AgroforestDAO Gardens Community Leadership and Mentor Expansion
I am the community leader of AgroforestDAO Gardens, where we operate a funding pool dedicated to supporting agroforestry education and mentorship. Our mission is to build a regenerative economic flywheel that connects local food production with educational programs, creating sustainable ventures that feed back into community growth.
Since founding AgroforestDAO in June 2022 and bringing it to the Gardens platform in May 2025, I have built a thriving community focused on practical agroforestry education. We currently support 2 mentors who provide monthly training sessions and occasional workshops, sharing knowledge about regenerative agriculture practices in Brazil.
Our community has grown through 2 comprehensive Learning Journeys that engaged over 40 participants, all of whom created profiles in our Charmverse workspace. This foundation has enabled us to develop a structured approach to recognizing and rewarding the ongoing work of agroforest stewards.
Mentor Expansion Program
This August, we're launching our first mentor cohort, expanding from 2 to 8 mentors total. These new mentors will learn essential web3 skills including wallet usage and creating proposals on Gardens. This onboarding is crucial because effective governance requires proper education - people on the ground need to understand web3 tools before they can participate meaningfully in DAO governance.
Our vision is to have 8 mentors leading local teams that share monthly updates and build collective knowledge. These teams will then participate in joint ventures co-created through the DAO, focusing on both short-term food production like grains and roots (essential in Brazil) and mid to long-term fruits and wood production.
Partnership and Recognition Systems
We've partnered with Atlantis DAO to use their Impact Miner app for creating bounties that reward agroforest stewards' contributions. We've already allocated $300 to reward native beekeepers and have established a 6-part monthly bounty system. The first bounty rewards participants for sharing design plans covering short, mid, and long-term goals, while the second rewards updates and photos showing area development and planting progress.
Funding Need and Impact
We currently have $1,200 to support mentorship over the next 6 months. However, the summer season represents the most intensive period for field work in Brazil. Having access to the Members flow would allow us to extend our support by 2-4 additional months, ensuring we can maintain momentum during this critical growing season.
This extended funding would enable us to support all the necessary work during summer, when our mentors and their teams are most active in establishing and maintaining agroforest systems. The continuity is essential for building the knowledge base and relationships that will drive our long-term vision.
Long-term Vision and Success Metrics
I believe these systems can generate enough returns to feed back into educational programs, creating more ventures and spinning a rooted economy flywheel. This regenerative model aligns perfectly with Gardens' mission to solve governance problems while supporting real-world impact.
My success metric is clear: to double our mentors from 8 to 16 within the next year. This growth would significantly expand our capacity to support local agroforestry initiatives while building a stronger foundation for collaborative ventures.
Why Gardens Platform
I chose Gardens because of Paul's dedicated work, the collaboration with the GreenPill network, and the platform's commitment to solving governance problems. I look forward to using Gardens for AgroforestDAO's governance, but first we must ensure our community members are properly onboarded to web3 tools while recognizing their ongoing agroforestry work.
Connect With Us
Through this grant, we'll continue building the bridge between regenerative agriculture and decentralized governance, creating a model that other communities can replicate and adapt for their own bioregions.
