BFRDP Projects

Area 1: Create a national peer network that develops, provides, and facilitates access to, training, education, internships, mentorships, jobs, financial and market opportunities for beginning farmer veterans (70% of project effort). We will combine new small scale livestock production and business planning materials with existing core tools previously created through Risk Management Agency grants known as the One Page Business/Financial Plan, One Page Monthly Cash Flow Budget, and One Page Risk Management Plan. These tools will be adapted to explain small scale pork and pastured poultry production business, small scale honeybee, grass fed beef, lamb, goat and vegetable business models. 

Area 2: Provide twenty seven workshops focused on small scale livestock and vegetable production supported by on-going case management services for attendees. (30% of project effort). We will incorporate the new training materials into twenty seven workshops (at least twenty two of which will be on-farm and hosted by FVC beginning farmer veterans) that target these farmer veterans and their specific livestock, provide regional training platforms for them to gather and learn from each other, and assist them in refining their own financial, production, risk management and business plans. Additionally, all workshop attendees will receive on-going comprehensive, individualized capacity development assistance using a case management model in which individual needs, assessments, and development plans, guide the provision of subsequent services, training, referrals and linkages to resources. 

Six of the twenty seven workshops will be specifically focused on developing, supporting and educating women farmer veterans on the production, financial and risk management components of small scale livestock/vegetable operations. Additional emphasis will be placed on developing, integrating and utilizing local networking and supportive resources for women such as the FVC Veteran Peer Farmer Network.

The purpose of this project is to continue to develop and maintain the existing BFRDP Clearinghouse to help beginning farmers and ranchers be more successful. Farm Answers, the centerpiece of the Clearinghouse, will continue to assemble educational materials, online courses, software tools, project reports, and educational programs along with developing new features and resources in a single well-organized website where beginning producers and the organizations that work with them can quickly obtain the information, training, and connections that they need. 

The project will maintain and expand the online Farm Answers library that provides beginning farmers and ranchers a one-stop source of information materials and programs that will help them succeed in their chosen agricultural endeavors. It will work with BFRDP Standard and Educational Team projects to facilitate collaboration, communication and sharing of educational materials between projects to amplify the effectiveness and reach of the assistance provided to beginning farmers and ranchers. The project will also collaborate with NIFA to help BFRDP projects improve outcome-based reporting that will help BFRDP projects effectively communicate accomplishments, provide valid data for stakeholders, and the allow the public to learn more about BFRDP projects. The Clearinghouse will also assist NIFA with organization and technology for virtual and in-person conference, meetings, webinars and ongoing engagement with BFRDP projects and stakeholders.

This project is designed to assist beginning socially disadvantaged and limited resource producers (BSDLRPs) in eastern and southwest Arkansas. The goal of the project is to provide BSDLRPs with the knowledge and training needed to become successful farmers and ranchers.

The objectives are:
To provide BSDLRPs with business planning training and the use of USDA farm loans. 
To provide BSDLRPs with Extension crop and livestock production training with the use of USDA Conservation Programs.
To provide BSDLRPs with marketing education with an emphasis on fruits and vegetables.
To conduct a beginning farmers class.

This program will train BSDLRPs to use financial statements when making management decisions and profit margins when determining the economic feasibility of a business plan. BSDLRPs will also know how to apply for a USDA loan.

BSDLRPs will be taught to use the Cooperative Extension Service (CES) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to improve and increase their yields. As a result of this training, BSDLRPs will have above average yields which will increase profit margins.
Many BSDLRPs who diversify with vegetable crops failed because they lack vegetable marketing experience. BSDLRPs will be trained on early marketing, relationship marketing, and the five Ps of marketing when starting a vegetable business. 

The Beginning Farmers Class will include seven modules that provide different aspects of farming and ranching. These modules will include classroom exercises (business planning and structure, heir property), hand-on exercises (calibrations, transplanting) and much more. Graduates of the class will increase profitability in their operations.  

Our project is developed by and for beginning farmers across the state. Instead of duplicating the efforts of great organizations that are already building beginner farmer training programs, this project enriches and aligns beginning farmer training programs via common core trainings and one-on-one technical assistance customized to meet the needs of beginning farmers in Connecticut.

Core trainings for beginning farmers will emphasize: business planning, financial management and record keeping; farmland access; overcoming marketing uncertainties; and small scale production of vegetables and fruit. Programs will be offered in person, with online tutorials developed for many of the modules, including farm business planning, soil health, safe and effective use of pesticides, and marketing for success. One-on-one experts will be available for farmers that need assistance in vegetable production and pest management, farmland evaluation and conservation, and financial record-keeping.

Our partners are: Common Ground High School in New Haven, the Community Farm of Simsbury, the Green Village Initiative in Bridgeport, Killingly Agriculture Education Program, KNOX in Hartford, and WRCC-GROW Windham. Training resources will also be used to support UConn's Listo Para Inciar (or Ready-to-Start) training program, which delivers a hands-on, cohort based model of beginner farming training for Spanish-speaking urban market gardeners. 

Other key partners in the project are the New CT Farmer Alliance and the Northeast Organic Farming Association of CT. “With this investment supported through the USDA, our alliance will further increase accessibility between agricultural support services, and CT’s budding community of agricultural entrepreneurs.”said Betsy Robson, NCTFA Coordinator (a statewide network of over 200 farmers).

The long term goal of our project is for every beginning farmer in Connecticut who wishes to produce and sell food – regardless of scale, experience, or language barriers – to have access to fundamental training to start or continue farming profitably.

To increase the number and enhance the success of Native Hawaiian agroforesters in
order to grow new agroforestry projects and improve resource management of existing projects.
This project increases economic opportunity, food security and cultural connection to the forest
in the Native Hawaiian community of Maui.

Abbreviated objectives are: 1) Train 150 new and beginning Native Hawaiian farmers in
agroforestry; 2) Engage 30 new Native Hawaiian youth in agroforestry as a career path; 3)
Enhance the success of 50 beginning agroforesters; 4) Facilitate 20 new farmers in designing an
agroforestry/native reforestation project; 5) Establish a demonstration farm cultivated by 100
new Native Hawaiian farmers; 6) Provide land to 2 Native Hawaiian farmers to cultivate native
crops and enter markets; 7) Develop 10 new markets for agroforestry cultural crops.

To accomplish the goal we will conduct monthly classroom and hands-on workshops for three
years, which are culturally appropriate and targeted at Native Hawaiian adults and youth.
We will establish a new training program aimed at growing new agroforestry farmers (forest management and crop farming practices) and natural resource managers.

Based in Fairfax County, Virginia, but pulling on expertise and farms across Northern and Central Virginia and the National Capital Region, Arcadia's Veteran Farmer Program will bring together regional nonprofits, agricultural organizations, veterans, and experienced farmers - including veterans who have made a successful transition to farming - to create a multi-layered farmer training and development program to launch veterans into careers in agriculture. This thoughtful, practical program will increase the number of veteran farmers in Virginia and the number of farmers overall, and will increase the likelihood of their success by providing them with farming skills; business development and management training; and ongoing technical support. This program will also provide continued support as Trainees launch their agricultural careers with ongoing mentorships from the business, agricultural, and veteran communities. In the years beyond this project period, Arcadia's Veteran Farmer Program will provide program participants, and graduates, ongoing assistance with identification and acquisition of land and assured albeit optional wholesale market opportunities.

The goal of Arcadia's Veteran Farmer Program is to increase the number of military veterans operating new, successful farm operations in the Washington, D.C. region. Our program will focus on current military members and veterans of the armed forces with a 10-year goal to offer training to 150 potential veteran farmers via our two training tracks (combined), with the intention of producing 50 new farmers operating businesses within 125 miles of Washington D.C.

The purpose of this project is to continue to develop and maintain Farm Answers, the existing BFRDP Clearinghouse to help beginning farmers and ranchers be more successful. Farm Answers will continue to assemble educational materials, online courses, software tools, project reports, and educational programs along with developing new features and resources in a single well-organized website where beginning producers and the organizations that work with them can quickly obtain the information, training, and connections that they need.

