Join EFN

EFN is itself an experiment. We're trying to find ways to make collaboration on sustainable agriculture research easier and more fruitful. But the only way this experiment will yield its best results is if loads of us — gardeners, farmers, scientists, amateurs, professionals — come together on a massive scale. Our goals and ambitions are far-reaching. Without participation from hundreds, even thousands of people, we will never come close to success.

This only works if you participate.


There are two main ways to participate. You could be a:

Researcher – a project or experiment designer, trying to solve a problem, breed something new, or otherwise create something useful for other farmers and gardeners.

Grower – a volunteer willing to grow seeds or other plant material (provided by a Researcher) and follow all instructions.

Or you might choose to be both.

All are welcome to join, and once you sign up and make a profile you can create a project page for recruiting volunteers, or volunteer as a grower for someone else's project, or both. You might volunteer for four or five projects, and based on your experience and growing situation (indicated in your profile) each Researcher whose project you choose may or may not select you to actually grow for their project. 

All participants are accountable to each other. Over time, by sharing information across the network (and eventually rating fellow participants after working with them), a vetted corps of volunteer growers and researchers will coalesce. We hope to continue growing as a community and a cooperative (selling seeds to fund EFN operations), and as the network grows, we fully expect confidence will increase both in each other as participants and in the whole enterprise itself.

The more people who use the network, the better our chances to make breakthroughs. Please join our efforts by creating a profile today!