Entering Farmer #20421
My name is Andrew Wraith. I am the founder of the Ecoculture Project LLC, which is a start-up business looking to pioneer an innovative model for cultivating wild food on nature preserves, which can be harvested in a pick-your-own fashion (i.e., forage-your-own), and be managed using a permit based system (much like hunting and fishing). I’ve been working as the Agroecology Project Coordinator at the Willistown Conservation Trust’s Rushton Farm program for the past few years, while pursuing my Masters in Environmental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (graduated December 2024). My studies were split between learning nonprofit management tools (finance, governance, fundraising, etc.) and ecology (Soils, wetlands, etc.).
My capstone research project (something I worked on for the duration of my time at Penn) focused on researching and creating a replicable business model for an ecoculture business. This project was the result of a literature review, interviews with practitioners and thought leaders, and from my own hands on experience starting a business and working at a successful CSA farm in Chester County. The result was a 75 page report (the beginnings of a book), a three year budget plan, a website, and a registered LLC.
I am looking to launch my business once either funding is secured, or a favorable land situation is identified (i.e., low-cost enough to justify proceeding without funding).
Entering Farmer #20396
20 acers or so for vegetables
Entering Farmer #20369
I am 35 years old and a 5th generation farmer in search for a 1st generation farm for my wife and 4 children. I was born and raised in Pennsylvania. I am a U.S. Army OEF veteran. The farm that I grew up on was in Tilden Township Berks County. We raised feeder pigs, chickens and a cow/calf operation. We grew cattle hay and horse hay along with cash crops such as corn and soybeans. I’m looking to use more regenerative techniques to work the land to improve soil health and to use organic matter as fertilizer. My goal is to be more organic than the generations before me and to give my children the life I had growing up on a farm.
Entering Farmer #20328
I am currently in search of a farm to own. I have advanced degrees in forages/grazing management and plan to have a multi-species grazing operation with hair sheep, cattle, and chickens. My goal would be to reduce amount of hay feeding days each year, so I would likely be stocked a little lighter, but employ strategies to extend the grazing season, such as stockpiling. If possible I would like to set aside a little land for pollinator habitat, and in a perfect world I would have some native warm season grasses to graze in the summertime. I would like to purchase yearlings or fall-born weaned calves in the springtime to take advantage of the spring flush of forages, graze native warm season grasses during the summertime, and then sell during the late summer and save the fall growth and stockpiled forages for the sheep to graze into the winter.
I grew up on a small conventional dairy farm where I milked Holsteins in a tie-stall barn, picked rocks, unloaded square bales, and chopped all of our hay once I turned 14. In middle school, I bought my own two Jersey heifer calves and worked to pay off their room and board, and their milk checks (along with working part time and coming home to milk cows) helped get me through college debt free. I interned on a ranch in South Dakota, which is where my love of grazing began and which spurred me to go to graduate school to study forages and grazing.
After moving around the country for school, I have finally found a place to settle and am looking to own a small farm. Ideally I’d like at least 20 acres of pasture and in a perfect world I would have some forested acres for hunting as well.
I have already thought out a business plan and created enterprise budgets for my dream farm, so now all I have to do is find it!