Help a Farmer Weather the Unexpected

Farming is an act of resilience.

Every year, farmers in our region navigate uncertainty–extreme weather, equipment breakdowns, infrastructure failures, unexpected illness or injury, rising input costs, market disruptions, and other challenges that can threaten a farm’s ability to keep going.

For a small or mid-scale farm, an unexpected $2,000 or $5,000 expense can be the difference between getting through a difficult season and losing critical income, or even the ability to farm another year.

This is why the Roanoke Foodshed Network is building a Farmer Emergency Fund.

This regional fund provides flexible, timely financial support to farmers when they need it most—helping them respond to emergencies, recover from unexpected losses, and make investments that strengthen their ability to navigate future challenges.

“It Takes a Community to Feed a Community”

— Jared Frye, C&F Farms

Many emergency assistance programs are designed to respond after a major disaster. But farmers face plenty of emergencies that don't fit neatly into those programs:

A broken piece of essential equipment.
A failed well or irrigation system.
Livestock loss.
Damage from an unexpected storm.
A sudden health or family crisis.
A critical infrastructure repair.
A gap in cash flow at exactly the wrong time.

These situations can have an outsized impact on farms operating on already-thin margins.

The Farmer Emergency Fund is designed to be flexible enough to meet farmers where they are. Rather than waiting for a large-scale disaster to qualify for assistance, which often also takes a lot of time to get into farmers’ hands, we can help provide resources in a timely manner when an unexpected challenge threatens a farmer's ability to continue operating.

Your Donation Creates a Regional Safety Net

When you give to the Farmer Emergency Fund, you're not just helping one farm through a difficult moment. You're investing in the resilience of our entire regional food system.

Farmers are pillars of our communities. They grow the food we eat, steward our land, support local economies, create jobs, and help make our region a place where people can access fresh, healthy, locally grown food.

When a farm is able to recover from an emergency and keep farming, that resilience ripples outward–to farm workers, families, markets, restaurants, schools, local businesses, and our broader community.

Because this is a rolling fund, your contribution can continue to make a difference. As resources are distributed and replenished through future donations, the fund can remain available for farmers facing the next unexpected challenge.

Help us build a $25,000-$50,000 regional safety net for farmers.

Your gift, whatever the amount, helps make sure that when a farmer encounters an emergency, they don't have to face it alone.

Give today to help a farmer weather the unexpected and keep growing for our region.

Rhythms of the Region Benefit Concert for Roanoke Foodshed Network Farmer Emergency Fund

6 Musicians. 6 Original Songs. Stories of the People Who Feed Our Region.

Team Members