Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms has been connecting Farms with Volunteers since 1971. It all started with the idea of one woman working in London, United Kingdom. Sue Coppard was working on office tasks and feeling disconnected. She dreamed of the ability for “urban dwellers” to have an accessibility to the country. She worked to organize “WWOOF” which originally stood for “Working Weekends On Organic Farms”. Created 50 years ago, the movement today has listed opportunities of over 2000 organic farms, 12,000 hosts in 130 countries where WWOOFers can stay.
The Sustainable Living show spent some time talking with WWOOF-USA’s Membership Program Manager Jenna Pollard. Jenna has held this role for the past six years and is focused on providing education and support for members of the WWOOF program. Jenna jokes that sometimes people get confused when she says that she works for WWOOF. We are “not a dog food- or anything relating to animals”. Jenna said she got involved with Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, because she “loved to travel, and WWOOF was an amazing way to dial into the local culture. When traveling to SE Asia, with no personal connections, I was able to connect with a local family and learn local sustainable farming practices.” As of today, Jenna says that she has stayed at between 60-80 Farms through WWOOF so far.
So what is WWOOF? Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms offers people with little farming experience the opportunity to spend time at a working organic farm. The people who visit farms to help and learn are lovingly referred to as WWOOFers. WWOOFers are viewed as guests, not workers and receive no compensation. The WWOOFers can come to visit a participating farm for as little as a day or stay up to multiple months in longer agreements. The WWOOFers are provided with a dry place to sleep and three meals a day. They have the opportunity to work side by side with a farmer, to get their hands dirty, and learn a variety of new skills. According to WWOOF, “13% of people who visit the US for these farm stays are from overseas, with the remaining being US members who want to get connected to their local farms and farmers.”
What does a farm stay look like? It could be a food forest located miles away from any town or city or an urban farm right in the thick of it. Some locations, like Sweetwater Farm in bustling Tampa, Florida are small but mighty. Sweetwater farm is located on 6 acres only a few miles away from the bustling downtown city streets, and provides both food and education. Some farms that members can visit raise animals, where you might have to rise with the sun. Others will have you harvesting organic produce and helping at the farmers market. Jenna Pollard explains that sometimes it isn’t gardening that WWOOFers are doing, it is possible that “farmers are building barns for animals, a greenhouse or possibly erecting a retaining wall for a new garden. Or possibly they will be building a strawbale house for other WWOOFers to stay in the future.”
Chris Kenrick, director of Sweetwater farms in Tampa, FL said that he spent his time WWOOFing by just picking up a printed phone directory at a VISA center in Australia and calling local farms. Chris ended up doing multiple farm stays during his trip. One at a cattle farm, another at a cafe, and also at an avocado farm. He is continuing to participate by having his own farm, Sweetwater Organic farm as a host location. Chris has hosted over 30 WWOOFers so far. He says that Sweetwater Organic Urban Farm gets an average of 50 requests a month of people who want to come stay on the farm. They are currently working on building a campground to host more WWOOFers in the future.
Jenna Pollard said that recently Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms completed a study and according to their impact report results, 8% of WWOOFers become organic farmers as a career after participating in WWOOFing. Of those that become farmers, about half of them also become WWOOF hosts. The report also finds that 45% of the WWOOFing farms sell at local markets, 34% offer bartering, and 22% offer educational facilities. 84% said the key motivator of why they are a host for WWOOF is mentoring and teaching. Over half said that helping others connect with nature and inspiring better stewardship of the planet was one of the main reasons why they host.
Jenna says that having a program like this where farms can teach their methods hands on, “is important because organic agriculture regentates the soil rather than depletes it, and programs like this provide a deeper element of people connecting with each other. They don’t know each other before this. It can restore faith in humanity.” And it isn’t just the people doing the farm stay who are positively impacted. Jenna reports that Host Farmers call her and tell her of making “life long connections, and meeting some of their closest friends”. That WWOOF “brings the world to them, brings them a slice of the world.”
While having grown to 1400 farms to visit, and 14,000 US members, the system of finding farms may have changed, but the experience remains the same. These opportunities provide people with a chance to connect in meaningful ways with nature and with other humans. It creates a core memory that stays with them, and often alters their life path. Learn more at World Wide Opportunities On Organic Farms website. Your next adventure awaits.
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