Global Farms

The International Institute Global Farms Initiative is an agriculture-based career training program for refugees with two training locations: the North site, at Hodiamont and Plymouth Ave. and the South site, an incubator farm in the Botanical Heights Neighborhood. The goal of our agriculture job training program is to provide refugees who desire a career in agriculture with a variety of educational opportunities intended for replication in their own farming endeavors. This job training program is a low-cost alternative for our new American farmers and a means to economic self-sufficiency.

Farmers come from a variety of countries including Burundi, Bhutan, Burma, Ethiopia, Iraq, Nepal, Somali and Sudan. These new Americans will be guided through an intensive season of growing and marketing produce which will contribute to their individual careers as farmers. After completing the program at Global Farms, the refugees who wish to make farming their career will be eligible to apply for a loan from the International Institute Community Development Corporation to lease or buy their own land for farming. Each year, the program accepts 30-40 new farmers into our intensive job training program, many of which will graduate into apprenticeships on production farms or acquire their own land for farming.

You can get involved in our exciting initiative:

• Visit the City Greens Market to purchase produce grown by our clients in addition to local meat, eggs, grains, coffee and more! (Open all year)
• Refer eligible clients, refugees with a history in agriculture, who are interested in continuing to farm, by contacting Kelly Moore, by email: moorek@iistl.org or call (314)773-9090 ext. 163
• Volunteer and internship opportunities

Thanks to grants from the Refugee Agricultural Partnership Program and Farmers Market Promotion Program, with technical support from Miranda Duschack, Lincoln University’s Innovative Small Farms Outreach Specialist.

Related Link:
Refugee Farm Projects