Elm Lai is a CCOF Future Organic Farmers Grantee.
Elm Lai started farming in 2022 by volunteering for small farms in Oregon. This year, they joined the Oregon Farm Corps Apprenticeship Program, attending weekly classes while farming full time at Good Rain Farm. They currently work at the 10-acre mixed vegetable farm, growing Indigenous First Foods and native plants, as well as poultry and meat rabbits, using low-till, regenerative, agroecological, and organic practices.
“This is my first time on a production farm for a full season,” Lai says. “I’m excited!”
Lai also volunteers with Flowers to the Folks, a program of Feed’em Freedom Foundation that grows and provides free flowers to food pantries, gatherings, and memorials. Additionally, Lai volunteers as a farm hand for Oregon Food Bank’s Unity Farm, a farm incubator program supporting BIPOC farmers in farming, programming, and business ventures.
Drawing from childhood memories of growing up in Taiwan, Lai wants to grow “vegetables that connect the Asian community to our homelands and childhoods.”
Lai holds many ambitious plans for the future. “I want to increase my community’s access to organic vegetables and fruits. I want to farm in ways that honor Indigenous wisdom, promote biodiversity, protect wildlife, and mitigate climate change,” Lai says. “I want to collaborate with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farmers on mutual aid, seed saving, and food distribution. I want to build strong relationships with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farmers in my region and across the U.S. I want to grow flowers for low-income clinics and rehab centers where patients are recovering from addiction, illness, and surgery. I want to work on projects increasing community access to food and land-based healing.”
Through the Oregon Farm Corp Apprenticeship Program, Lai will work full time on a farm, gaining hands-on experience and attending educational events. They will attend classes on agroecology, soil biology and nutrition, bed prep and cultivation, various tillage systems, weed management, irrigation, water resilience, pest and disease mitigation, pollinators and habitat, crop planning, propagation, cover crops and crop rotation, farmworker justice, seed production, winter farming and season extension. “After taking my first soil biology class in Spring 2025,” Lai says, “I’ve become very excited about soil science. Whenever I can, I attend soil workshops to learn more!”
In addition to hands-on farming, Lai hopes to help advance policy and cultural shifts for small organic farms and farmworker protections. “I’m passionate about just and sustainable food systems because of my own experiences with the food system,” Lai says. “My grandparents had a hard time making ends meet as farmers. As a farmhand for numerous small farms over the years, I’ve seen the challenges BIPOC farmers face related to land access, equipment, infrastructure, fair wages, and market shares. As a SNAP recipient, I understand how impactful Double Up Food Bucks is for connecting SNAP recipients to organic foods. As a convenor and community organizer, I know how joyful it is to gather over culturally important foods. I want to do what I can to connect my BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities to organic food and farming while taking care of soil and wildlife habitat.”
The CCOF Foundation is proud to support producers like Elm Lai with the Future Organic Farmers grant, which provides $5,000 scholarships to college and vocational students training for careers in organic.
If you would like to contribute to the success of Future Organic Farmers grantees like Elm Lai, please contact the CCOF Foundation’s Donor Relations Manager Shawna Rodgers at srodgers@ccof.org to learn more.
