Rootstock.

The model

Functions, not organizations.

A town doesn't need six disconnected organizations. It needs six functions covered by somebody — and it does not much matter who, as long as none of them are missing.

That's the whole argument. What follows is each function, how it fails when nobody covers it, and who covers it here.

The cycle

The whole system on one page.

  1. 01Secure the landThree Field Commons + FootholdThree Field CommonsFoothold
  2. 02Equip producersHarvest Provisions + Farm Fund FinderHarvest ProvisionsFarm Fund Finder
  3. 03GrowThree Field Commons
  4. 04Pre-sell the harvestHarvest Provisions
  5. 05Convert surplusGroundworks + LiveSwellGroundworksLiveSwell
  6. 06Feed and teachGroundworks

  7. The return loop

    Revenue and nutrients return to the land

Function 01

Secure the land

Get farmland into hands that will keep it in production, on terms long enough for a grower to plant a perennial.

Fails as
Every gain is one lease renewal from gone.
Covered here by
Three Field Commons holds and leases it. Foothold operates it under lease.
Three Field Commons →Foothold →

Function 02

Equip producers

Give growers the tools, paperwork, pricing and channels they would otherwise build alone, badly, in February.

Fails as
Growers spend the season on paperwork and guesswork.
Covered here by
Farm Fund Finder supplies funding and record tools. Harvest Provisions supplies the prepaid-sales model.
Harvest Provisions →Farm Fund Finder →

Function 03

Grow

Somebody has to actually farm. Rootstock does not — this function belongs to the growers in the corridor.

Fails as
Nothing to fail — this is the one function Rootstock does not try to cover itself.
Covered here by
Independent producers, including Rad Roots Farm, on Three Field Commons sites and on their own ground. Rootstock does not farm.
Three Field Commons →

Function 04

Pre-sell the harvest

Move money to the producer before the season, so the risk of a crop sits with the people who can spread it.

Fails as
Producers carry all the risk and run out of cash by June.
Covered here by
Harvest Provisions runs prepaid shares that pay producers up front.
Harvest Provisions →

Function 05

Convert surplus

Turn the glut weeks into something with a shelf life — value-added product, prepared food, fermentation, beer.

Fails as
Abundance becomes waste; the season has a hard stop.
Covered here by
Groundworks' kitchen and LiveSwell's brewing capacity.
Groundworks →LiveSwell →

Function 06

Feed and teach

A public place where the corridor's food is sold, cooked, eaten and explained — the point where a supply chain becomes a food culture.

Fails as
Food moves, but nobody's relationship to it changes.
Covered here by
Groundworks — café, farm stand, teaching kitchen.
Groundworks →

Where it breaks

The three most places skip.

Land tenure

Without a long horizon, nobody invests in soil, water or perennials. Every gain is one lease renewal from gone.

Working capital

Producers front the entire cost of a season and hope. Cash runs out in June, before anything is harvested.

Conversion capacity

Nowhere to send the glut weeks. Abundance turns into waste and the season has a hard stop.

Unglamorous, all three. None of them photograph well. All three are where it breaks.

The return loop

Nutrients and money both have to come back to the land.

If either one leaks out, it isn't a food system — it's a supply chain with a farm at one end. So the loop is drawn on purpose: revenue from operations and conversion returns to the land side, and organic matter returns to the ground it came from.

For planners

Use it as an audit.

Walk the six functions for your own town. For each one, name who covers it today — a person or an organization, not an intention. The blanks are your answer, and they're usually the same three.

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