AGCO Agriculture Foundation Awards $50,000 Grant to Providence Farm Collective
March 22 2023 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Funds will support refugee and under-resourced
communities to grow food and improve food handling and safety
practices
The AGCO Agriculture Foundation (AAF), a private foundation with
the vision to prevent and relieve hunger through sustainable
agricultural development, today announced a USD 50,000 grant
to Providence Farm Collective (PFC) to support implementation of a
holistic on-farm compost generation system and optimization of
post-harvest efficiency and food safety at its 37-acre farm in
Orchard Park, NY.
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AGCO Agriculture Foundation Awards
$50,000 Grant to Providence Farm Collective. Funds will support
refugee and under-resourced communities to grow food and improve
food handling and safety practices. (Graphic: Business Wire)
PFC is a non-profit that supports refugee, immigrant, Black and
low-income farmers in Western New York who cannot otherwise access
farmland. The organization started in 2017 as a grassroots effort
by the Somali Bantu community to return to their agricultural
heritage and grow fresh, culturally relevant produce. PFC has now
grown to encompass refugees and immigrants from multiple nations
and members of the Black community.
PFC’s existing programs provide a place for refugee and
under-resourced communities to grow their own food, earn
supplemental income and teach cultural farming traditions to future
generations. This project will help increase food production and
boost income for PFC’s diverse farmers by improving sustainable
agricultural practices and soil fertility via on-site generation of
well-balanced compost. In addition, the project will facilitate
capacity building and support efforts on postharvest and food
safety practices for the farmers.
"Refugees and immigrant communities can often lack socioeconomic
opportunities. Supporting agricultural activities such as the PFC
project can help refugees not only secure access to farmland, but
also create avenues for them to produce food and improve their
livelihoods," said Roger Batkin, Board Chair, AGCO Agriculture
Foundation. "Farmers and their communities are crucial to our
foundation’s efforts toward preventing and relieving hunger. It is
our hope that participating farmers will also improve their food
safety practices and strengthen their market opportunities."
To achieve the one-year goals set for the project, PFC will
manage a compost operation, including a stand of nitrogen-rich
cover crops, and provide one-on-one technical assistance and
hands-on demonstration. The nonprofit will also develop visual aids
and signage for its farmers to enhance their knowledge of best
practices and standard operating procedures for efficient and
food-safe post-harvest handling.
With funding support from AAF, PFC will purchase the necessary
equipment to generate on-site compost, including a flail harvester,
dump trailer, litter and compost spreader, and cover crop seed,
plus invest in compost analysis testing. Applying compost will
increase soil organic matter and improve soil moisture retention,
sustainably boosting farmer yields and soil health. During the
project, PFC will work with its nine communities of refugee,
immigrant, and Black farmers, who total 275 farmers and operate 21
small farms.
"Through the support from AAF, we will focus on increasing soil
organic matter and improving soil moisture retention to ensure the
yields of our farmers reflect the tremendous amount of time and
effort they spend on their farms. Farmers also spend most of their
time in harvest and post-harvest. As such, honing post-harvest and
food safety practices will have a crucial impact on the bottom
lines of PFC farmers and the financial viability of their small
businesses," said Kristin Heltman-Weiss, Executive Director of
PFC.
About AGCO
AGCO (NYSE:AGCO) is a global leader in the design, manufacture
and distribution of agricultural machinery and precision ag
technology. AGCO delivers customer value through its differentiated
brand portfolio including core brands like Challenger®, Fendt®,
GSI®, Massey Ferguson®, Precision Planting® and Valtra®. Powered by
Fuse® smart farming solutions, AGCO’s full line of equipment and
services help farmers sustainably feed our world. Founded in 1990
and headquartered in Duluth, Georgia, USA, AGCO had net sales of
approximately $12.7 billion in 2022. For more information, visit
www.AGCOcorp.com. For company news, information and events, please
follow us on Twitter: @AGCOCorp. For financial news on Twitter,
please follow the hashtag #AGCOIR.
About the AGCO Agriculture Foundation (AAF)
The AGCO Agriculture Foundation (AAF), initiated by AGCO
Corporation (NYSE: AGCO) in 2018, is a private foundation with the
vision to prevent and relieve hunger. The foundation initiates
impactful programs that support food security, foster sustainable
agricultural development and build needed agricultural
infrastructure in marginalized farming communities. AAF is
domiciled in Vaduz, Liechtenstein and operations are managed from
Duluth, Georgia, USA. For more information, please visit
https://www.agcofoundation.org/
About Providence Farm Collective (PFC)
Providence Farm Collective is a non-profit that believes in
empowering Just and Equitable Access to Food and Farmland. It
cultivates farmer-led and community-rooted agriculture and food
systems to actualize the rights of under-resourced peoples. PFC has
its roots in the Somali Bantu Community Farm, a three-year pilot
project. The pilot explored the challenges and opportunities of
addressing fresh food insecurity and farmland inequity. PFC
supports under-resourced farmers in Western New York needing access
to clean, rural farmland, farming and business education, technical
assistance, access to markets and the opportunity to farm for
income. For more information, visit
www.providencefarmcollective.org
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230322005050/en/
Aryn Drawdy, Corporate Communications Director
aryn.drawdy@agcocorp.com
Kristin Heltman-Weiss, Executive Director
kristin@providencefarmcollective.org
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