GRESHAM, Ore. — Tucked away on 60 acres in Multnomah County lies the Headwaters Farm in Gresham, which is managed by the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District.
“We run the Headwaters Farm business incubate, and what we do is lease farmland, farm equipment to farmers who don’t have the financial resources to start their own farm business,” said Rowen Steele, Headwaters Farm Program manager.
Steele, who manages the farm, said this 12-years-old program is helping shape the future of farmers by teaching them hands-on skills.
“While they are in the program, they can expect to get support with business development; they can get support when it comes to production practices,” Steele said.
Here’s how the program works: Students who enroll in the five-year program pay to rent the acreage they might need. The farm is currently taking applications from now until the end of November for the start of next year’s program. Students can pay up to a couple of hundred dollars a year to rent farmland.
Kelley Beam is the executive director of the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District. She said as most farmers start to retire, this program works to ensure farming continues.
“The average age of a farmer is in the upper 50s, and those folks are retiring, we need to think who will be our next generations of farmers,” said Beamer.
The students also have access to the equipment and other tools that are powered by solar panels, even the tractor that some of the students use is electric.
“What’s unique about this tractor is that it is the same as a 50-horsepower tractor that runs on diesel, but in our case, this runs on sunlight,” said Steele.
The growing program teaches everyone the basics of planting a farm and how to manage everything else you might have on it.