Acorn Community Farm

Acorn Community Farm is a farm-based intentional community located in rural Louisa County, Virginia, United States. Established in 1993, it is a member of the Federation of Egalitarian Communities, focusing on principles of anarchism and egalitarianism, and was created as a spin-off of the Twin Oaks Community.

Community

Group meetings at Acorn are held weekly with decisions made by consensus. The community sustains itself primarily through its business, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Acorn's population and organizational stability have fluctuated significantly throughout its history.

Labor

Adult members of Acorn must work a minimum of 42 hours per week and are granted one month of vacation time a year. Members have the option to earn additional vacation time by working beyond the required hours.

All types of work are considered equally creditable, including traditional tasks such as office work, maintenance, and farming, as well as activities like child care, cooking, cleaning, and preparing for communal events.

Monsanto lawsuit

Acorn, along with 82 other farmers and seed businesses, participated in a preemptive lawsuit against Monsanto to protect themselves from lawsuits related to genetically modified organism patent infringement. The case, Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association v. Monsanto, was a class-action suit litigated by the Public Patent Foundation, filed for the purpose of responding to Monsanto's purported actions against farmers whose fields had been contaminated with the company’s GMO seeds.