Greydale Farms

We are raising funds to purchase the equipment and supplies necessary for our Integrated Crop Management system. Integrated crop management (ICM) is a holistic approach to sustainable agriculture. It considers the situation across the whole farm, including socio-economic and environmental factors, to deliver the most suitable and safe approach for long-term benefit. Currently, throughout the growing season, we spend roughly 8 hours per week watering crops by hand, distributing rain water using buckets with holes drilled in the bottom. While we plan to continue to exclusively use rain water, we recognize a need for a more efficient delivery system. More specifically, we need to purchase and install drip line irrigation in our gardens. This will allow us to more than triple our growing space, help decrease pest and disease pressure, as well as decrease water waste. Through the use of row cover, we can further decrease pest and weed pressure, increasing the yield of our crops. Through the use of weed mat and silage tarps, we can smother cover crops for green composting, permitting no-till practices and furthering our objective of sequestering carbon. Through the installation of a germination chamber and heat tables, we will be able to start our transplants on site and begin growing earlier in the season. We practice no spray, no till, all natural methods of crop management, in effort to create the safest economically, and environmentally resilient model. 

Successful implementation of our plan will increase plant success and diversity, which will increase overall biodiversity, leading to improved soil health and improved crop production/quality. The overall effects of this plan will lead to greater environmental, fiscal, and social sustainability.