CNGF Introduces the RAFT Training Program

RAFT – Regenerative Agriculture Farm Training Program
Fall 2018 

We are offering a 15-week Regenerative Agriculture Farm Training (RAFT) course in Silicon Valley. RAFT methodology can be applied to home gardens, urban farms, organic farms or Big Ag. This training will combine a grassroots model inviting local farmers, gardeners, local professionals and technical specialists to facilitate a hands-on, holistic, and interdisciplinary training program. If you are an urban farmer, organic farmer, student, home gardener, landscape professional, community developer or activist, or native plant lover, then this course could be for you!

This 15-week course is designed to teach participants how to create, manage and understand regenerative organic agriculture methods. These practices can be translated to any environment. Our course strives to create a successful  Regenerative Organic Agriculture (ROA) model for the Bay Area .We utilize knowledge and skills from naturalists, horticulturalists, ecologists, permaculturists, organic farmers and native landscapers. We invite you to learn ways of growing rich diverse food year-round while regenerating native plant communities, increasing biodiversity and soil health, and capturing carbon. Our goal with this class is to introduce these revolutionary agricultural methods that will enable us to achieve food sovereignty and food security in Santa Clara County.

Food Pyramid

This class is part of a larger goal, which CNGF is initiating this year. By working with other stakeholder groups, including universities, developers, local government leadership, other urban farmers, grantors, local non-profits, schools, and corporations, our goal is to build 25 regenerative agriculture training and research farms in Santa Clara County by 2025. Therefore, it is imperative that we begin the training of ROA farmers before the farms are built. The first farm is scheduled to break ground at the Santa Clara Agrihood in 2019.

CNGF’s 15-week RAFT training program is being offered for $1,200 per individual, with an early bird special of $900 for those who sign up by September 1st.

The weekly training program will run from October 6, 2018 to February 9, 2019. It will be held on Saturdays from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm and occasional Wednesdays from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. There will be no classes held during the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.

Please be prepared to attend all classes. We will be visiting other farms and hiking local native plant communities, including Castle Rock State Park and Henry W. Coe State Park. We will be coordinating ride share to these locations. Coffee, tea, and food will be prepared from our outdoor kitchen area, but we ask that you bring some supplementary snacks if you find that we are not filling your stomach.