Today’s Solutions: March 29, 2024

Just before Christmas I tentatively embarked on something that looks set to change the course of my life. I had returned from South Africa a few months earlier with seed of many threatened members of the protea family and I was forced to make some decisions. I had to set up a nursery to study the cultivation and conservation of these endangered plants. I spent a full 18 months previous to this, unsuccessfully, trying to find a suitable site. When it seemed all else had failed, suddenly, a friend at a party told me of a small area of land that seemed perfect and within days we had the keys. I was faced with the prospect that finally this was real. But how would I pay for all the equipment required? Simple things like plant-pots, rabbit proof fencing and a shed, let alone a polytunnel, at the end of the day I am a gardener and I earn a gardener’s wage, it was daunting to say the least. As I sat down and really thought about it, the figure increased. Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people. It has become quite the norm for some things. Setting up a new business? Crowdfund it. Got a great invention? Crowdfund it. Need an operation? Crowdfund it. It’s not a new concept: I have seen piers restored, bars opened and books published because of it. It makes things happen for people that do not have the resources to enable them to do so otherwise. However in some sectors it hasn’t caught on. In wildlife conservation it’s still quite unusual, and for horticulture? Hmm. Encouraged by family and friends it seemed to me crowdfunding may be the only way forward, so I jumped into a world that felt very alien to me. It’s not easy to go out into the world with a begging bowl, especially when that world is horticulture. Gardeners, without a doubt, are the kindest, most sharing group of people on the planet, but in horticulture the average income is under £10 an hour. How could I ask these people for money? During the 56-day period of my crowdfunding project I had to continuously bombard people with my message. It was, for me, not a comfortable place to be, but I knew I had to do it. Food writer and food grower Mark Diacono has just stepped over the precipice into the world of crowdfunding too. The Otter Farm kitchen garden school is more than worthy but I don’t envy him the job he has undertaken in trying to raise the £60,000 he really needs to make it happen. Diacono has taken the approach more common in the modern world of crowdfunding – the use of one of the many crowdfunding websites that give you a great platform, on which to launch your project. As is standard practice on these sites, if you pledge your support to Otter Farm Mark is offering a whole range of rewards in return. However, websites such as Crowdfunder, Kickstarter and Indiegogo make their little bit out of it too. The Walled Nursery in Kent on the other hand have plumped for a slightly slower but more direct option. Their Foster and Pearson Ltd glasshouses were built in the 1800s and are really rather special. Alas they are in a state of serious disrepair and the restoration work will cost upwards of £130,000. So they are raising money one pane of glass at a time. You can sponsor a pane for just £10 or a glazing bar for £30 and in return your name will be indelibly inscribed on their ‘Wall of Pane’. My own crowdfunding raised just enough money to get my project off the ground. I am now in a position to apply for grants to help me finance the rest. I am still fundraising on my own website and of course I will be digging into my own pocket and giving all of my free time too. I cannot thank the people that supported me enough. I am pleased to have done it for more reasons than the money; I made new friends, I learned a lot about people and about myself too. But it has left me wondering in horticulture, where money is increasingly tight, is crowdfunding the answer? How do we make sure we aren’t always asking the same people for money? And where should the line be drawn as to what is and isn’t “crowdfundable”? These are things I will, no doubt, continue to think about.

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