In 2011 MESA has granted over $11K for six Mentor Hosts to spearhead SPRIGs co-led with Stewards. Funded by the Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation and Patagonia’s Environmental Grants Program, MESA formally launched its Sustainable Projects Recognizing Innovative Growers program –dubbed “SPRIG 2.0” — this season.

Mentor farms and Stewards are now starting to brag about their SPRIG successes, be it in the progress of their up-scaling  vermi-compost, micronutrient brewing systems, development of best practice forestry management guidelines following wildfire devastation, comparing efficacy vs. cost of plant growth bags, or seed saving techniques for higher altitude crops.

Dennis & Sandy Dierks of Paradise Valley Farm in Bolinas, CA pictured with Libio Laguna of Calca, Peru.

MESA aims to double SPRIG funding for twice as many Mentor Hosts in 2012! SPRIGs benefit all participants in so many ways, from encouraging MESA’s “learn and share” model between U.S. Hosts and global Stewards, adding value to sustainable operations, demonstrating low-input, high impact projects for Stewards to replicate at home, and enabling more U.S. farm Mentors to host MESA Stewards!

We’ll be posting current SPRIG projects in this section, so come back soon. Better yet, help MESA to sprout more SPRIGs and DONATE NOW.