Andrea Richardson and Rebeca Chacon are farm partners and participants of the 2021 Stateline Farm Beginnings® cohort, as well as members of Upper Midwest CRAFT. They generously agreed to share their inspiring farm dream with us in an interview. ​ Q: Why did you sign up for Stateline Farm Beginnings®? A: We had purchased a six acre farm in Black Earth, Wisconsin. At the same time we learned about Stateline Farm Beginnings®, our jobs were unstable and we were thinking seriously about starting a farm-based business. And we were digging deep into issues of racial oppression in the U.S., how we could concretely support the movement for Black lives and the lives of other people of color, and for Andrea, what reparations would look like. Our farm was a blank canvas and we weren’t sure what the painting would be. Stateline Farm Beginnings® has been like throwing paint on the canvas, and it is turning out pretty! This program is helping put our dreams into focus.

Rebeca (left), Andrea, and their pups

 “I love being on the farm, but I know the reason I can be there is because of my privileges as a white, cis-gender woman that are denied to other people, and I can’t be at peace with that.” - Andrea

Andrea and Rebeca's original garden plot

Garden expansion for farmer-partner in 2021

Q: Anything else you would like to add? A: We are living in a capitalist economy that supports huge corporations and doesn’t support small-scale, sustainable agriculture. It is well known that a local farm puts the bulk of its money back into the local economy and is a huge part of a thriving rural economy, but small, local farms won’t make it without community support. Everyone who wants to live in a world with small-scale, sustainable farms needs to put time and money into creating and supporting that world.