Building community for farmers with Klarien Klingen
Since last year much of my work with Climate Farmers has been in building the European farmer community and creating connections so that members can learn from each other.\xa0\nI admittedly don\u2019t have a lot of prior experience with this so I went looking for experienced and successful community builders to mentor me in the process.\xa0\nOne of the most helpful and inspiring people the this search put me in touch with is Klarien Klingen, one of the primary organizers of the Dutch agroecological community called Toekomstboeren which translates to future farmers and works to strengthen the connection and representation of ecological farmers in their country.\xa0\nThey\u2019ve made commendable progress in advancing awareness of their community and hosting events that connect farmers around their country in the process. Both of which are things I aspire to do with the Climate Farmers community.\xa0\nIn this conversation, Klarien and I explore her own background as a farmer and what has motivated her to unite others around her. We also look into what is behind the growth and success of Toekomstboeren as well as the collaborations and alliances that have strengthened their efforts.\xa0\nI have found the information and experience I\u2019ve gained from my consultations with Klarien to be quite universal beyond just the particularities of the farming community. Her observations and learnings ring true for many of the other community efforts and unification projects I\u2019ve observed and been a part of.