Overall Goals

1. Maintain and expand the online Farm Answers library that provides beginning farmers and ranchers a one-stop source of information materials and programs that will help them succeed in their chosen agricultural endeavors.
2. Work with BFRDP Standard and Educational Team projects to facilitate collaboration, communication and sharing of educational materials between projects to amplify the effectiveness and reach of the assistance provided to beginning farmers and ranchers.
3. Collaborate with NIFA to help BFRDP projects improve outcome-based reporting that will help BFRDP projects effectively communicate accomplishments, provide valid data for stakeholders, and the allow the public to learn more about BFRDP projects.

This project will develop a Clearinghouse that will help beginning farmers and ranchers be more successful. The Clearinghouse will assemble educational materials, online courses, software tools, stories, and the ability to connect online into a well-organized website where beginning producers can quickly obtain the information, training, and connections they need. It will:

1. Help individuals and families exploring, beginning, establishing, and managing farms or ranches quickly and easily access the information and training they need.
2. Support BFRDP programs by facilitating sharing, collaboration, and communication and by providing programs better access to educational materials.
3. Help BFRDP projects better disseminate their educational materials so they can reach more beginning farmers and ranchers.
4. Enhance focus on outcomes by assisting BFRDP projects improve outcome-based reporting.

The Clearinghouse will offer multiple means to help beginning farmers and ranchers learn, including the ability; to find materials on topics of importance to them, to ask questions of other producers, to learn from online videos and courses, to find BFRDP programs in their geographic region, and to read stories about other beginning producers. They will be able to choose the method to find answers, ideas, and information that works best for them.

This project builds on our successful partnership, established in 2015, to offer a comprehensive program of training, support, and land access for beginning WNC farmers and ranchers, through whole-farm production and business education, farmland linking, and land trust services. The Farm Pathways team includes the Organic Growers School (OGS), Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC), and NC FarmLink (NCFL, a program of NCSU Extension).

Collectively we will provide these additional services for beginning farmers to expand our audience and partnership: 1) Build resilient farm businesses with targeted training, technical assistance, and mentoring for beginning farmers. 2) Prioritize land access and farm transition, and support strategies for successful beginning farmer land tenure. 3) Expand, enhance, update, and deliver Farm Pathways Beginning Farmer Programs to a wider audience; including more rural farmers, veterans, limited resource and socially disadvantaged farmers. 4) Facilitate Farm Pathways program replication to other areas of the country by designing, streamlining, administering, and distributing collective evaluations and measurable reports.

We will offer the following programs to provide a trajectory of support: 1) OGS offers Farm Beginnings® Farmer Training, a year-long comprehensive program to promote holistic, practical, whole-farm business, financial, and marketing education; Mentoring and Technical Assistance to provide long-term, targeted, and individualized support; a new Journeyperson: A Farmer Education Program for farmers in years 3-10 designed to serve the beginning farmer from start-up to establishment. 2) SAHC provides their Farmer Incubator Program which offers land, infrastructure, and equipment along with support, training, and coaching for beginning farmers; The Farm Production Workshops Series; and Agricultural Conservation Easements and Farmland Acquisition services which assure long-term availability of affordable farmland for beginning farmers. 3) NCFL contributes Land Matching Services, which link beginning farmers with farmland owners; One-on-one consultations for both landowners and farm seekers, including succession planning support.

GROW Louisiana is training program for beginning horticulture farmers on small to mid-size family farms in Louisiana with less than 10 years of experience.  Specifically, the program seeks to assist farmers interested in engaging in sustainable agricultural practices and local food systems via a mixed methods approach of academic training, hands-on application, and farmer networking.  Led by the LSU AgCenter, Grow Louisiana is a partnership of academic, cooperative extension and non-profit personnel with an interest in supporting a more sustainable local food system.

Mission: To increase the diversity of Louisiana agriculture by increasing the number of fruit and vegetable producers and the variety of commodities available in local markets.

Vision:  To serve as a sustainable state-wide agricultural education program, resource, and support for beginning horticulture farmers in Louisiana that provides technical, business, and hands-on training opportunities.

The GROW model offers beginning farmers training in whole-farm planning, including business and technical production management, resources, support, and mentoring based on the following principles:

• Grow Sustainably:  Grow Louisiana not only trains farmers to use sustainable agricultural practices, but also provides training to farmers in sustainable business practices for long-term success.
• Resource Optimization:  Grow Louisiana prepares farmers to make use of available resources to support their needs in order to achieve established goals.
• Objective Decision Making:   Grow Louisiana trains farmers to make decision based on objective information, which is fact-based, measurable and observable.
• Work Efficiently:  Grow Louisiana trains farmers to use efficient production and business practices that allow them to attain the highest returns on investment, effort, and production.

Our program creates a positive ecosystem promoting professional and financial growth for beginning farmers in the Atlanta region through an agricultural incubator immersion program. The 20 beginner farmers per year includes veterans, socially disadvantaged, limited resource, or farmworkers, including women, African-Americans, Latinx, Asian, and LGBTQ farmers, with at least 60% of the budget going to serve these groups. Training includes the hands-on application of knowledge as they learn and work on the farm weekly and all participants will receive training through the University of Georgia. Raising and marketing microgreens and exotic crops will also be explored. Upon graduation, farmers will receive a stipend to help pay for their start-up costs.
The program consists of teaching beginners how to farm, entrepreneurship/business development, and light farm construction. We will also train them in SPIN (Small Plot INtensive) farming techniques and data analysis to minimize costs/risks and maximize net income. At the end of the program the goal is for these beginners to have gained farming and business skills that will afford them the knowledge base to be able to start their own lucrative farm businesses and/or work on a farm for another business in their community. The Generation Infocus Foundation is applying for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program
(BFRDP) as a non-profit NGO with multiple partners, including the Fulton County Cooperative Extension at the University of Georgia and Ray of Life Farms. GI Foundation will be responsible for receiving and distributing 100% of the grant funding.

Hawaii imports 85-90% of its food, making it highly vulnerable to disruptions in food supply. The state’s transition over the last 200 years from a highly diversified indigenous agricultural system to plantation-scale industrial export crops, which have now ceased production, has created an urgent need for revitalization of the agricultural economy. Hawaii has 7,328 farms, but 78% earn less than $25,000 per year. Costs of land, labor, and agricultural inputs are high, and the average farmer age is 60 years old. Hawaii’s governor established a goal to double local food production by 2030, which requires a significant expansion of farms and production volumes. In addition, local farmers need support to meet the challenges presented by climate change. 

The goal of the GoFarm Hawaii (GFH) project is to enhance Hawaii’s food system resilience by increasing the number of viable farm businesses in the state and the volume of food production. This project develops new farmers through 1) a certificate-based farmer training program that integrates conceptual and experiential learning, 2) 1-on-1 business consulting and technical support, and 3) ongoing production, business, and networking support. The program components have been developed and customized based on the unique needs of the local beginning farmer population, who typically have limited experience and exposure to agriculture, and want preparation to operate their own farm businesses. 

This project will provide beginning farmers with the knowledge and skills to access land and local markets. Land and market access remain two of the most important barriers to beginning farmers' success. This project will provide innovative farmland transfer strategies, entrepreneurship training, marketing strategies, and peer mentoring to enable beginning farmers to develop markets that cover their costs of production and to transition from informal, short-term land access to long-term predictable land tenure.

This project will serve Maryland beginning farmers, particularly urban farmers in Baltimore and peri-urban farmers in the MD counties surrounding Washington, DC. 

Urban and peri-urban farmers have market opportunities due to their proximity to population centers, but often struggle to find the right mix of market outlets to balance providing affordable food for their neighbors with achieving financial sustainability. These specific opportunities and challenges will be addressed by developing market research case-studies for urban and peri-urban farms and by providing research-based education on how to grow and market African heritage crops.

Urban and peri-urban farmers also face unique land tenure challenges, competing with developers for land and navigating municipal processes. These situations arise through the best of intentions, as municipalities work toward sometimes competing aims of improving green space and food access while also planning developments to increase affordable housing and increase the city’s tax base. Solutions to such complex problems require community-led conversations and consensus building about land use planning priorities. The proposed project engages two farmer-and-community-led Baltimore non-profits, who will bring community-members, farmers, decision-makers, and other stakeholders together to work towards the community-identified goal of each neighborhood in Baltimore having access to arable land to be used for local priorities. This systems-change work will be supported by technical and educational resources from the university partners. 

