By Jessica LevyFood TankJuly 26, 2026Excerpt:The Los Angeles Food Policy Council’s (LAFPC) Cultivating Farmers program helps urban and peri-urban farmers navigate land access, business development, and long-term viability. Cultivating Farmers launched in 2024 to provide business-focused support to farmers across Los Angeles. Rather than focusing on production practices, the program centers business planning, insurance, grant writing, marketing, and sales strategy. “The program is all about supporting urban farmers with the business side of running a farm,” Nikhita Jain, Senior Urban Agriculture Program Associate at LAFPC, tells Food Tank. “Outside the work of growing food, starting and operating a farm business has its own learning curve.”