Employee Engagement and Team Building
Program Details
We Are Co-Farmers | Our Programs
At Open Farms, we believe that everyone has something meaningful to contribute.
We use the term Co-Farmer to describe the people who participate in, learn through, work alongside, volunteer with, and contribute to our farm community. Rather than defining people by a diagnosis, disability, job title, age, or perceived limitation, our co-farming model focuses on individual strengths, interests, choices, and abilities.
The farm provides a naturally flexible environment where people can participate in meaningful activities at many different levels. One person may help care for an animal, another may plant or harvest vegetables, another may repair or maintain a farm space, and someone else may simply begin by observing and becoming comfortable in the environment. Each contribution is valued as part of the larger work of the farm.
Through hands-on agriculture, animal care, food cultivation, environmental stewardship, and shared community experiences, Open Farms creates opportunities for people to develop skills, build relationships, improve confidence and well-being, and experience the satisfaction of contributing to something larger than themselves.
Our programs are designed around a simple idea: people grow when they are given meaningful opportunities to participate, contribute, learn, and belong.
Employee Engagement and Team Building
Open Farms' Employee Engagement and Team Building program provides businesses, employers, and workplace teams with an alternative to traditional corporate retreats and team-building activities.
Instead of spending several hours in a conference room discussing collaboration, participants have an opportunity to actually practice it.
Teams step away from their normal work environment and participate together in meaningful farm-based activities. Depending on the season and needs of the farm, experiences may involve animal care, gardening, harvesting, farm improvement projects, food cultivation, environmental projects, or other collaborative activities.
Farm work creates an unusually effective environment for team development because the tasks are real, the outcomes are visible, and participants often encounter situations outside their normal professional roles.
A manager and an entry-level employee may find themselves working side by side. Someone who rarely speaks during office meetings may emerge as an excellent problem solver. A participant with no agricultural experience may discover an unexpected skill or interest.
These experiences can help teams practice:
Communication
Collaboration
Leadership
Problem solving
Adaptability
Shared decision making
Trust
Creativity
Mutual support
The farm environment can also provide a valuable change of pace from the demands of the workplace. Spending time outdoors, interacting with animals, performing physical activities, and completing tangible projects gives employees an opportunity to disconnect from their usual routines and engage with one another in a different way.
For employers, the program combines employee engagement with community impact.
Participants are not completing artificial team-building exercises. Their efforts directly support Open Farms' mission and contribute to projects that benefit the farm and the people it serves.
This creates an opportunity for companies to combine employee wellness, team development, volunteerism, and corporate social responsibility within a single experience.
Teams leave the farm having accomplished something together, contributed to their community, and experienced one another outside the traditional workplace hierarchy.