Sustainability Flash Poll
Greetings farmers!
As we are approaching the mid-summer frenetic pace of abundant weeds, busy markets, and keeping employee (and self) morale invigorated, New Entry, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and Cornell Small Farms Program are working to collect input on your experience managing stress on the farm and maintaining “social sustainability”, in hopes of beginning conversations that will allow us to imagine and enact strategies to support Social Sustainability on Farms in the Northeast region.
“Social sustainability” can occur when formal and informal processes; systems; structures; and relationships actively support the capacity of current and future generations to create healthy and livable [farms] and communities. Most farms tend to focus on the other two legs of the three-legged sustainability “stool” – economic and environmental, but the “social” piece can make or break a farm’s long-term success. Farms face a variety of stressors and social sustainability addresses issues both internally (including health and well-being, family relationships, work-life balance, human resource management, etc.) and externally (interaction with the community). We are interested in exploring how farm families identify, plan, and manage social sustainability on their farms and with their farm workers.
Please support us in this effort and complete this 5 minute Social Sustainability Flash Poll today! Please complete the poll before Monday, August 6th – thank you.
Wishing you abundant harvests!
- Jennifer Hashley, New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, jennifer.hashley@tufts.edu
- Leslie Forstadt, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, leslie.forstadt@maine.edu
- Anu Rangarajan, Cornell Small Farms Program, ar47@cornell.edu