Raya Carr

Raya leads the program’s farmer support systems in the Chicago area, connecting producers with technical assistance as they expand their operations on newly accessed farm properties. Raya offers operational guidance to strengthen the growing network of farms working to meet the increasing demand for local food. As Specialist, Raya supports farmland lease management for the Fund. She also recruits farmers, sharing information about the Fund’s model to help secure farmland access, protecting the land from development.

Raya brings a wealth of experience in land stewardship, animal welfare, organic farming, property management, and real estate finance. Most recently, she served as the Senior Relationship Manager at Iroquois Valley Farmland, REIT, where she guided farmers seeking financing and organic land leases through the investment process. Raya holds a MBA in Finance from Indiana University.

Raya’s aim is healing & balance within the powerful & delicate community ecologies we exist within to eat and live. She is a founding family member and board member at Mint Creek Farm, an organic, perennial, pasture farm stewarding 220 acres in Cabery, IL. After growing up farming with her parents at Mint Creek, Raya spent most of her 20s running the farm’s markets, events, & sales in the Chicago-area, doing wholesale and CSA member outreach, and launching new farm enterprises. Raya loves working outside, and she continues farming with Mint Creek at every opportunity she gets in early mornings, evenings, and weekends.