The Business Membership at Cavaleiro Farm gives local food businesses access to the land, services, and tools they need to grow food, build their network, and expand their farming knowledge and skills.

Accessing farmland is currently an impossibility for many, given the sky-high costs for land. We’ve built our members community around a barter system: opportunities for members to exchange their services and skills means that members’ fees are affordable and won’t get in the way of achieving their farming and business goals.

Plus, being connected to a supportive, knowledgeable community means they’re never doing the farmlife journey alone.

Business Membership Criteria

Our members’ business ventures span from growing local food for their restaurant or community to raising animals, to leading corporate events around nutrition and cooking.

There are many ways members can get involved, but they do share some common threads. Our members:

• Are life-long learners
• Are foodies (whether it’s a love for cooking, sharing food, or learning about food culture)
• Have skills valued by our community
• Have a history of success in farming/business
• Share similar values: diversity, community, hard work, learning, etc.
• Are committed to a long-term contribution to the farm community
• Have at least two seasons of working on a farm under their belt

What Business Members Get

Access to farm services

Prime agricultural land, equipment, storage, tools, and expertise are available, so you have the right resources to grow your business.

Service exchange

Our system of exchanging a percentage of your membership costs means fees stay affordable and don’t have to get in the way of achieving your goals.

Monthly Member Days

You gain access to our monthly community meet-ups, where we participate in group discussion and learning.

Access to Farm Workdays

You’ll be invited to exclusive farm days where you’ll learn the latest in sustainable farming and community-building practices.

Project mentorship

Regular project meetings will assess your progress against your metrics and keep you on track with your goals.

Collective power

You’ll get unique access to group events and be included in a network of supportive, collaborative relationships.

Tiny home opportunity

If your business operates out of the farm, stay close to your enterprise by building your own tiny home at Cavaleiro Farm.

Part of the membership cost can be exchanged through services rendered. Our goal is to make it possible for farmers and growers to access rich agricultural land to build a business they can call their own.

A Snapshot of Our Business Members

Antonio Gomes

Antonio grows his Sheeplife business at Cavaleiro Farm, breeding his flock for improved land management and to sell tasty, healthy lamb meat.

Janice Ho

Janice brings her project management and marketing/communications skills to help grow the farm’s business.

Ivan Wadgymar

Ivan’s local food business (Maizal in Toronto) grows crops at Cavaleiro for farm-to-table fare, and diverted food waste become compost and food for our animals.

Keon Thompson

Keon is a professional farmer from St. Vincent who leads our farm’s vegetable growing for our Schomberg Vegetable Box.

Interested in Joining Us?

Does our Business Membership sound right for you? We have a limited number of spots in our membership, but are open to receiving new applications from enthusiastic folks who are aligned with our interests and criteria. Send me an email at [email protected] and tell me about:

• Your farming and business goals
• What’s important to you about food or farms
• Your previous experience working on a farm
• Why you’re interested in joining the Cavaleiro Farm Business Members community
• The types of skills you can contribute to the community
• Anything else about yourself that we should know!

We look forward to hearing from you!