How the UCF Began:

When we had just gotten the idea of the UCF back in 2013, our goal was to get at least 50 – 100 acres and develop a large community farm, ideally the first of its kind in our region. Hence the name Uganda Community Farm. The goal was to work with as many other rural poor smallholder farmers as possible (on the same land), to learn new agricultural systems, grow food, and market our produce under a single umbrella.

Back then, UCF founder Anthony had just quit teaching after years of battling hunger and chronic poverty in the classroom, and was still running [on a part-time basis] a small environmental nonprofit named ‘Organic Perspectives’ that he had founded back in 2007 while still a teacher. At the time, Anthony was living in absolute poverty, and had no land to launch the UCF. No other local farmer had free land to offer, either.

Anthony thought he could secure the needed land through a fundraiser. It didn’t work.

After failing to secure the 50-100 acres, and securing only 12 acres instead, we had to change our originally envisaged business model, but kept the “community farm” name.

Our goal, too, remained the same: working with many fellow poor farmers to produce specific crops that we could pool and market together, to access better markets. That is the UCF’s goal even today. Many of the farmers that we work with are chronically poor, and can’t afford to get started on their own. So, the UCF also provides direct support to these farmers. To learn about our business model, see our ‘About Us’ page.