Rahul Anand looked at his job prospects after college for the right fit. He tried farming and fell in love! He’s been working in agriculture ever since.

After working on farms in Georgia and California, Rahul started Snapfinger Farm on 14 acres in 2016. Soon after, Rahul wanted to scale since it didn’t feel big enough to have a real effect on the world.

Affording land was an obstacle, so Rahul put his plans in a drawer and waited for the right opportunity. That opportunity came from the Conservation Fund’s Working Farms program, which helps farmers find land. They told him it could take a long time, but after only a week, they found a property! At 200 acres, the property was more than he’d been looking for. Rahul decided to submit the necessary documents, and if they were accepted, he would take the land. They accepted, and his plans came out of the drawer. He is now farming 30 acres of the 200.

The farm leans into sustainability practices like cover cropping, mowing, and mulching. They also use mechanical processes to enhance efficiency, creating financial sustainability. For example, they use a vacuum seeder for precise seed spacing that enables mechanical cultivation.

Rahul enjoys farming because it’s a daily challenge that requires different skills and forces him to learn things like construction, welding, and bookkeeping out of necessity.

Snapfinger Farm currently grows greens, lettuce, sweet potatoes and root vegetables, peppers, cucumbers, squash, sunchokes, strawberries, and more. Rahul is dreaming of planting an orchard.