Type of opportunity:

Sale (Standard), Sale (Owner Financed), Lease (1 to 5 Years), Lease (5+ Years), Lease with Option to Buy, Internship / Mentorship, Incubator / Mentored Lease, Business Partnership, Employment, Employment with Transfer. More info: I'm looking to start a medicinal herb farm to supply local practitioners fresh and dried herbs. Most of the crops I'm working with require 2 -3 years. I am most interested in a 2-3 year lease as I develop my production system and market channels, but am open to other opportunities.

Equipment & infrastructure:

Barn, Well / Pond / Other water source, Irrigation equipment. More info: I will be growing mostly perennial herbs for the herbal medicine market. I'm looking for a farm with decent soil quality and a clean barn or other structure with electricity to store and dry materials. I would install drying racks and use ventilation fans.

Current farming practices:

Biodynamic, Certified organic, Transitioning to organic, Ecological production but not certified, None, the property is not being farmed. More info: I will farm with organic practices. Transitional farms are ok.

Previous farming experience:

Volunteer, Employee, Manager

Number of years experience:

15

Other qualifications:

Incubator program, Farm business training, Academic degree in agriculture or related field. More info: I hold a PhD in Agronomy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and taught sustainable agriculture at the college level for the past 6 years. I previously ran an organic CSA and market farm in Rhode Island.

Production goals:

Herbs. More info: I hope to test production of 3-5 medicinal herbs on about 2 acres with a goal of eventually expanding production scale.

Personal experience and production goals summary:

I've worked in sustainable agriculture since 2003 when I served as an Americorps volunteer for an urban agriculture non-profit.  I went on to start Scratch Farm, an organic vegetable farm on leased land outside Providence RI, selling to restaurants, farmer's market and CSA.  I left the farm to attend graduate school in 2007, where I studied traditional agricultural practices and buckwheat diversity in southwest China. I graduated with a PhD in Agronomy in 2014, and took a position as faculty teaching agriculture at Unity College in Maine. In 2016 I accepted a faculty appointment in the Environmental Studies department at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, where I taught sustainable agriculture and environmental studies courses and managed staff at the College farm and garden.  I left that position in spring 2020 and am looking to return to farming full time.  I have been growing Chinese herbs on a trial basis at our property in Black Mountain and I am ready to expand to a larger scale for the local market.  My goal is to supply local Chinese Medicine practitioners with high quality fresh and dried herbs.