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Case Studies/Spot Lights

AVAC Investment Helps Farmon.com Connect with Young Farmers

Farming is not an occupation for the faint of heart. But when you’re a young farmer, it can seem even more daunting, especially when you don’t know where to turn for advice or support. Farmon.com, a website that’s created an innovative online community for young farmers, is hoping to ease some of those challenges and help young farmers connect with one another.

Launched in 2008, Farmon.com is the brainchild of seven Albertans, including six young farmers that fall in the site’s targeted age group of 18 to 30. “We know that it’s hard to reach that demographic of young farmers,” explains Jackie Northey, Farmon.com’s Communications Officer. ”We also know that our province lost more than half of that demographic between the years of 1996–2006.” Northey and her partners realized that although business supports exist, young farmers were unsure of how to find them. ”These programs and supports are being marketed in ways that don’t reach this demographic – they’re using newspapers, magazines, but that’s not where this age group looks. So we thought there has to be another way.”

The solution was to create a social media website that focuses on agriculture and aims to help young farmers find the resources, information and support they need. It was a huge undertaking for the partners, who until AVAC provided investment, had been relying completely on their own resources.

“AVAC has just been phenomenal,” stresses Northey. ”You know that when you’ve satisfied their due diligence requirements that you’re doing a good job and that it can work. It’s not just paperwork or forms, it’s actually meeting with them, going over your idea and getting feedback. And they’ve connected us with people who can help you go further. We’d been struggling along for two years on our own, but once we connected with AVAC things took off. Their wisdom and experience helped us determine if we really had something valuable and how to take it to the next step.”

Northey and her partners are currently working to make learning and training materials available on the site, and eventually hope to create an online marketplace. When they’re ready to move forward, they know they can turn to AVAC for assistance. ”AVAC’s connections and support are more valuable than the monetary investment... we had no idea how much AVAC had to offer or what they could help us achieve.”