How it Works
Contents
1. "The Basics"
2. Scheduling
3. Transportation
4. Accomodation
5. Chores & Projects
6. Tour Specialists
7. "The Math"
8. Ground Rules
9. "The Finish Line"
10. Tour Office
1. "The Basics"
The Missouri Farm Tour is a hybrid organization (both on-farm & off-farm, non-profit & for-profit interests) which coordinates on-farm work (i.e. not-for-profit rotating farm chores) from April 15 through October 15 and off-farm work (i.e. for-profit urban revitalization, restaurant/grocery jobs, & equipment maintenance projects) from October 16 through April 14, with swing-shift volunteers available year-round. The Volunteers are available from "sun-up to sun-down" for chores and the Farm provides basic "room & board" and helps with transportation. The Tour Board (an annually elected panel of 12 Directors representing all related sectors of the Tour) actively recruits both Farms and Volunteers, and helps develop the Tour as a publicly beneficial agricultural engineering program. We will host seasonal Open (Farm) Houses in each region of the State so any interested parties can meet in person to discuss Tour possibilities. Those Farms and Volunteers that express an interest in participating are then given a brief interview (via phone, Skype, FaceTime) to help assemble good teams, and then we list them in our free Tour Registry. Our "Missouri Mules" will be cleared by MULES (Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System). We try to coordinate both the Farms' and the Volunteers' interests in setting up individual Tours. We then send a draft Tour Plan to both the Farms and Volunteer for their review & approval. Once everything is all set, the final Tour Plan is released and the Volunteer gets to work! The Volunteers will generally spend anywhere from a week to a month (flexible) at each Farm. We hope to have a nice mix of participating Farms in each part of the State, with a goal of 50 Volunteers rotating through 50 Farms each year (our "50/50" plan). A member of the Tour Board will hopefully visit each Farm first as part of an Exploratory Tour. The Tour is designed such that Farms can "cherry pick" our Volunteers from the Tour for full-time positions with their operation at any time. Both Farms and Volunteers can contact the Tour Office at any time with any questions or concerns - we're here to help. We hope to put together Tours that are interesting, productive, and affordable for everybody.
2. Scheduling
Scheduling with the Tour is easy - inquiries are accepted on a rolling (continual) basis, and we do all the work! Just call or e-mail the Tour Office (Mike) - we'll set up an interview (via phone or Skype) to explore your interests and answer any questions. Then we'll list you in the appropriate Tour Registry (either Farm or Volunteer). When we get a Volunteer that fits the "Farm Bill", we'll sign them up and put Farm and Volunteer in contact with each other. Each party let's us know what dates would work for them. Then we begin to put together a Tour Plan with several stages (Farms) for the Volunteer to visit. When we feel we've coordinated a good, workable Tour Plan, we release it to the Volunteer. Once the Tour Plan has been released, coordination of the Tour is up to the Volunteer.
For the time being, all interested parties will be put on the Registry until after the Victory Harvest Party in November. Then in December, the Tour Office will review the Registry and begin scheduling Tour Plans for the next year's Tour. Over the course of the year, there will certainly be drop-outs, add-ins, and various recalibrations to the Tour - but the main Tour logistics will (ideally!) be coordinated over the winter.
Maintaining a vehicle when you're not making any money (volunteering) is usually not very practical. Insurance, repairs, fuel costs - none are cheap. Thus, we advise (but don't require) our Volunteers to either park or sell their car before starting the Tour. Obviously some transportation assistance is then required. We figure a week or two of farm chores in exchange for transportation assistance to the farm is reasonable. Plus, each ride provided equals one less car on the road.
