FOR LOCALS AND LOCAL LEADERS

Why are you doing this? Finding your why, and the values that hold it together

Before a community group talks money or legal structures, there's a question to answer: why are you doing this?

Here's a simple way to work it out. Answer the questions below on your own first. Then come together with the people around you and share what you wrote. Then write your why down, in one sentence if you can.

If you're on your own so far, start with your own answers. The group comes next.

It's the groundwork for a community owned farm: a farm owned by the people who live there, with a farming family on it.

Why it matters

Without knowing why you're doing this, you'll quit when it gets hard. And it will get hard.

It can mean carrying other people's trust for years. It can mean weekly meetings on top of your day job. This isn't a side project.

The questions

• What are your innate strengths? What do people come to you for?
• Where do you add the greatest value in your community?
• How will you measure your life? Not financially, but in terms of impact.
• Picture your personal life five years from now. What role does this play in it?
• What makes you come alive? When do you feel most like yourself?
• What prompted you to start looking into this?

If you want to go deeper, there are other ways in. Choose from a long list of values. Write your own eulogy and pull out what matters. Describe a moment when everything felt right, and name the values being honoured.

The reasons people give

• Revitalising their community.
• Making sure the land stays locally owned.
• Keeping enough farms viable to keep a local factory or processor alive.
• Creating pathways for new farmers.
• Giving retiring farmers a dignified exit.
• Economic stability for the district.

Every person has a different main reason. Every reason is valid. Yours will be too.

Ten values we've seen work

When groups share their answers, they land on values: hard won commitments that survive real debate.

• Financial viability must be a given. This has to work commercially, not just feel good.
• Community driven. Local decisions, made by locals.
• Transparency and open book. No hidden numbers, no secrets, no surprises.
• Innovation and best practice. Use the best farming methods, not just the cheapest.
• Pathways to ownership. Share farmers move into ownership over time. That's the whole point.
• Resilience and long-term thinking. This is a decade long commitment, not a quick win.
• Integrity and respect. Treat every person, farmer, backer and community member with honesty.
• Security for farmers and industry. A stable platform for new farmers to build a life.
• Success through quality and excellence. Run the farms well, produce good product, do it properly.
• Communication and storytelling. Document the journey. Tell the story. Bring people along.

Yours might differ. That's fine, as long as the people around you share them.

Put them to work

The values count most when you bring other people in. Tell your neighbours plainly what you want to do, the values behind it, and the risks.

When your backers live down the road, accountability is close. They can see the farm. They know the farmer. They drive past it on the way to the shops.

That cuts both ways. It's a weight to carry. And it's rewarding to watch other people succeed because of what you started.

So keep it lean, transparent and accountable. Then use the values as the test for every hard call: what do they say?

The measure that counts is families on the farms, and a district that's still full instead of emptying out.

The full guide, Community Owned Farms, is free at cultivatefarms.com/resources.

You can build your own plan at cultivatefarms.com/plan.