ROTARIANS, HEIFER INTERNATIONAL HELP FARMERS GROW ECONOMY

“Agriculture is the lifeblood of Arkansas; it’s the state’s original business,” says Sharon Tallach Vogelpohl, an Arkansas Rotarian for nearly 20 years. But that business has become more challenging in recent years as row-crop farming has become more commoditized, making it difficult for families who have been farming for generations to make an adequate living.

Vogelpohl, who was club president during the Rotary Club of Little Rock’s centennial year in 2014, says club members wanted to mark the milestone with a project that would have a lasting, local impact. “With all the good that Rotary has done internationally, we wondered what we could do to bring that good home here in Arkansas, which is a very impoverished state,” she says. “What could we do to help our friends and neighbors in our own backyard?” The conversation quickly turned to a farming project.

The Little Rock club (nicknamed “Club 99” because it was the 99th Rotary club chartered) meets weekly at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, which is a tomato’s throw from the headquarters of Heifer International. Heifer is a nonprofit, founded in 1944, that seeks to end hunger and poverty through sustainable agriculture. Given the proximity – and that several Heifer employees are members of the Rotary Club of Little Rock, including Ardyth Neill, president of the Heifer Foundation, and Ben Wihebrink, operations director for Heifer USA – the two organizations teamed up to help Arkansas farmers.

Around the world, Heifer teaches farmers how to increase production sustainably and access new markets. It also helps small-scale farmers form cooperatives, where locals can buy produce directly. The goal is to increase a farmer’s profits by about 30 percent while providing the community with more locally grown produce. A key component of Heifer’s method, and the Arkansas project, is the formation of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) network – a food subscription service in which consumers buy produce in advance at a fixed price, guaranteeing farmers a market for their crops, regardless of how weather or other factors may affect their output.

In Arkansas, Rotarians fund Heifer’s training efforts, including an informational video, and members offer advice in their areas of expertise, like marketing, finance, and business planning. “Heifer helps the farmers with technical expertise,” Neill says. “Rotary gives them access to individual club members who want to help them directly. That means local folks helping local folks to make a difference.”