UConn Extension with its partners and collaborators will implement a robust suite of training opportunities for Connecticut's beginning farmers, including business and financial training, one-on-one business technical assistance, cohort trainings in production and agriculture mechanics, farmer-to-farmer events that build strong peer networks, and enhanced services to help BF search for farmland. All project activities will be delivered through UConn Extension's Solid Ground Farmer Training Program. First, we aim to improve business and financial management skills of beginning farmers. We will accomplish this through the delivery of essential new training and TA in farm business basics targeted for Category 2 beginning farmers, and high impact trainings to help farm business owners improve their farm management skills and profitability targeting Category 3 & 4 beginning farmers. Second, we will accelerate beginner farmer skills using the latest production systems and equipment by creating access to talented, knowledgeable experts and peer farmers. We will accomplish this through hands-on and in-the-field training to increase production skills and self-reliance, as well as unique learning events with structures that build peer-to-peer social networks, all targeting Category 2 & 3 beginning farmers. Finally, we will address farmland access needs by increasing the likelihood of finding suitable farmland through farmland matching events and one-on-one farmland consulting. The expected number of beginning farmers who will improve their farming success is 500: by making beneficial changes to their business & financial systems (150); by applying new production skills and knowledge (250); by building stronger peer-networks (60); and by accessing stable land tenure (40).

The overarching goal of the Chesapeake Grows: A Regional Approach to New Farmer Success project is to launch a cross-cutting pilot program aimed at growing and diversifying the new farmer pipeline across the Chesapeake region and to improve new operations' long-term viability. This project is a one-year pilot (2019-20) that will enable our collaborative of 7 partners to trial, evaluate, and refine new region-wide programming and networking opportunities for beginning farmers. We will do so by:

1) building upon the strong farmer training work that has been established in Maryland and creating a new regional training network across the Chesapeake; 2) providing accessible, multi-modal training to increase the number of new farmers, especially socially disadvantaged farmers; and 3) strengthening support for beginning farmers who own/manage a farm, improving their financial literacy and record keeping, helping them establish financial benchmarks, and building new peer networks to hedge against burnout and isolation.

Over the past three years, through a 2016-19 grant, we dramatically increased the scope and reach of new farmer training across Maryland, reaching more than 6,000 farmers through a Beginner Farmer Training Program, field days, classes, and conferences; our online content has reached tens of thousands more. We seek now to leverage and expand upon the robust infrastructure of farmer training we have built in Maryland to reach new farmers across MD, VA, DC, WV, and DE. Beyond expanding our geographic reach, we will also refine and expand support for beginning farmers at the more advanced end of the spectrum. Driven by farmer feedback from the past three years, we will increase educational programming for this subset of beginning farmers and introduce new, region-wide farmer study circles. Both will focus on record keeping and financial benchmarking.

The long-term goal of this one year Development project is to build the agricultural capacity among beginning, immigrant, and refugee farmers in Massachusetts to operate their own independent farming enterprises, to increase farmer ownership rates, and to build environmental stewardship. The Flats Mentor Farm (FMF) is a program of World Farmers (WF) which provides land and agriculture production infrastructure for beginning farmers while they evaluate the sustainability of farming as a way of life for themselves and their families.

This one year development project proposal will achieve the following objectives: 1) Provide technical assistance to beginning farmers according to their level of capacity in the three phases of the Flats Mentoring Program; 2) Provide tools and develop skills on financial and risk management; 3) Increase beginning farmer participation in USDA programs. In the area of training and technical assistance, this project will address the immediate needs identified by the immigrant and refugee farmer participants at FMF to better understand the complexities of farming in New England: crop production practices, entrepreneurship and business training, financial and risk management, marketing strategies, food safety practices and outreach to USDA programs.

The Center of Southwest Culture's Cooperative Center (CODECE) project seeks $100,000 in USDA funding to provide technical assistance to underserved communities--specifically for Indigenous communities--to form two new farming cooperatives. The cooperatives will not only be sustainable over the long-run, but they will also serve as a community-wide collective investments that will provide members with meaningful returns to help augment their existing incomes.

CODECE targets underserved Native American communities who are threatened by poverty and lack of economic opportunity, but have access to arable land and water rights. CODECE will form cooperatives with an emphasis on members having a relationship based on kinship.

Forming organic farming cooperatives is an effective way for beginning farmers to efficiently leverage resources and increase profitability. Several successful 'buy local' campaigns such as Farm-to-Table and Farm-to-Restaurant have created a situation where the demand for local and organic produce far outstrips the current supply. If the farmers begin to grow organic produce, they will produce crops that are overall more profitable and in higher demand. 

The funds will be used to conduct the following activities: guide members in the production of more profitable crops like organic fruits and vegetables; implement production and management strategies to enhance land stewardship among these farmers; provide hands-on technical assistance in incorporation, by-laws and articles of incorporation; provide basic business training in budgets, taxes and other business-related activities; provide farm plans, including sequential planting, crop rotations, crop selection for optimum market share; provide access to investment capital; connect members to organic food markets; and develop a long-term professional relationship with these new cooperatives to ensure their longevity and viability. We expect to incorporate two farming cooperatives during the life of the grant. In addition, the project will create 10 new jobs.

The Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust’s Indigenous Roots Forever: A Business Support Program for Tribal and other Black, Indigenous People of Color Beginning Farmers is a one-year collaborative program executed under the USDA-BFRDP FY2021-2022 Simplified Standard Grants initiative. 

This project will be implemented from 10/1/2021 - 9/30/2022 by the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust (PPLT) located in Rhode Island. To effectively execute this project, PPLT will collaborate with Global Village Farms and Nichols College in Massachusetts. With these partnerships, support for and outreach to historically underserved Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) beginning farmers is ensured.

The methodology of this project is to utilize outreach and individualized educational services as well as intensive learning and technical assistance to increase understanding of sound business practices among BIPOC farmers. This project will foster collaboration and knowledge exchange for, with, and among historically underserved peoples in Massachusetts. This work is greatly needed as educational resources for beginning farmers in this region is startlingly low. 

For the past 25 years, the Sustainable Farming Association (SFA) has helped to develop beginning farmers. During that time, SFA has learned a great deal about what makes for success in beginning farming operations. As we review the past 25 years of work in new farmer development, we see 2 closely connected disturbing trends in agriculture today: 1) many beginning farmers lack the support, skills and savvy to successfully launch and sustain farm businesses for more than 5 years; and 2) as a result, there is a constant cycle of new farmers entering the market but never realizing their full potential. This trend is leading to
fragmented rural communities and over-worked and underpaid farmers who rarely overcome the mechanical solidarity issues and have a successful rural life.

"Deep Roots: Thoughtful, Comprehensive, Community-Based Beginning Farmer Training" takes a proven beginning farmer training model, increases its appeal and functionality by adding an online component and places beginning farmer training in the context of a 25 year old Farmer-to-Farmer Network.

Deep Roots is designed for individuals who want to work in sustainable farming as independent producers. Typically, sustainable agriculture programs attract nontraditional audiences including women, older students, underrepresented minorities and new American populations. These programs are also suitable for individuals with a conventional farming background who want to transition toward sustainability as well as for individuals who want to farm but have no family background or directexperience in the field.

Alabama A&M University (AAMU) is an 1890 and historically black land-grant institution with a rich history and experience of providing education, outreach training and technical assistance to rural residents. This project will recruit, grow, and support the next generation of minority beginning farmers and assist them overcome the many challenges they face to succeed in farming. AAMU is partnering with Alabama State Association of Cooperatives, Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Alabama Agricultural A+ Marketing Association, Holistic Management International, Alchemy Farms and Plants, and other local organizations to develop comprehensive experience-based curricula anchored by experience-based whole farm planning and mentoring programs. The project targets and engages veterans, socially disadvantaged beginning farmers (SDBFRs), disconnected youth, students, and those who choose to advance farming opportunities. Thirty-five percent of the funding is allocated to partner organizations, 13% to assisting military veterans, and 86% to supporting SDBFRs. By partnering with demonstration farms throughout Alabama, this project will provide year-long programs of classroom and hands-on in-field instruction and demonstrations on essential skills and information to empower SDBFRs with the knowledge and mentoring support to be successful farmers. Over three years, the project will train over 100 farm mentors, support and assist at least 765 SDBFRs and veterans, and reach over 3,300 additional minority or socially disadvantaged individuals through general outreach and effective information dissemination strategies. The project builds on prior BFRDP funding (Awards #2012-49400-19567 and #2017-70017-26842); and based on the strong partnerships forged, online resources, farm mentors, stakeholders’ and target audience support, and the proposed experience-based training and mentorship programing, this project will likely be self-sustaining.

