Published by C4 Innovations, May 11th, 2026
Care Farming Network (CFN) was featured on the Changing the Conversation podcast by C4 Innovations, hosted by Livia Davis. CFN Co-Directors Andrea Barnhart and Kate Mudge discuss the potential for care farms to act as community anchors nurtured by social purpose.
Andrea and Kate share the origin story of CFN, as well as their personal paths that led them to creating and leading the network.
“We started the Care Farming Network for two reasons. One is that over time we were getting calls, parents who had a son or daughter with a disability who were wanting to start a farm like Red Wiggler. There’s the need for support in starting a care farm. There’s a lack of opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and Red Wiggler was seen as a model.
“The second reason why we started the Care Farming Network was to connect existing farms that were doing similar work, and there was no organization that was connecting these other farms. So we wanted to establish a national network that allowed us to share best practices, share successes, share challenges, and to make it easier for other people to start up.”
Kate and Andrea also help the listener understand the definition and scope of care farming. They share diverse examples of care farms, and Andrea speaks from her previous experience as farm manager at Red Wiggler Care Farm:
Care farming “gives real opportunity for identity as a farmer, dignity of a paycheck. People who are neurotypical, sometimes we automatically get those benefits of having a job and the purpose and identity that comes with that. And I think in particular; Red Wiggler provides that opportunity for people to make a difference. They’re experiencing that therapeutic benefit of being outside and your hands in the soil, but you’re also growing food and contributing to your community.”
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