Tillers International is a multi-faceted 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people in rural areas around the world. In addition to teaching traditional skills at their Cooks Mill Learning Center (CMLC) in Scotts, Michigan, they work with farmers and artisans to create the best and most innovative solutions to their problems. Their specialty is animal traction/draft animal power – the use of animals to carry out tasks – but they also offer numerous blacksmithing/metalworking, woodworking, farming, food, and fiber classes.

Their Mission is to preserve, study, and exchange low-capital technologies that increase the sustainability and productivity of people in rural communities.

Their vision is to create an international learning community in which we seek an understanding of local conditions, inspire an attitude of experimentation, and give the promise of rural sustainability for generations to come.

Their values are based on over 30 years of experience working with farmers around the world. They believe in:

- Inspiring an attitude of experimentation. Their technical trainings are supplemented with continual encouragement and positive reinforcement of creative problem solving. They follow “Teach a man to fish” instead of “Give a man a fish”.
- The power of low-capital technology. The most life-changing innovations aren’t necessarily the newest, most complex, or expensive.
- Grassroots people-to-people exchange. People are more likely to adopt new practices or tools when they see their neighbors doing or using them.
- Listening before acting. No tool or practice will work well everywhere. They work closely with their trainees and communities to discovery the best solutions for their needs.

Their Work:

There is a massive technological gap between the hand tools millions of small-holder farmers use and the tractors of large-scale farming operations. This gap can and is successfully being filled with animal-powered technology. Tillers collects and adapts rural tools and skills from history and from current innovations developed around the world; then, they help rural communities adapt these tools to their production needs. Areas of focus include:

- Animal-Powered Agriculture
- Training and Harnessing
- Blacksmithing and Woodworking
- Local Transport
- Economic Stimmulus and Secondary Industries
- Training of Trainers
- Research and Training Opportunities

Internationally

Tillers conducts ground-based hands-on trainings and consultations in international rural villages, larger population centers, at their new learning center in Chimoio, Mozambique, and at their Innovation Workshop in Lira, Uganda. Subject matter includes the introduction or maximization of animal power, blacksmithing, woodworking, intensive pasturing and fodder, low-capital technologies, and more. We also regularly partner with organizations to fulfill their contract obligations.

In the United States

Tillers offers classes in farming and logging with draft animals, as well as traditional farm homesteading and artisanal skills, such as blacksmithing, woodworking, coopering, beekeeping, cheesemaking, timber framing, canning and preserving food, and much more. 

The Tillers Museum houses over 4,000 historical farming implements that give fascinating insights into their rural history and valuable inspiration for their present and future.