This project will provide resources to develop the Center for Farm and Ranch Transition within the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University to provide critical services for beginning farmers/ranchers in Kansas.  The Center will have three main objectives during the three years of this grant: 1) Development of a land-link program to match exiting landowners with beginning farmers/ranchers through an application and curated matching process 2) Provide one-on-one technical services to facilitate transition of an existing farm/ranch operation 3) Develop an extensive training program for beginning farmers/ranchers to master critical financial and business skills.
The goal of this project is to equip beginning farmers/ranchers to be successful farm managers and provide resources and technical services to enable opportunities for land access. It is anticipated that the land-link program will bring at least 30 successful matches during the life of this grant.  In addition, 60 farm families will receive one-on-one technical assistance in developing their transition plan with 40 completing their transition within the three years.  Educational conferences on farm transition will reach 300 participants and 60 beginning farmers/ranchers will complete a year-long training and have measurable increases in farm financial knowledge and business skills.  The Center for Farm and Ranch Transition will continue offering these services beyond the grant period with many more transitions anticipated as a direct result of these start-up funds. Long-term outcomes would be increasing the number of beginning farmers/ranchers in Kansas agriculture and slowing the consolidation of farms/ranches across the state.

Partnering organizations: Kansas Department of Agriculture, Kansas Bankers Association, Kansas Farm Bureau, Kansas Livestock Association, Kansas Farm Service Agency, Kansas Natural Resource Conservation Service, and Kansas Grazing Land Coalition.

10% of budget to exclusively serve socially disadvantaged and limited resource farmers

50% of budget to overcome COVID-19 challenges (technical services and educational programs)

The Farm Collaborative, in partnership with Western Colorado farmers and technical service providers, will launch a reimagined Western Colorado-based farmer education program focused on aggregating and deploying in-person and web-based resources and trainings to beginning and under-resourced farmers in order to provide them with the fundamental skills needed for long-term farm success and viability.

Our program will serve beginning farmers at all levels of experience. Over three years, we will 1) run a heavily evaluated version of our current, unstructured Apprenticeship Program; 2) run two cohorts of beginning farmers with 1-3 years of experience through the pilot apprenticeship training program, 3) link farmers with trainings on finances, marketing, and land access, and 4) provide more experienced beginning farmers with 3-5 and 5+ years of experience an opportunity for growth and expansion of their business via opportunities for 0% loans, financing, guaranteed product purchases, and housing. Farmers with no experience (as well as those at all other levels) will engage with the programming through field days hosted by other farmers and a web-based hub of resources tailored for Western Colorado farmers, with bilingual materials developed in conjunction with Latinx farmers from our region. At the project’s conclusion, we will have a robust “Ecosystem,” wherein would-be, beginning, and under-resourced farmers are educated on the fundamental skills of farming as well as connected with the region’s multitude of farm service organizations and opportunities, as well as each other.

Elevating the Quality of Beginning Farmer Training in Michigan award is a 3 year project funded by USDA Beginning Farmer Rancher Grant (2021-2024) with the goal to develop curricula around key farmer-identified topics for beginning farmer educational programs following an interactive co-learning model. These curricula will provide a platform to conduct training of trainers (beginning farmer trainers) to demonstrate the use of the curricula in a participatory learning environment. Curricula is being co-created by extension professionals and beginning farmer educators from across the state, complimented by beginning farmers' reviews of the materials and experiential learning approaches. Once these curricula are completed (year 2) we will trial them with beginning farmer educators and beginning farmers to identify satisfaction, appropriateness for different levels of beginning farmers and noting where modifications are needed.

Evaluations are begin conducted throughout this project to identify clarification of the audiences' needs and preferences of the curricula content, delivery approaches, and beginning farmer educators' capacity to implement these curricula using this style. Results of the evaluations will direct us to points for corrections at each of these phases and identify the educators' and farmers' acquisitions gained with these resources and implementations. Near the conclusion of this grant period the evaluators will assess changes in teaching style by the educators and ease of implementation of the technical information by the beginning farmers who use these materials and those that participate in educational programs that follow this curriculum format.

The team's overall goal is to provide science-based curricula that promotes learners' engagement through guidance, experiential learning and mentorship opportunities. The final product will offer curricula on 7 farmer-identified production related topics: soil health, market establishment, food safety, integrated pest management, financial management, land access, and urban policy. In addition, 2 curricula are being developed for educators or farmer leaders; engaging diverse communities and developing mentorship programs (farmer guilds and farmer mentors). A unique aspect of this work is the ability for beginning farmer groups to embed content developed by this team directly into their own WEB site rather than relying on link-directed resources.  For the non-internet audiences, thumb drives and printed copies will be distributed of the content.

The long-term goal of PFC’s BFRDP project is to empower refugee, immigrant, and Black beginning farmers with needed resources, knowledge, skills, and opportunities to enter and continuously improve their successes in farming by refining PFC’s beginning farmer training initiatives in collaboration with Cornell partners. According to feedback and a survey, the most common methods for effective learning identified by refugee, immigrant, and Black beginning farmers are personalized, hands-on, and language-adaptive demonstration in the field and teaching in the classroom, plus the use of visual resources. Farmers expressed needing to learn about livestock and crop farming plus farm business and financial management. These farmers prioritize building inter- and intra-community relationships plus earning income through farming. Included in their definitions of success for their farms are being able to feed their communities and connect with their culture. Thus, our primary objectives are to a) increase PFC staff knowledge and capacity so staff can better meet the expressed learning needs of refugee, immigrant, and Black farmers and b) empower such farmers to enter or improve their successes in farming through access to land, personalized education, and market opportunities while building community, nourishing their communities, and connecting with their culture.

To accomplish its long-term goal, the project will employ methods in which farmers are supported in creating annual individualized education plans and partners at Cornell train PFC staff on topic basics. Through farmers’ education plans and increased staff knowledge and capacity, PFC staff will better provide basic personalized education and mentorship to farmers that is hands-on, language-adapted, and one-on-one or small-group. Partners will likewise reference farmers’ education plans to deliver advanced instruction and technical assistance, as well as support curricula refinement and production of visual learning materials. PFC farmland and relationships with markets serving low-income, low-access communities will be leveraged throughout the program. In total, 200 under-resourced farmers will be served and four staff members will be trained.    

Enhancing Beginning Farmers Agritourism Operations in New York State focuses around
educating beginning farmers on the many sectors of agritourism. Operating an agritourism
operation can be very cumbersome since many different sectors fall under agritourism including
production, financial, customers services, legal, insurance, food safety, value added products,
zoning, events, and more. Operating an agritourism operation allows for farmers to diversify their
farm and increase revenue.

This project focuses on many opportunities to educator beginning farmers on the many sectors of
agritourism including newly created online webinars, educational materials, and opportunities to
network with other beginning farmers, experienced farmers, and tourism partners. Beginning
farmers will gain knowledge and implement practices learned from the educational opportunities.

The target audience is beginning farmers with less than 10 years of experience farming. The many
sectors that fall under agritourism compliment the priority areas of BFRDP which we will focus on
during online webinars, supplemental educational materials, networking opportunities, and
statewide conference: Entrepreneurship and business training; Financial and risk management
training, including the acquisition and management of agricultural credit; Diversification and
marketing strategies; Curriculum development, and Food safety and recordkeeping.

