could be possible to avoid excessive specialization at a landscape level by encouraging local interactions among specialized farms, i.e. creating a structured meta-agroecosystem at a territory level. This new vision of agriculture could be a way to reconcile the necessity of diversity of land use and management systems to achieve ecological and environmental outcomes and the necessity of specialization and simplification of production systems to achieve efficient socio-economic outcomes.”
(Lemaire et al., 2014)
Some farms are already working together to share resources and provide ecosystem benefits. This grape farmer, featured on the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation website is working with a neighboring farm to bring sheep into his vineyards, hear more about the strategy in the video below:
While this arrangement between neighbors seems to be a more informal type of farmer collaboration, other farmers are forging more formalized co-operative relationships so-as to share resources and labor, have more access to land (which is especially important for farmers that belong to groups that have been historically marginalized). Read more about what members of farm co-ops say about the benefits here.
References:
Jolley, A. (2018, October 3, 2018). The Co-op Farming Model Might Save America’s Small Farms. Civil Eats. https://civileats.com/2018/10/03/co-op-farming-models-might-help-save-americas-small-farms/
Lemaire, G., Franzluebbers, A., Carvalho, P. C. d. F., & Dedieu, B. (2014). Integrated crop–livestock systems: Strategies to achieve synergy between agricultural production and environmental quality. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 190, 4-8. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2013.08.009
USDA. (2019). Farms and Farmland: Farms and farmland continue to decline as average farm size increases. (ACH17-3). USDA NASS
Wadsworth, James & Rivera, Judith & Lapp, Kevin, 2021. “Agricultural Cooperative Statistics 2019,” Service Reports (SR) 314106, United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development.