Standing against the harmful practices of the modern agricultural sector is difficult but crucial work. In a system that has normalized deforestation, erosion, food waste, and sky-high greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable agriculture digs its heels into the soil and follows a different path that blends traditional land practices with modern technology. However, there is one issue that remains in both industrial and sustainable farming sectors: barriers to entry.
There’s no question that cost is one of the major factors when it comes to starting a farm: land, equipment, and training all require significant financial investments. Naturally, then, low-income individuals without family or professional connections in the field, as well as youth, are often unable to access land, or even the training to work in the industry. Further, in so-called Canada, settlers and settler governments have forcibly and often violently pushed Black, Indigenous, and other racialized groups off of the land, restricting their access even today. These challenges, among others, are what motivated the creation of Sundance Commons.
Sundance Commons is an Ontario*-based agricultural non-profit whose mission centres on making the farming industry accessible to people who face barriers to entry – people of colour, youth, and low-income individuals without industry connections. Since Ontario doesn’t have a land-matching program, nor does it have an accessible, comprehensive training program for new agricultural workers, Cheyenne Sundance and Jon Gagnon founded the Commons to fill these needs.
One might think that due to the slow nature of the season-dependent agricultural industry – as well as slowing agricultural productivity worldwide – Sundance Commons might also grow at a slow pace.
That couldn’t be less true.
Sundance Commons makes things happen. Point blank.
Their New Farmer Training Program is the only one of its kind in Ontario. It offers free hands-on training and skills-based workshops to aspiring farmers and farm workers. The program is cohort-based, allowing it to offer every participant a comprehensive training experience over the course of fifteen weeks. Additionally, each participant receives mentorship sessions from farmers who are members of the Commons, as well as access to a virtual learning library. Participants who complete the program also have the potential to access land at one of Sundance Common’s four farm sites across Southwestern Ontario, which includes access to farming infrastructure, logistical support, and opportunities to sell their produce.
Last year, with funding from The Youth Harbour Action Grant, the program supported two youth cohorts of twenty participants each. With the addition of two adult cohorts, eighty people will be offered a place in the New Farmer Training Program over two years. The number of workshops has also increased – each cohort will attend fifteen in-person skills-based workshops on topics from irrigation to tractor safety, from beekeeping to poultry-raising. Sundance Commons’ equitable and regenerative approach to agriculture also means that sustainability is included throughout the program, along with some dedicated workshops, including Closed-Loop Composting and Soil Health.
While this progress is impressive, it shouldn’t be surprising. The Commons is a “gritty” grassroots organization run by farmers, for farmers. They know better than anyone that crops don’t grow unless you water them, and they’ve taken the same approach with developing the Commons’ programs. Change doesn’t happen until you put in the work, and they clearly have been working hard.
Cheyenne Sundance describes their philosophy as: “safe enough to try, good enough for now.” Anyone who’s tried to grow even a single tomato plant knows that you can do everything right and things still go wrong, and Sundance Commons embraces the philosophy that things don’t need to be perfect in order for them to be better. And in the agricultural sector, with unpredictable weather, seasons, and thousands of other variables, “perfect” is an impossible term anyway.
That being said, what the Commons considers “good enough for now” is already, quite frankly, incredible. Since officially incorporating in 2021, the Commons has already produced program alumni who are running their own businesses. Take, for example, Carrie and Ming from The Second Half flower farm (@the.second.half.carrie), or Sheryl from Rebellious State (@rebellious.state). It’s also no wonder that past participants return to teach workshops for new cohorts – like Yousef, (@ya3ny), who leads workshops such as Pasture-Raised Poultry at his farm, OGDEN.
But the program isn’t just for people looking to start their own farm or business – Sundance Commons has relationships with employers that allow their alumni to get hired as a farm worker or in a food-adjacent space where they can put their new skills to work.
Sundance Commons is truly a unique organization. Building on the momentum from last year’s successful workshops, the Commons is moving forward full steam ahead towards a more equitable Ontario. Currently, the demand for their services outweighs their offering, proving that not only is their program having an impact, but that there are many people in Ontario seeking to break into the agricultural sector. Sundance Commons sees the potential in their participants and fully commits to helping them establish sustainable farming practices – and by doing so, their impact will continue to ripple across the industry.
* What is currently referred to as Ontario is situated on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, and Attawandaron peoples.