The need to provide mechanism for increased income for small and mid-sized farm families is of growing importance. New knowledge that will enable  beginning small and limited-resource farmers sustainably produce products of higher value and capture a larger share of the food market is needed. The question is how can new and beginning farmers structure their agribusiness to produce high quality products, compete in the market place, and generate returns that will improve their quality of life? This question can be addressed by developing and implementing programs that include sustainable forestry, livestock and crop production practices, marketing strategy that aimed at achieving the highest possible profit and farm financial plans that keep debt low and good record keeping. Therefore, The Winston County Self Help Cooperative (WCSHC) is seeking funding from USDA to support its project, entitled “Enhancing the Sustainability and Viability of Beginning Farmers and Ranchers through Training Exercises, Mentoring and Outreach Programs”. This project will expose 150 project participants including veterans on issues that engage them in a model of learning through hands-on training exercises, mentoring and outreach programs that enhance self-employment in farming, ranching and forestry opportunities. Our audience will be knowledgeable in both economic and ecological subjects and will have the tools to make better production, management and marketing decisions. This project will serve as a model for other organizations.

The long-term goal of Entrepreneurial Small Farmers of Southern Illinois (ESFSI) is to increase the number of beginning farmers from underrepresented and low-income groups who farm using sustainable farming practices in southern Illinois. ESFSI is modeled after the original Southern Illinois Farm Beginnings program with an expansion of objectives into skills development components for specialty crops, humane animal husbandry and a critical discussion about land access for farming and resources for conservation management. The newest component, Cottage Food Training and Certification, will help farmer trainees to generate cash flow through value-added foods using their own or locally sourced ingredients during early farm development. Mentorship and Farming Alliance field days assist new farmers in skills development and regional farming practices for success. Anticipated outcomes include 80% trainees actively farming by 9/2025 and increased diversity among trainees.

Collaborators include: Illinois Stewardship Alliance, University of Illinois Extension, The Flock Farm, Chef Jacqueline Price from Saint Louis University, Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm, and The Land Connection.

ESFSI recruits beginning farmers with less than 10 years experience, and is particularly supportive for people in BFR Category1 (Years1-3). The ESFSI project is critical to the goals of the program because it provides holistic farm financial education for beginning farmers, sustainable farming skills development, and assistance navigating land and resource access. By reducing common barriers for entry into farming (ie, lack of knowledge and access to resources), ESFSI supports Food Works in recruiting people of color, women, veterans, LGBTQ and low-income farmer trainees into agriculture.

The Kansas Rural Center will manage this statewide project through an established network of collaborators--Southwest Kansas, Douglas, and Sedgwick County Extensions; community-based organizations (CBOs)--Common Ground Producers and Growers, Kansas City Young Farmers Coalition, Central Kansas Young Farmers Coalition, Kansas Farmers Union; Kansas Black Farmers Association; and national networks--Farm Beginnings Collaborative, Women Food, and Ag Network.

The long-range goal is to develop a robust, comprehensive statewide Beginning Farmer and Rancher (BFR) program that includes business planning, in-depth education on sustainable agriculture practices that increase biodiversity and resiliency and help mitigate climate change, information on accessing land and capital, and support and coping strategies for the physical, mental, and financial stresses. Activities include four regional BFR listening sessions, one BFR networking and education conference, and four advisory committee meetings to create a Kansas-informed curriculum to serve 150 farmers in 2021-22, plus detailed program evaluation.

Primary objectives are to 1) develop a Beginning Farmer/Rancher curriculum that focuses on land access and business preparedness; 2) gather input from 150 beginning farmers, farm training experts, and CBOs working with 25% socially disadvantaged populations to enhance connections and provide needed resources for aspiring and BFRs to improve success;
80% will report learning to improve farming practices. The success of these outcomes will improve the economy and food security of the region.

Farm School NYC is a comprehensive, professional training program for New York City residents seeking to develop agriculture skills and begin careers in urban farming. The School’s goal is to train the next generation of urban farmers, with a focus on limited resource and socially disadvantaged students, and to increase access to healthy, local food in urban communities by supporting the proliferation of urban agriculture projects. To date, over 350 students have participated in individual courses and more than 60 have participated in the certificate program.

With assistance from the BFRDP grant, Farm School NYC will enhance and expand its urban agricultural curriculum and apprenticeship program; develop a new partnership with The Youth Farm to offer an expedited certificate with intensive on-farm training; and create the first urban-based Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT) program in the Northeast to support beginning farmers throughout the metropolitan area. Moreover, the School will deepen its outreach and support strategies to help low resource and socially disadvantaged New Yorkers, to whom the School allocates 50% of its budget, achieve their professional farming goals.

1. Project Title: Farmer Education and Enterprise Development (FEED) Project

2. Project Director(s): Chris Brown and Nathan Harkleroad of ALBA

3. Project Description: The FEED goal is to educate and train 150 beginning and socially disadvantaged (BSD) farmers to plan, launch, and/or sustainably establish independent organic farm businesses. FEED will serve low-income Latinos in the Salinas Valley – many of whom are immigrant farm workers - helping them achieve the dream of farm ownership and economic independence.

Though an ambitious goal, ALBA is uniquely positioned to achieve it due to our 110 acres of organic land, a well-qualified team and an intensive, experiential, multi-year farmer development program. Furthermore, ALBA will tap four longstanding partner organizations to expand and extend services to farmers even after they transition off ALBA’s land. FEED’s objectives focus on all stages of BSD farmer development from start-up through farm incubation and transition fromALBA land and finally to maturation.

Obj. 1: Farmers receive intensive education and TA to prepare for and launch farm businesses.
Obj. 2: Farms strengthened through intensive production and business development services.
Obj. 3: Farms receive transition and business consulting services to firmly establish independent farm businesses off of ALBA ground. In addition, outreach, information and assistance will be provided to an additional 300+ regional BSD farmers.

The FEED consortium provides a comprehensive farmer development program leveraging the agricultural skills of BSD farmers to capitalize on growing markets for locally-produced, organic food in the San Francisco Bay Area. FEED combines affordable access to resources, intensive production and business assistance and linkages to loans and key business services needed to establish a farm business.

4. Collaborating Organizations:
a. California FarmLink
b. Carlson Food Safety Consulting
c. Community Alliance with Family Farmers
d. Kitchen Table Advisors

Feed Rhode Island: Growing Sustainable Farms seeks to increase the number and success of limited resource and socially disadvantaged beginning farmers in the state. Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) will accomplish this goal by leading an experienced team to undertake four objectives: provide training and technical assistance, manage multiple incubator sites, offer on-farm apprentice training, and facilitate a land transfer working group. Partners include RI Department of Environmental Management, Brown University, RI Land Trust Council, Nature Conservancy RI Chapter, Northeast Organic Farming Association, Northern Rhode Island Conservation District, Young Farmers Network, and University of Rhode Island.

Through this program, the organization leverages the experience and relationships of program partners into meaningful outcomes that would otherwise take years to achieve. Technical assistance and training for urban and rural farmers will launch them onto their own farms. It will move urban farmers onto larger plots of land. It will lead to new behaviors that increase production and strengthen co-operative marketing while improving sales and boosting Rhode Island's economy. Support for an expanded apprentice program will increase the number of people who are prepared to begin their own farm businesses. Effective management of incubator space, combined with execution of a broadly supported land transfer strategy will create many new independent farms in a state where land values are astronomically high. Feed Rhode Island: Growing Sustainable Farms will help SCLT create significant change quickly in Rhode Island. 

Our goal is to support Beginning Farmers with the foundational production skills, business knowledge, and confidence they need to build farm enterprises that respond to the ever-growing metropolitan demand for sustainably grown, source-identified produce. With 550 acres of protected farmland available for incubation and long-term leasing, UESF envisions a cooperative future where dozens of small producers benefit from shared access to tools, labor, distribution, collective purchasing, product aggregation, and other cost efficiencies.

Global Garden Refugee Training Farm (GGRTF) developed and delivered 2 six-week courses to
prepare displaced refugee farmers for farming and farm business management in the Midwestern U.S. Fifteen farmers participated in the training, which was a first stage toward preparing them to develop farm business plans in preparation for establishing successful vegetable farms. Lesson plans were developed for another two topics: Season Extension and Soil Management.Lesson plans Teaching materials were designed to be appropriate for displaced refugee farmers with limited or no English and potentially low literacy in any language. In-class interpretation was provided for all sessions. Course content addressed both the prior experience and knowledge gaps unique to newly arrived displaced refugee farmers.

