California FarmLink’s mission is to invest in the prosperity of farmers and ranchers through lending, education, and access to land. The organization is certified as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), one of the first in the nation focused on sustainable and organic agriculture as well as economic and environmental resilience. We believe that successful farm, ranch, and fisheries businesses can support local food systems, living-wage jobs, and a healthy environment.

California FarmLink envisions a healthy food system where farmers and ranchers have equitable opportunities to build wealth and conserve natural resources. We value equitable access to opportunity, resilient working landscapes, fairness and accountability, and learning from diverse farmers and ranchers.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: Create genuine economic opportunities for beginning and limited-resource farmers, ranchers and fishers.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Two: Build wealth among beginning farmers, ranchers and fishers, with a focus on people of color, by providing training and technical assistance.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Three: Help those served to gain secure access to the land, infrastructure and equipment necessary to grow and maintain resilient businesses.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Describe an investment in leadership

California FarmLink maintains an annual budget for each staff member to use as they see fit for professional and personal development and leadership coaching.The organization is able to access a network of volunteer coaches available to work with staff members, along with key industry conferences and training seminars. Leadership development among clients is underway with the creation of a six-member Farmer Advisory Council in 2022. The Council provides insight on matters related to programs and services impacting the Council members’ communities, program effectiveness, identifying potential improvements to services, and understanding emerging demands from various client communities.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Thought Leadership

• Raising Awareness

• Community Building

• Policy Advocacy

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

Our staff maintain involvement in a wide variety of partnerships and communications activities that help contribute our unique knowledge while also learning from others to support our continuous improvement. FarmLink staff are involved in federal and state policy coalitions, CDFI industry leadership groups, farm conferences and other forums. As one of very few farm-, ranch-, and fisheries-focused Community Development Financial Institutions, one of our greatest areas of focus is to help other groups serving these businesses learn how we have created and sustained our programs and services.

One of the most important adaptations has been California FarmLink’s deployment of very-low-interest loans for farmers of color and low-income farmers. In response to the pandemic's uneven impacts on people and communities, supporters and partners deepened their focus and increased their grants and investments to help dismantle structural racism and remedy its resulting economic disparities. In addition to discounted loans, often at 0% interest with no fees, FarmLink is helping to expand the number of small grants available to beginning farmers, women and farmers of color through partnering with organizations like large retail food co-ops. FarmLink is also reallocating budget resources to enable partners to aid farmers with specific-purpose grants, such as helping cover costs related to implementing new conservation practices.