Community Farm Alliance - Frankfort, KY

General About the Organization/Mission

Community Farm Alliance (CFA) works to organize and encourage cooperation among rural and urban citizens through leadership development and grassroots democratic processes to ensure an essential, prosperous place for family-scale agriculture in our economies and communities.

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Tools, Resources and Network Development to enable Kentucky Farmers Markets and provide them a profitable market, offer fresh food to all members of the community and create a path to the greater good of food sustainability.

Basic Info

Type of Organization	Non-profit
Website	http://cfaky.org/
Primary Contact	Martin Richards
Social Media	https://www.facebook.com/communityfarmalliance https://twitter.com/farmallianceky https://plus.google.com/111104221113751558442

Issues of Focus

The Community Farm Alliance has a firm opinion that citizens truly deserve the right to address their say on public policies. This includes defining a problem, identify barriers, needed resources, create a plan to make change, and build leadership to give a voice and face to the problem. Transformation is implemented from one generation oand secured by the next. By understanding true change in attitude takes time and effort, a result of successful community organization will be secured. Long- term change is the basis of CFA in an approach to help Kentucky create a transition process and develop strategic alliances to bring a critical public voice and vote to policy makers.

Working locally is at the core of the CFA's mission. As soon as someone in office begins to have a relationship and listen to what the citizens have to say, networking and ideas well become upon the region. Organization between office and citizen will create a direct correlation between stories and solutions.

History of Organization

The CFA began its journey in 1985 across the Bluegrass Region as an idea to create a bond between the people of town and the public officials. Within the next 2 years the CFA with the National Family Farm Coalition, won passage of the Agricultural Credit Act and successfully organized farmers in Central Kentucky to resist signing contracts with Seaboard Farms. By 1991, CFA co-founded the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG), and won approval of solid waste legislation which gave communities local control over landfills and organized the first labor hotline to connect farmers who need help with people who need jobs and fights for a new dairy policy to protect family farmers.

Ten years later in 2001, CFA presented the Greenprint for Kentucky Agriculture to the governor which successfully influenced‘Kentucky’s Long-Term Plan for the Development of Agriculture’, This is a policy document that allows the state to redefine the family farm and create a locally driven economy. The content and direction of the Long-Term plan clearly reflects the mission and principles of CFA’s Greenprint. Most recently in 2013, the CFA led efforts in Bowling Green, Floyd Co. and Berea for local food system development. They achieved this by facilitating Community Food System Assessments. CFA organized key stakeholders to get local food into the State Capitol Annex Cafeteria. In Louisville, CFA leaders organized grassroots leaders in the local food movement for a meeting with Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville. After which the CFA clarifiied the process for obtaining free EBT machines for farmers markets.

Programs and Projects