Global Growers will develop a pipeline to opportunities in agriculture sectors for beginning farmers by providing direct assistance and leveraging strategic partnerships to create access to land, knowledge, and resources. It will also provide the tools necessary for beginning farmers to access both direct-to-consumer and wholesale market opportunities in order to ensure sustainable income-generation and to increase distribution of local foods across the community and especially within socially disadvantaged communities.

The project is divided into two tracks: 1) incubator farmer pipeline, and 2) independent farmer pipeline. The incubator track includes a full-season training program with access land, tools, and infrastructure required for diversified vegetable production, along with access markets to generate supplementary income. The independent farmer track includes access to incubator farm workshops, with the primary emphasis on individual consultations. The cumulative experience and expertise of participating organizations and their shared vision will enable the GG Farmer Development Initiative to efficiently achieve the outcomes detailed herein and to build capacity to sustain the program beyond the grant period. 

Project Goal is to increase the number, diversity, profitability, and environmental sustainability of beginning farmers in the central New York region. Prior BFRDP support established Groundswell as an outstanding regional center for new farmer training, technical assistance, and business incubation.  Having substantially exceeded all our target numbers of trainees and new businesses launched in that Project, we will expand programs and audiences to:
1. Increase technical, business management skills of BFs.
2. Provide intensive business incubation support to selected BFs; increase regional incubation capacity. 
3. Connect BFs to existing wholesale markets; develop new marketing opportunities.
4. Support cooperation among farm businesses; develop cooperative models for farm business ownership, management, and business transfer.
5. Increase impact of farmer-to-farmer mentoring.
6. Provide entry-level, on-farm learning experiences for diverse “Explorers,” with priority on immigrants, refugees, people of color, veterans, and limited resource trainees.

This Project contributes directly to BFRDP’s goal of enhancing food security, community development and sustainability and addresses multiple priority topics. Most programs will focus on BFs in the first 5 years of business and the year preceding start-up, for maximum impact on farm business viability in our region. Programs include: Farm Business Incubator, Farm Business Planning Course, Finger Lakes CRAFT, farmer-led technical courses, Work2Learn placements, enterprise-specific Farm Business Support Networks, Cooperative Farm Business Course, and individual mentoring in production, marketing and business management. We will also offer limited programs targeting diverse “Explorers” (not yet committed to farming) as an essential outreach and recruitment process for new farmer development.

Recipe for Success/Hope Farms has developed a program model that provides regionally specific farming expertise in small, urban-centered horticulture practices and business strategies while integrating peer and mentor support for long-term success. The program aligns with the standard BFRDP project goal to enhance the sustainability of beginning farmers through education, mentoring and technical assistance programs.

Our goal is to increase the number of economically and environmentally sustainable urban farms operated by socially disadvantaged farmers in their Houston and Gulf Coast communities.
Objective 1) Expand recruitment to bring more BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) and female participants into Hope Farms’ programs.

Objective 2) Reduce barriers by providing tuition support to more participants.

Objective 3) Increase training accessibility by creating an online component of Hope Farms’ Gulf Coast-focused farmer training curriculum to educate and support more beginning urban farmers.

Objective 4) Build social capital by incubating a collegial, peer-to-peer network of urban farmers.
Anticipated Outcomes for Participating Beginning Farmers: • 48 complete 3-mo. intensive training
• 120 join in-person Master Classes
• 1,075 participate in online training
• 90% who participate in training programs will gain new knowledge and skills
• 5% who participate in training programs will enter agriculture, launch or expand a farming operation by the end of project year 3

Collaborating Organizations: Agmenity, Hive Bee Farm, Microlife, Organic Horticulture Benefits Alliance, Harris County Precinct One, PX Project, Sam Houston State University’s Department of Agricultural Sciences, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Prairie View A&M University, University of Houston-Downtown’s Center for Urban Agriculture and Sustainability

• Deliver education, training and technical assitance through veteran-to-veteran learning.
• Provide techical assistance to farmer veterans in the development of business plans.
• Administer and promote the Homegrown by Heroes (HBH) label nationally.
• Create and maintain opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and mentoring. 

This proposal emphasizes the priority topic areas of: basic crop farming practices, entrepreneurship and business training, financial and risk management training, diversification and marketing strategies, curriculum development, resources, vocational training for veterans, farm safety and awareness, and in the other subject areas: advanced training for soils and irrigation, hoop house operation, and food safety. Our target audience includes Native American tribes in Arizona and New Mexico, Limited Resource Producers, Youth, Veterans, and other beginning farmer participants. This renewal grant is based on successful partnerships with University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and tribal agents, and NGO/CBO partners who were identified during the current grant. About 40 percent of the budget will be allocated to the NGOs/CBOs.

Lessons learned and feedback from participants of our current grant indicated a need for more in-depth science-based curriculum to address soil and water salinity, farming as a business first, conducting market surveys, economics of equipment selection, working towards organic certification, tax information and strategies, irrigation, zoning and regulations for farmers, farm worker and food safety, non-chemical pest and disease control methods, selecting companion crops for different seasons, and related topics. This Standard BFRDP proposal focuses on empowering beginning and limited resource producers to learn these skills through ongoing hands-on demonstration, instruction, and curriculum proposed over the three years. The third year of our proposed education emphasizes individual mentoring to better enable participants to adopt production processes learned and business plans proposed. We are building on a successful foundation of having engaged over 373 participants in the current grant cycle and are incorporating the lessons learned to improve the effectiveness of participants adopting the skills and knowledge gained through the program. We will deliver relevant information to limited resource audiences that  include Southwest Native Americans, CBO's/NGO's, and military veterans with the goal of having participants complete a production and/or business plan for a specialty crop small farm enterprise. 

During this reporting period, Western Oregon's Sustainable Collaborative (WOSA) which consists of 6 different agriculture programs that support farmers of color, accomplished the following outputs:  1) Provided 2 Agriculture Courses in Spanish; 2) Mentored 56 new beginner farmers through specialty workshops and internship programs; 3) Supported 18 minority BFRs via access to local Farmers Markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. Particularly, farmers had access to 6 local Farmers Market across Western Oregon and 1 CSA. The target audience continues to be new and beginner farmers of color who are socially-disadvantaged. For this reporting period, we have reached 101 minority BFRs through small business farm courses, specialty courses, and one-on-one business coaching.  

Furthermore, it trained and provided one-on-one technical assistance to 56 minority BFRs with best practices on how to make risk management decisions related to farm financial and operational benchmarking. A total of 101 hours of one-on-one technical assistance or business coaching was offered to participants.                                                                                 

For specialty workshops, the following topics were delivered: soil biology, soil building and soil conservation, nutritional needs of plants, pest management and weed management, cooperative bylaws, cooperative finances, production of crop planning, farm machinery, food safety, grafting vegetable, seeding and transplanting techniques, hoop house construction, and business marketing. During this reporting report, the Farm Advisory Council met in January and February 2020, at the end of the season to review the challenges and successes of the growing season. 

WOSA recognizes that growing food and training farmers is essential to ensuring food security, and mental and financial wellbeing in our community. For that reason, we have continued to operate our programming within a new structure that ensure compliance with social distancing guidance. WOSA stays committed to its community. We serve those on the frontlines cultivating fresh produce for those in need of food.  

One Generation proposes a simplified BFRDP project to build its capacity to
educate, mentor, and provide technical assistance to beginning Indigenous farmers and ranchers
in New Mexico and the southwest. This project addresses challenges including disconnected
Indigenous agricultural traditions and knowledge of Indigenous farming practices, a lack of
profitability of Indigenous farms/ranches, and lack of trainings specific to the needs of farmers in
the southwest. Outcomes include a comprehensive set of curricula with Indigenous language,
practices, and cultural concepts incorporated, to improve prosperity and strengthen food,
cultural, and land sovereignty for Indigenous peoples.

