[ti:Growing a Farm With Crowd-Sourced Money] [ar:Christopher Cruise] [al:Agriculture Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. [00:04.58]Kickstarter is a website where people give money [00:08.57]to support creative projects. [00:11.00]It started in two thousand nine, [00:13.54]mostly to help artists and musicians. [00:17.57]Now, inventors, people starting businesses [00:21.06]and a growing number of farmers are raising money [00:25.91]on this site for crowd-sourced funding. [00:28.72]Josh Brill and Meadow Squire grow vegetables [00:33.25]and rice in Tinmouth, [00:35.39]a town in the northeastern state of Vermont. [00:38.67]Last year they used Kickstarter to raise more than [00:42.46]six thousand dollars to increase their rice production. [00:46.79]JOSH AND MEADOW BRILL: "Hi, I'm Josh, and I'm Meadow [00:48.63]-- and we want to grow you rice! [Dog bark]" [00:52.17]Seventy-six people watched the couple's six-minute video [00:56.10]and believed enough in their dream to send them money. [01:00.18]Another farmer in Vermont, Scott Nelson, [01:03.67]raised almost nine thousand dollars. [01:06.50]He wanted to document the growth [01:08.99]and development of his farm to teach others [01:12.65]who are interested in organic farming, [01:15.29]as a video explained. [01:16.88]VIDEO: "At the end of the season, [01:18.14]we will compile it all into a film documentary." [01:20.72]Bigger ideas have raised much more for some farmers [01:24.56]among the projects on Kickstarter. [01:27.09]In all, on a recent day, [01:29.78]there were forty-five hundred creative projects [01:33.77]seeking money on the site. [01:35.67]Site officials reported three million dollars [01:38.92]in weekly pledges. [01:40.51]To raise money on Kickstarter, [01:43.20]people need to think of a project with a clear goal. [01:47.23]Then they need to get the project approved by the site. [01:51.97]Many project creators make a video to explain [01:56.58]what their project is and why people should support it. [02:00.96]Projects have a time limit, generally about thirty days, [02:05.94]to meet their funding goal. [02:08.18]Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing funding method. [02:12.66]Projects do not get any money unless they meet their goal. [02:17.70]Kickstarter gets five percent of the money raised, [02:21.98]but only if the goal is met. [02:24.91]Amazon.com takes another three to five percent [02:29.99]for credit card processing fees. [02:32.92]To get people to pledge money, [02:36.43]projects also include a list of thank-you gifts [02:40.70]for different levels of support. [02:42.55]Josh Brill and Meadow Squire gave supporters rice, [02:47.82]seeds and, for fun, "good karma" points. [02:52.30]They say they are happy with their experience [02:55.74]using the site to raise money for their new rice paddies. [03:00.46]JOSH BRILL: "One of the key things [03:02.27]that Kickstarter allowed us to do was reach out [03:06.59]-- having the video online and being able to link with Facebook." [03:10.92]MEADOW SQUIRE: "It really was free advertising for us [03:13.70]-- you know, so many people now know we're growing rice [03:16.15]and they know more about our farming practices [03:19.08]because we do a lot of alternative agricultural practices. [03:21.61]And there's already so much anticipation [03:24.65]about the rice coming that we would not have had [03:28.04]if we just had gotten a loan from a bank." [03:30.13]Josh Brill says one promise of money [03:32.97]came all the way from New Zealand. [03:35.56]JOSH BRILL: "When someone is willing to put up their money [03:38.10]for your farm, that means something. [03:41.53]It's like you would feel bad if you couldn't succeed for them." [03:45.71]And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. [03:50.34]You can read, listen and learn English at 51voa.com. [03:57.65]I'm Christopher Cruise.