Over the past few decades, farming has changed dramatically. Mechanization and increasingly efficient technologies have made it possible for just one or two people to manage areas of land that once required much larger teams of workers and animals. While this has brought major gains in productivity, it has also contributed to fewer people working on farms and, in many places, to the decline of rural populations. At the same time, a growing number of farmers and land-based projects are experimenting with a different direction: finding ways to bring more people, skills, ideas, and shared responsibility back onto the land.
In this panel, we’ll hear from three innovators who are developing different models for collaboration and partnership on their farms. We’ll explore what becomes possible when more hands and minds are involved, as well as the practical and interpersonal challenges that can arise. The conversation will look at different agreement structures, incentives, roles, and expectations, and draw out lessons from each speaker’s experience of building productive, resilient, and mutually beneficial collaborations on the land.