Objectives: Host six community convenings; formalize an Advisory Committee composed of
Indigenous agricultural and language experts, beginning farmers and ranchers, and community
partners; catalogue existing lessons, training modules, and/or established curriculum in key
learning strands; incorporate intergenerational Indigenous knowledge and practices into the core
curriculum and learning activities; test delivery of curriculum; and create an action plan to
develop/launch a fellowship program.
Partners: Native American Community Academy and the University of New Mexico Community
Engagement Center.
USDA Priorities: (1) Lead agency has never received USDA funding; (2) Lead agency is a
nongovernmental and community-based organization; and (3) 100% of funds will address the
needs of socially disadvantaged or limited resource beginning farmers or ranchers.
Approximately 62% of federal funds allocated will support nongovernmental and communitybased organizations, plus an additional 20% of federal funds allocated will provide stipends to
beginning farmers and ranchers for consultation and participation in pilot testing curriculum. The
remaining 18% funds consultant evaluation.

The number one challenge beginning farmers face is accessing farmland. To address this issue in Illinois, The Land Connection’s project, “Land Access Solutions for Illinois’ Next-Generation Farmers,” will create a farmland access program for the entire state of Illinois.

Working in close collaboration with The Conservation Fund and Food Works and under the guidance of established FarmLink program organizers, we will develop and deliver wraparound farmland access support services for Illinois’ beginning farmers, retiring farmers, and non-operating farmland owners. The program will include a statewide Illinois FarmLink website, statewide working group of organizations desiring to address land access issues, farmland access advising/navigating services, farmer and landowner training, and succession and transition support. The project's "living" equity commitment will root the program in the principles of justice, diversity, equity, and belonging. A farmland access program manager and four regional farmland access navigators will be hired, with navigators embedded in regional partner organizations across Illinois, and will provide direct services to our target populations. To build awareness, we will advertise extensively in print, radio, and online, and conduct outreach to our networks of partners and farmers. We will achieve at least 80 successful land access agreements during the grant period, impacting at least 5,000 acres. Our long-term goal is to develop the systems to ensure this program’s financial and programmatic sustainability. 

One of the most pervasive and persistent challenge beginning farmers in NJ face is finding, affording and negotiating appropriate farmland to lease or to own.

The long-term goal this project, "Launching Beginning Farmers: Long-Term Preserved Farm Leases and Farm Success Training" is to significantly increase beginning farmers/ranchers' access to long-term lease agreements on preserved farmland. This project greatly expands an innovative land-access pilot program and provides extensive training and technical assistance for beginning farmers and ranchers in both urban and rural New Jersey communities to succeed in their farm businesses.

Because diversity and equity are values of our organization and this program, we work with our urban agriculture partners to do special outreach to beginning farmers/ranchers from BIPOC and socially disadvantaged communities to make sure they are informed of the program's opportunities.

Besides providing affordable access to land in a 10-year lease, we will provide guidance and support to help these beginning farmers be successful by connecting them to resources. Through this grant, this guidance will be expanded to on-going training for beginning farmers/ranchers who have launched their farm enterprise on Financial Management (Quickbooks training, access to funding--grants, loans, etc.; info on taxes, workers' comp, business filings, insurance, etc.); Business Management (hiring best practices, H-2A visa program, managing employees, apprentice/intern programs, risk management, cooperative purchasing opportunities); Safety (FSMA compliance, safety tips on the farm); Marketing (effective digital marketing, eCommerce strategies); Direct-to-Consumer Sales (farmers' markets, farm stand, CSAs); Farm-to-Institution Sales (food hubs, restaurants, wholesale); Surplus Food Management (value-added products, working with gleaning organizations); On Farm Skills (no-till farming, organic pest management, organic disease management, using Cornell Climate Smart Farming Tool Kit i.e. Growing Degree Days, etc., equipment maintenance and repair).

Living in one of USDA's classified food deserts, the community of Molokai have low access to healthy and affordable fresh foods. The majority of food and other products are imported. As a result of COVID, supply chain issues, and avian flu, Molokai has a pressing need to increase its food security through efforts that train beginning farmers in chicken poultry production.

The goal of the Mahia'ai Moa Project is to grow the number of socially disadvantaged farmers on the island of Molokai through offering tools that will enhance their successes and financial viability. The objective is to offer three different education and training programs that foster the growth and development of these beginning farmers:  (1) Poultry Farm Workshops with J. Ludovico Farm, (2) University of Hawai'i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (UH CTAHR) Chicken Feed and Foraging Workshops, and (3) Molokai Livestock Cooperative (MLC) Building Capacity & Training with J. Ludovico Farm. 

These trainings will be conducted across multiple workshops, meetings, field trips, and in person demonstrations through curriculum developed by Sustainable Molokai and related partners. Sustainable Molokai will collect data via surveys, observations, and collection of data from participants to evaluate and report on the project. The achievement of this goal will result in an increased number of trained food producers on our island, who will increase their food production. This will have the immediate and direct effect of increased economic development, expanded community access to fresh, nutritious food, and improved community resiliency

Project Summary
1. TITLE: "Maintaining the Paso Del Norte Immigrant and Military Veteran Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Network"
Project by the National Immigrant Farming Initiative (NIFI) that proposes a project with  the  long-term  goal  of  continuing  to  improve  food  security  and  community  development among  a  network  of  partners  in  the Paso del Norte  region  of  southern  New Mexico and  west Texas.  NIFI  supports  beginning  farmers  with  the  knowledge,  skills  and  tools  they  identify  as needed to make good farm business decisions and enhance sustainability.
Aligned with BFRDP goals, NIFI's target audience  consists of socially-disadvantaged  and  limited
resource immigrant farmers and ranchers who have not operated  a farm or have operated a farm for  less then  10  years. This  project also serves military  veterans,  the majority  of  whom, , are also in the category of  limited  resource immigrant farmers. 
Maintaining this farm support network allows NIFI to  continue to  learn  and support the  needs of  socially-disadvantaged farmers, so they can develop sustainable  operations and remain  in farming. NIFI  intentionally follows  the leadership of beginning  farmers  attending the  farmers  expressed  needs, designing their plans.     

Project objectives:
. Twelve farmers will initiate agricultural enterprises
. Ninety beginning farmers and ranchers will make beneficial changes   in farm operations and continue farming after project terminates
. Sixty beginning farmers will increase their knowledge through production, business and marketing training

.  Sixty beginning farmers will increase their knowledge of strategies for land access and natural
resource management and planning
4. Collaborating institutions / organizations/farmer and rancher groups include:
•     Adult and Youth United in Development Association (AYUDA)
•     Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Advancement, University of Texas
•     El Paso Verde
•     La Mujer Obrera
•     La Semilla Food Center
•     New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension
•     Paso del Norte Borderplex Veterans Coalition
•     Santa Cruz Organic Farm
•     Sol Y Tierra Growers Cooperative
•     Texas A&M Cooperative Extension

In the New Organic Stewards: Expanding Community, Resources and Financial Knowledge project the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES), Renewing the Countryside (RTC) and local collaborators will bring 1,130 new and beginning sustainable farmers in Wis., Minn., Iowa and Ill. together for learning opportunities. New and beginning farmers in communities throughout the Midwest will meet, network, learn from each other, view successful organic operations, gain access to additional programs and resources, and learn basic sustainable farming and financial management practices.

We will hold four regional 2-day New Farmer Us, and numerous conference workshops and activities for new and beginning sustainable farmers. The book, Fearless Farm Finances, will be updated and expanded and used as a training reference. One-day financial workshops, supported by the book, optional add-ons at the New Farmer Summits, will provide in-depth financial basics to strengthen the financial literacy and sustainability of beginning farmer attendees. A 15-lesson online course will be developed, based on the book and using video and presentations from the one-day trainings, and offered as both a free access and fee-based teacher supported course.

As a result of the project attendees will choose to participate in additional educational programs, implement new production methods, initiate financial recordkeeping and analysis to make their farms more profitable and sustainable and feel a greater sense of community and support on their path to farming. 678 of those involved will make progress in their dreams of beginning to farm or further improved their existing farm operations.

The goal of the proposed work is to increase the number of successful beginning farmers
who can access land and operate economically viable farms utilizing organic and
sustainable production practices in Ohio. We will achieve this by helping them master the
fundamental skills and knowledge needed for success as land seekers, producers, and small business owners.