"Transportation assistance" can come in many forms. Most Farms will just pick up the Volunteer for one stage of the Tour (typically about an hour by car between Farms). Some may help out with gas money if the Volunteer chooses to maintain a personal vehicle... others may help patch or repair worn tires if the Volunteer is navigating the Tour by bicycle. Bus tickets and train passes work in many areas. If the Volunteer has a truck that could be used for farm chores, some Farms have covered vehicle costs for the duration of the farm stay. One Farm had a brother with a truck route that ran along one leg of the Tour. Picking up Volunteers while in town for the Farmers Market may be a good option... and as Missouri has sizable Amish & Mennonite populations, a ride via horse & buggy isn't out of the question either!
4. Accomodation
Some basic accomodations are appreciated given the voluntary (unpaid) and extended (full season) nature of the Tour... if you can host your mother-in-law for a week, you can host Volunteers! (-;
"Room & Board" doesn't have to be anything fancy - some Farms convert one of their kid's old bedrooms into a Bunk Room... others have set up their detached garages with a few beds and furniture from a local garage sale... still others have put up the Volunteer on a sofa-sleeper in the family room for a few weeks while they used him to build a Guest Quarters in the back. As for "board", some Farms enjoy sharing common meals with the Volunteers, while others just stock up the Guest Quarters with a variety of foodstuffs and let the Volunteer prepare their own meals. We believe that if someone cooks a meal for you, it's nice to at least do the dishes and say "Thank You!" * If food availabilty is a concern, local food pantries, churches, and government programs are available to help.
"Bath & Laundry" doesn't have to be anything fancy, either - some Farms have set up outdoor solar showers & outhouses, while others simply make a Farmhouse bathroom available during certain hours. Same for the laundry - some farms just make the laundry room available at certain hours, while others have offered to just do everyone's laundry once a week.
"Phone & Internet" is for occasional (not regular) privileges - certain times could be allotted so the Volunteer can touch base with family, email the Tour Office, or coordinate the next stage of the Tour. * In some cases, the Volunteer may qualify for a government-subsidized (SafeLink) cell phone with limited service. Local libraries or career centers may also offer an internet option.
> check out the "Tiny House" option: Tiny House Directory
5. Chores & Projects
Farm chores are limited only by your creativity and resources, and are performed at the direction of the Farm. Some Farms like to make a list of tasks, prioritize them, and then schedule activities for the Volunteer to work on. Other Farms prefer to just see what each new day brings. Typical chores would include tending the vegetable garden and caring for livestock. A variety of building projects and organizational activities are also common. More experienced Volunteers (Tour Specialists) may also help with farm planning or marketing. We think our Volunteers are pretty great, but recommend setting them up with tasks on a graduated basis so that the Farm can confirm his/her competence and understanding.
6. Tour Specialists
Some Volunteers with more advanced skills will be able to perform specialized tasks. Some of these include:
Hybrid Marketing - for Volunteers that have decent writing & photography skills, cameras and computers should be available such that the Volunteer can help the Farm with "cross-pollination" marketing efforts (by supplying Tour content to local media outlets)
Farm Surveys - for Volunteers that demonstrate an interest in the business-side of farming, Farm Surveys could be performed that would include a walkabout with the Farmer to assess the Farm's resources and goals, then following up by creating proposed task lists, priorities, budgets, and schedules for the Farm's consideration. This would help the Volunteer understand the hard facts of running a farm. And who knows? It just might give the Farm some good ideas too!
