The TRFM Farmer Fund was launched in May 2023 as another way for community members to support farmers in the Upstate. The Farmer Fund was established to support two grants: a capacity-building grant and a crisis response grant. Although there are a multitude of federal and corporate grants for farmers, many are competitive and complex due to their national reaches. This presents a hurdle for local farmers as most grants are difficult to apply for and hard to win. The TRFM Farmer Fund provides a simple and local way for TRFM farmers to receive assistance. Especially in the instance of crisis response such as fire or flood, farmers can receive help from TRFM within weeks, while federal or corporate grants may take months or years to process. 

The Farmer Fund is now in its second year. The Farmer Fund is mainly funded by two fundraiser dinners: a spring dinner at Topsoil, Travelers Rest’s premier farm to table restaurant, and a fall dinner on-location at a local farm. As of October 2024, the Farmer Fund has accumulated $25,000 to give away this year.

While the Fund was originally established for two separate grants, the Crisis Grant and the Capacity Building Grant, the unprecedented nature of Hurricane Helene in September 2024 allowed for a pivot. The TRFM Farmer Fund committee, which is comprised of 4 former TRFM farmers and agricultural systems experts, voted to put all funds together for one grant, called the Rebuilding Capacity Grant.

Our estimates based on our interviews is that these eight farms experienced at least $205,710 worth of damage.
Two of these eight farms experienced total devastation from the hurricane. Others had smaller damages, but still need the assistance that insurance and FEMA won’t cover. There were greenhouse damages, cooler damages, crop losses, equipment losses, irrigation system damage, event cancellations resulting in major sales losses and a major loss of time as many of these farmers had to spend time cleaning and clearing their farm during a transition at the end of the summer season. 

There are 41 farmers in the 2024 TRFM vendor pool. Staff at Travelers Rest Farmers Market attempted to contact 26 of these farms. (Some had already verbally assured us they coped okay during the storm and did not need help, some had unaffected operations, and some were outside of the storm area altogether.) 

Of the 26 farms, only 8 responded with a request for help. Many of these farms experienced damage but a common refrain we heard as we interviewed was, “I have it bad, but I’ll make it okay. Others have had it so much worse.” 

We have just over $25,000 available in the Farmer Fund to give away. We would like to ask the public to consider giving to this fund to help us close the gap between what’s needed and what we can give.
The eight farms who will be receiving grants from the TRFM Farmer Fund are:

• Estrada Farms (Pickens, SC) 

• Charlene’s Garden (Mill Spring, NC) 

• Broken Oak Organics (Marietta, SC) 

• Freedom Farm (Easley, SC) 

• Horseshoe Farms  (Travelers Rest, SC) 

• Double Blessing Farm (Home of Red Clay Soap) (Travelers Rest, SC) 

• Lyda and Sons Orchard (Hendersonville, NC) 

• Steel Magnolia Farm (Piedmont, SC) 

We will accept donations through the end of the year for these 8 farms. 100% of the funds given (minus processing fees) will go to the farmers. We are hoping over the coming weeks to share their stories so that you can share them with your networks. Some of these farmers are beginning farmers, others have 15+ years of experience. All of them need your help to continue stewarding the land where we live.

Donations can be made online or via check in the mail to:
Travelers Rest Farmers Market
P.O. Box 608
Travelers Rest, SC 29690