Kickstarter is a website where people give moneyto support creative projects.It started in two thousand nine,mostly to help artists and musicians.Now, inventors, people starting businessesand a growing number of farmers are raising moneyon this site for crowd-sourced funding.Josh Brill and Meadow Squire grow vegetablesand rice in Tinmouth,a town in the northeastern state of Vermont.Last year they used Kickstarter to raise more thansix thousand dollars to increase their rice production.JOSH AND MEADOW BRILL: "Hi, I'm Josh, and I'm Meadow-- and we want to grow you rice! "Seventy-six people watched the couple's six-minute videoand believed enough in their dream to send them money.Another farmer in Vermont, Scott Nelson,raised almost nine thousand dollars.He wanted to document the growthand development of his farm to teach otherswho are interested in organic farming,as a video explained.VIDEO: "At the end of the season,we will compile it all into a film documentary."Bigger ideas have raised much more for some farmersamong the projects on Kickstarter.In all, on a recent day,there were forty-five hundred creative projectsseeking money on the site.Site officials reported three million dollarsin weekly pledges.To raise money on Kickstarter,people need to think of a project with a clear goal.Then they need to get the project approved by the site.Many project creators make a video to explainwhat their project is and why people should support it.Projects have a time limit, generally about thirty days,to meet their funding goal.Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing funding method.Projects do not get any money unless they meet their goal.Kickstarter gets five percent of the money raised,but only if the goal is met.Amazon.com takes another three to five percentfor credit card processing fees.To get people to pledge money,projects also include a list of thank-you giftsfor different levels of support.Josh Brill and Meadow Squire gave supporters rice,seeds and, for fun, "good karma" points.They say they are happy with their experienceusing the site to raise money for their new rice paddies.JOSH BRILL: "One of the key thingsthat Kickstarter allowed us to do was reach out-- having the video online and being able to link with Facebook."MEADOW SQUIRE: "It really was free advertising for us-- you know, so many people now know we're growing rice and they know more about our farming practicesbecause we do a lot of alternative agricultural practices.And there's already so much anticipationabout the rice coming that we would not have hadif we just had gotten a loan from a bank."Josh Brill says one promise of moneycame all the way from New Zealand.JOSH BRILL: "When someone is willing to put up their moneyfor your farm, that means something.It's like you would feel bad if you couldn't succeed for them."And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.You can read, listen and learn English at 51voa.com.