Iron Reports - once the Tour gets established, we hope to offer reviews of "farm iron" (tractors & implements) that we've had experience with along the way
Plow Sharing - ranging from techniques observed at other Farms to things learned as we plow through books before going to sleep at night, there is a lot of knowledge transfer along the Tour - we call this "plow sharing"
Project Management - some of our "Missouri Mules" will be able to pull a heavier load than others, and can be given a project (e.g. build a wood shed, box blade a field, put up a fence, &c) to accomplish with little oversight
7. "The Math"
Some relevant numbers regarding the Tour:
Farm value: Room (~$100/wk) & Board (~$75/wk)
Transportation (~$100 farm-to-farm round trip)
+Phone / Internet (~$25/wk)
$300/week (approx)
Volunteer value: Labor @ $8/hr x 8 hrs/day x 5 days/wk (allowing 1 personal + 1 travel day/wk) = $320/week
"Minimum Wage" calculation for Missouri (2014):
food = $75/wk
clothing = $10/wk
apartment = $500/mo ($125/wk)
bus pass = $40/mo ($10/wk)
bike repairs = $10/wk
health care = $240/mo ($60/wk)
utilities = $25/wk
phone/internet = $25/wk
> typical weekly expenses total = $340/wk
> min hourly rate (at 40 hrs/wk) = $8.50/hr
Most Farms have "room & board" to spare, and most Volunteers have "time & labor" to offer. Therefore, if properly coordinated, "the math" may vary slightly depending on each situation, but in general the Tour should be "budget neutral" for everyone. At some point, the Tour may qualify participants for tax exempt status via IRS section 501(c)5 (foradditional legal clarifications, see here ).
Ideally, we'd like to grow the Tour to include 50 Farms (10 in each of the 5 regions of the state) and 25 Volunteers per year. Every two weeks, we'd cycle Volunteers to the next Farm in the Tour, so that each Farm could have a continuous labor supply for 50 weeks of the year. After Year One ("Exploratory Tour") we could imagine charging each participating Farm $500 per year to be included in the program. (* The $20/wk differential Farm benefit on labor (see above) yields $1000 over 50 weeks - enough to pay this fee twice). This would raise $25,000 annually to maintain the Tour Office. In order to maintain a nice mix of Farms across the state, we could include a "sliding scale" option or simply waive the fee for Farms that help the Tour in other ways (i.e. host Open Farm Houses, Volunteer Bunkhouses, Barn Storm events, &c).
8. Ground Rules
The "Ground Rules" of the MO Farm Tour outline our basic operating policies:
First, all parties shall be "held harmless" in case of any issues. All parties must sign a general liability waiver, but otherwise there are no contracts. Volunteers should be given responsibilities on a graduated basis, and Farms should assume some degree of managerial responsibility as well. But accidents happen, and everyone knows it. The Tour Office will conduct a standardized assessment of all Volunteers, weed out irresponsible parties prior to signing them up, and help resolve any issues if and when they arise. All parties understand that the prime currency exchanged throughout the Tour is our reputations.
9. "The Finish Line"
The "Finish Line" is different for each Tour. The ultimate goal is for Volunteers to be able to successfully farm on their own (i.e. as a Farm Manager) at the conclusion of their Tour. But other outcomes may include:
employment with various Tour Sponsors (e.g. equipment dealers, seed companies, local restaurants, &c)
return to school with a clearer understanding of their chosen fields
taking one of the ideas conceived along the Tour and starting an Ag-related business venture
The Tour Office will try to maintain a Volunteer Bunkhouse that volunteers can fall back to during any gaps in the Tour, to rest up / recover if injured, or to use at end of the Tour to launch their next adventure.
10. Tour Office
The primary role of the Tour Office is to help coordinate the Tour for all participants. We are available to answer any questions or help with any issues should they arise - and we are always open to suggestions! The Tour Office hopes to visit each Farm on an Exploratory Tour prior to drafting Volunteer Tour Plans in order to best serve all parties. We are in the process of looking for a central location (maybe between Jefferson City & Columbia, MO). We would also like to host Open (Farm) Houses in various parts of the state so anyone interested can stop by and explore the idea. Ultimately, we hope to generate a veritable "jet stream of labor and ideas" that benefits everyone involved.
So... want to help train future farmers (and get some work done) as a Host Farm? Or want to see what farming is like as a Tour Volunteer? E-mail Mike Kelly at mofarmtour12@gmail.com to set up an interview. We'll pre-qualify both Farms and Volunteers with complimentary interests and help coordinate a rewarding MO Farm Tour experience for everyone.