Do you dream of starting a farm but feel stuck on how to begin? Join for an in-depth conversation with Cheyenne Sundance about her farm start up journey!
We’re excited to have Cheyenne Sundance host an online workshop about her farm start-up journey during Black History month! Cheyenne is a first-generation, black farmer and the inaugural president of the National Farmers Union Black, Indigenous and People of Colour caucus. She has grown Sundance Harvest to a three location, three acre farm in south-western Ontario.
Hear about her mistakes, her regrets, her simple blueprints and join for a lengthy question and answer period. You will walk away from the workshop knowing the following:
- What is Sundance Harvest’s Business Plan 2019- present
- Basic financial modelling of Sundance Harvest
- Hiring and profit principles
- How they do marketing and public relations
- Alternatives to loans/common capital
- Mistakes and regrets to learn from
- And more!
Farm Start Up Workshop Details
Date: Tuesday, February 7, 2023
Time: 5pm PT, 6pm MT, 7pm CT, 8pm ET, 9pm AT
Location: Online! Link will be sent out after registration. The workshop will be hosted on Treaty 6 territory.
Cost: Tickets are offered on a sliding scale, suggested $1-$30 contribution. No one turned away for lack of funds: use code FREE in the field above to reveal a free ticket option.
Funds raised will go towards programs for new & young farmers in Canada in 2023.
The event is offered on a sliding scale payment, which means that you are able to select how much you pay to participate when you register. If you’d like to learn more, please go to “What is sliding scale payment? Why do we use it?”.
In this workshop, Cheyenne will walk you through how she manages to keep Sundance Harvest running with about a $10k monthly overhead (min!) needed for leases, insurance and payroll. Cheyenne started in 2019 with 800 sqft and has grown Sundance Harvest (with the deep help of staff namely Maia, Aiden and Erin over the last year) to about 3 acres as of this year.
Cheyenne had zero credit when she started and couldn’t get loans. Cheyenne also doesn’t have settler or intergenerational wealth in terms of land access from family members, parent’s offering loans or co-signing on mortgage papers or any educational background outside of getting her High School diploma.
Cheyenne in this workshop will dive into how it worked for her and ways it can work for you. She is the sole shareholder of the corporation and she has zero investors – and is happy for her freedom by approaching all business and marketing/public relations with an all or nothing outlook on her branding. Her marketing is a key to Sundance Harvest’s success and the reality of its growth.
SPEAKER BIO
Cheyenne Sundance is the owner and executive director of Sundance Harvest – a farm spanning three locations in south western Ontario. Her CSA is produced by over 20 farmers who she directly and closely mentors. Cheyenne Sundance started her farm in 2019 due to a lack of awareness of fair pay and discussion on a diversity of concerns about equality in agriculture from the worker, youth, Black and women’s lens. Cheyenne Sundance is the inaugural president of the National Farmers Union Black, Indigenous and People of Colour caucus. She has also successfully started up the Sundance Harvest Black Business and Farm incubator program, which is fully subsidized for new Black farmers. Cheyenne has no previous farming or educational experience after she finished high school. Cheyenne has never worked on a farm before starting Sundance Harvest at 22. She has true working class roots and a deep interest in workers rights, community land trusts and the idea of the commons for the betterment of all.
Additional farm start up resources
Want to learn more about the integral contributions of Black farmers to regenerative farming? Read about some major contribution of eight incredible Black farmers on our blog.
Want to learn more about farm start up? Check out these resources pages and programs on our website:
RESOURCES
PROGRAMS
I really want to work
Hi Prakash,
Please refer to our Farm Jobs page for a list of available jobs: https://youngagrarians.org/farm-jobs/#farmjobs
Application details for each is near the end of each job posting.
Good luck,
JoHana
Est ce qu’on peut trouver des employeurs qui recrutent à l’extérieur dans le domaine agricole ? Comment fait t il?
Hi there,
Just to clarify, you are looking for employers who are hiring in the agriculture sector in Canada?
Thanks,
JoHana