The Farm Fuel Mission is to promote sustainability on the farm

As the agriculture industry continues to lose access to chemical pesticides, there need to be replacements that come not from a lab, but from nature.  The people at Farm Fuel have been developing viable alternatives since 2006. The alternatives we're developing must be effective in controlling pests, and also safe for people on the farm, the environment, and people eating the produce (like you!).  In order to scale up and meet our anticipated demand over the next year, we need your help to purchase four efficient new seed presses now.

Farm Fuel is a company started by organic farmers. We hired a great team including sensible researchers who have developed a unique collection of plant-based products aimed at helping growers create sustainable systems on the farm. The Farm Fuel mission is to replace chemical pesticides with safe, effective, and economical alternatives.  We believe in creating solutions for farmers, not restrictions.  Today we continue to be a small and growing business providing the following:

•  Biodiesel fuel for farm equipment, which starts as mustard oil, extracted from pressing mustard seed grown on the farm

•  Cover crop seed to help build soil, sustain healthily crop rotation, and control soil pests

•  Mustard Seed Meal, a co-product of our biodiesel production which contributes to more fertile and biologically active soil

•  The Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD) process for commercial farmers who want to replace chemical fumigants like methyl bromide to control soil pests.  This project is partially funded by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.  In 2013 we treated more than 430 acres with ASD!

•  On-farm consultation and soil health monitoring

What we do is vital to creating a safe, sustainable future for industrial agriculture.  We do this by offering the products farmers need and nurturing close relationships with innovative members of the scientific community as well as conducting our own in-house research trials. Ultimately, we will only pursue sustainable, regenerative, closed-loop products and processes that are scientifically sound and economically viable for growers.  With your help we can continue to expand our production.

Funding will allow us to purchase four more Oil Seed Presses

With your contribution we will be able to buy four new oil seed presses to expand our production of mustard seed meal.  $50,000 will cover the cost of the presses, the framework to hold and fill the presses, and freight to our facility from the manufacturer. The presses we have chosen are American made with great technical support and availability of replacement parts.

After we grow or purchase mustard seed, we bring it to our facility in Watsonville, California for pressing.  Watsonville is in the heart of California's berry country, an area with much need for innovation and technology to help growers as they continue to lose access to traditional pesticides.  Currently, we use an older small seed press, manufactured in China.  Thus far, this press has been well loved, but it's time to increase our production of mustard meal by adding new presses to expand production and make the supply more dependable.  

When we press the mustard seed we get two products; mustard oil and mustard seed meal.  The mustard oil is used to manufacture biodiesel, which we use in our trucks and tractors and sell to other local farms.  The mustard meal is a high nitrogen soil amendment with really promising uses both on farms and in gardens. Mustard meal is the cornerstone of Farm Fuel and our line of plant based products to replace chemicals used in food production.  Please check out our website, www.farmfuelinc.com to learn more about the products we sell. 

FFI Board member Henry Smith with the BioPro Biodiesel Equipment

The Campaign

If we don't reach our entire goal, we will still devote the much needed funds raised in this campaign to the purchase of new seed presses and the expansion of our production.  When you get involved we have some special thank you gifts including thank you notes picturing our flowering mustard fields, stylish hoodies and t-shirts, and even an opportunity to spend time on the farm (and on the combine!).

Why should you get involved?

Everyone wants safe food at affordable prices.  The farmers in our communities work long hours to grow and harvest the food that feeds our country.  Their hard work is the foundation of our central California coast economy, just as agriculture is the base of so many communities in the USA.  By supporting Farm Fuel, you are supporting safe solutions for both organic and conventional farmers.

Farmers face so many challenges including high land costs, labor costs, weather, and pests.  At Farm Fuel, we believe that sustainable change can only come from real, affordable solutions.  We focus on the solutions to pests, normally controlled with pesticides in conventional agriculture, or through cultural practices in organic agriculture.  Both types of growers face the same pests, but use different tools to approach a solution.  As weather grows more extreme, the result is more pests, and U.S. farmers are pressured to compete with international producers who sometimes have fewer regulations. The need to solve pest problems both on the plant and in the soil is key to maintaining our food supply and sustaining the field of agriculture.  Farm Fuel offers solutions to all growers.  Because we were founded by farmers, we only pursue products and pest control methods that are realistic, useful, and affordable.  As Stefanie, our CEO often says “it may work in a lab, but if it doesn’t work in the hands of the farmer, it doesn’t work”.  Since 2006 we have conducted trials and developed products that continue to hold to this philosophy. 

Additionally, the oil seed presses will continue to help us manufacture home grown biodiesel.  Whether we grow our own mustard on a local farm, or buy it from our neighbor farmers in the Pacific Northwest, we are able to produce a fuel that comes from a sustainable, renewable source, and help bring down fuel costs on the farm. 

Spread the word!

Please share this campaign via social media, email, or by word of mouth.  Ultimately we hope to teach more and more people about the practical and yet inspiring mission of Farm Fuel and about the need in agriculture to control pests sustainably.  

FFI Team Members Jonathan, Anna, and Aquila