Looking back at 35 years of Center for Rural Affairs history, it is easy to see some of the landmark projects that defined the Center for Rural Affairs. Reports like Who Will Sit Up With the Corporate Sow? and Wheels of Fortune put the Center on the map when it came to research and policy. But the Center also became know for its work with farmers on the ground, in rural Nebraska. One of the very first projects of the Center, the Small Farm Energy Project, defined the Center and its values in a way that rings true today.

A three-year (1976-1980) research and demonstration project funded by the federal Community Services Administration working with 48 farms in Cedar County, Neb., the Small Farm Energy Project sought to demonstrate that the adoption of alternative energy technologies by small family farms can make positive contributions to their incomes. To make a three-year story short, it worked. And it worked. In 1979, an average of $1,138 in energy expenses was saved for each participating farm.

More importantly, the project put the Center on the map when it came to on-farm sustainable agriculture research, and helped propel the Center for Rural Affairs into the top tier of nonprofits working in the sustainable agriculture field.

Martin Kleinschmit has worked directly for the Center for Rural Affairs since 1993, but he first encountered the Center in 1976 as a farmer working with the Project. As Martin remembers:

They used that project; because our farms turned into “show and tells” for other foundations [to raise money for future work]. I remember a lady showed up from the Ford Foundation on a muddy day in her heels; ruined her shoes. But largely because of that visit, the Ford Foundation got introduced to the Center for Rural Affairs. That project, as I understand it, turned into a huge steppingstone for the Center to enter the real world. … They brought people out all the time [to visit the farm]. We were also targeted for foreign tours, people from other countries came to see us.

But the Small Farm Energy Project wasn’t just a benefit for the Center for Rural Affairs, and its benefits went far beyond a cold dollars and cents calculation. Martin:

What it did for us, as individuals— it led us to believe we could make a difference, that we are not powerless, that we can make decisions that are going to change our future. That was the message of the Center then— you can make a difference.

Thirty years later, that is still a primary message of the Center for Rural Affairs, and it is one that I hope we articulate as well today as we have in the past. And the impact of the Small Farm Energy Project continues today as well. Later this summer, Martin will host a renewable energy presentation at the Cedar County Fairgrounds, and several local farmers will be there to lend Martin a hand. Farmers who, 30 years ago, started working together through a Center for Rural Affairs program, the Small Farm Energy Project.

Contact: Dan Owens, dano@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x 1017 for more information. See the Small Farm Energy Primer, a report from the Small Farm Energy Project.