Global Farms

The International Institute Global Farms Initiative is an agriculture-based career training program for refugees with two training locations: the North site, a community garden 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, Ethiopia, Iraq, and Somalia. 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 South, the refugees who wish to make farming their career will be eligible to apply for a loan from the International Institute’s Economic Development Department 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 our booth at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market and purchase produce from our clients. (May-October)
• Refer eligible clients, refugees with a history in agriculture, who are interested in continuing to farm, by contacting AmeriCorps Farm Specialist, Annie Rosenkranz, by email: rosenkranza@iistl.org or call (314)773-9090 ext. 157
• Learn about partnership opportunities with the farm by contacting Global Farms Coordinator, Whitney Sewell, by email: sewellw@iistl.org or call (314)773-9090 ext. 134
• Volunteer and internship opportunities