This project creates new partnerships to (1) increase the readiness of aspiring farmers to begin farming independently; (2) increase farm viability and profitability of established early career farmers to improve their success; (3) increase access to farmland for beginning farmers; (4) facilitate the creation of a cooperating ecosystem of beginning farmer service providers in Ohio to increase collective impact; and (5) evaluate, report, and disseminate results of our work.

Project Summary
USDA NIFA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Project RFA 2018
Somali Bantu Community Association (SBCA)
Project Director: Libah, Muhidin; SBCA
Co-Project Director:Sarah Robinson, SBCA

The applicant, Somali Bantu Community Association (SBCA) of Lewiston, Maine, is a rare organization with a farming project completely led by a community of socially disadvantaged limited resource African refugees. With the majority of the community directly experiencing food insecurity, we have taken it upon ourselves to produce food while building the sustainable agricultural capacity of the region. SBCA is planning for its fifth season of in the field, with farmers currently numbering 135. Our intent is to reconnect to our agricultural heritage.
SBCA proposes a three year small standard BFRDP grant with a target audience that consists of refugee farmers who have not operated a farm, or have operated a farm for not more than 10 years. SBCA is applying for the funding set aside for projects that address the needs of limited resource beginning and socially disadvantaged beginning farmers or ranchers. One hundred percent of SBCA’s project will be allocated to serving that group.

The primary expected outcomes during the three-year project timeframe are:
- 40 farm start ups by Somali Bantu producers
- 15 cooperative farm enterprises will launch involving 60 beginning refugee farmers
- 60 farmers will generate income by sales at either farmers markets or to institutions
- 40 farmers demonstrate significant skill development with competency-based self assessment
- 100 beginning farmers and ranchers will make beneficial changes in farm operations
- 20 beginning Bantu farmers will establish livestock operations

Collaborating organizations include:
- Cooperative Development Institute
- Cultivating Community
- Cumberland County Food Security Council

- Good Shepherd Food Bank
- Intervale Farm Land for Good
- United Veteran Farmers of Maine

- USDA Farm Services Agency
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

- University of Maine Cooperative Extension
- World Farmers

The Rodale Institute Farmer Training (RIFT) Program is a multiple-track immersive internship that gives aspiring farmers, including military veterans, the knowledge, skills and experience they need to enter careers in organic farming.  RIFT interns will experience the entire life cycle of an organic diversified crop and livestock farm, while also learning how to distribute and increase access to healthy organic food. The program offers all farm-based interns the opportunity to learn about organic vegetable production and management, raising pigs and chickens in an organic environment, as well as crop harvesting, processing, packaging and marketing via season long (35 weeks) and short-season (8-16 weeks) internships utilizing curricula developed under previous BFRDP awards (#2015-70017-22855 and #2017-70017-26843).

Follow-on opportunities for interns include additional training with our project partners Pocono Organics and The Seed Farm which increase potential for success. Our partnership with the Farmer Veteran Coalition allows expansion of program outreach efforts focusing on veterans interested in learning about organic agriculture as a career. 

The program serves the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond through activities aligned with the following goals: 

 Goal 1: To equip new farmers, including military veterans, with the knowledge, skills and practical experience to be successful in operating their own organic farm enterprises and enhance sustainability of their operations.
 Goal 2: To increase the number of successful organic farm enterprises in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond.
        Goal 3: To support new farmers, including military veterans in their transition to the         organic agriculture workforce.

Percentage of total federal funds allocated to NGOs – 38%
Percentage of budget allocated to beginning farmers (excluding military veterans) - 30%
Percentage of budget allocated to serving military veterans - 32%

The Organic Farming Program is a collaboration between Rodale Institute (NGO) and Delaware Valley University, to train and support the next generation of organic farmers, focusing on military veterans. The one-year certificate program mixes practical, experiential on-farm training and classroom, field and greenhouse-based curriculum to achieve three goals: (1) Equip new farmers with  knowledge, skills and experience to operate a successful organic farm enterprise; (2) Increase the number of successful organic farm enterprises in the mid-Atlantic region  and beyond through business training, connecting students with farmer-to-farmer networks and supporting graduates through web-based media platforms; (3) Support military veterans  transitioning to civilian workforce by dedicating a  program coordinator with military background and coordinating a mentoring network with established military veteran organic farmers.

The Organic Farming Program, launched in  2012-13,  is currently partially supported by an FY2015 BFRD grant, number 2015-70017-22855 (Moyer/Ricotta).  First cohort graduate feedback suggested that risk reduction was a critical component to successful new farm enterprises. The existing program will be strengthened by guaranteeing access to land, infrastructure, equipment and mentoring services upon certificate completion.  Strong collaborations with regional non-profit farm-enterprise incubators including The Seed Farm, the Horn Farm Center and Common Ground Farm enable this significant program enhancement. Trainings include:  basic livestock and crop farming practices, entrepreneurship and business; financial and risk management, diversification and marketing, and farm safety. The program prepares students to launch their own farm enterprises and generates  a regional organic farmer support network to ensure future viability of their farm businesses.

* Other collaborating organizations not on PD list: The Seed Farm Agricultural Incubator, Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education and Common Ground Farm                                                 

This proposal targets beginning farmer refugees and people of color in the urban areas of Tucson (IRC & University of AZ Cooperative Extension, UACE) and Phoenix (Spaces of Opportunity & UACE) plus Indigenous Peoples and other limited resource beginning producers in rural areas of northern (Flagstaff Foodlink & UACE), central (San Carlos) and southeast (UACE) Arizona. These are new nonprofit partnerships and mainly new audiences for UACE. 18+ BF refugees, the first of which arrived in Tucson in 2017, are growing on .6 of an acre and the UA Campus Ag Center has 3-5 acres plus high tunnels that they can lease through this project. UA-CAC provides tillage to prepare the soil for planting along with pressurized water for drip and sprinkler irrigation on this leased land. Another goal for these refugees is to provide education on understanding local market demand conditions and growth by season and product, plus diversification and recordkeeping skills for tracking cash flow and food safety protocols. These business skills along with more acreage will allow IRC-Tucson refugees to expand their agricultural production into a more economically viable business.

Making small-scale agricultural production more economically viable will also be addressed by providing education and assistance on BFRDP priority areas of business and entrepreneurship training, innovative land acquisition strategies, basic production practices, diversification and marketing strategies, climate smart agriculture, acquiring ag. credit and risk management, recordkeeping and food safety, and mentoring. We are proposing a series of 5 workshop trainings annually for 6 locations in AZ that will complement ongoing assistance to beginning farmers provided by nonprofit partners and UACE personnel located in each of the 6 areas. We expect to provide education and assistance to 270 unique beginning producers, very intensively for 50 (daily/weekly assistance), ongoingly for 95 (monthly/quarterly education), and intermittently for 125 (bi-annually/annually). 

Ranching is more complex than ever and these complexities can be daunting for both those who have grown up in agriculture and those who are just beginning their own ranching operation. A changing ranching industry also leads to greater possibilities to diversify and explore business opportunities that offer unique strategies to bring the next generation to the ranch quicker. Whether individuals are coming back to their family ranch or are in search or first-generation ranching opportunities, the institutional knowledge of the older generation is not being conveyed to their young and beginning operators. Thus, it is evident that a robust educational program is needed to prepare young and beginning farmers and ranchers to step into their ranching roles and take advantage of opportunities in an ever-changing marketplace.

The Colorado Cattlemen's Association (CCA) and Colorado State University (CSU) will offer educational opportunities to beginning farmers and ranchers in Colorado, through the Colorado Ranching Legacy Program. Beginning with the Ranching Legacy Lectureships, which will be held throughout the year, with the objective to provide comprehensive, hands-on educational
lectureships for beginning farmers and ranchers In addition, Ranching Legacy Online will be hosted through CSU Online with the objective to provide comprehensive, flexible education for any person interested in ranching, specifically beginning farmers or ranchers. Each component of the Ranching Legacy Program has different structures and targets different audiences, but
work in collaboration to accomplish the goal of reaching a greater number of young and beginning producers. Through these educational programs, young and beginning farmers and ranchers will gain the educational training they need to lead their operation and ensure it is a sustainable, working landscape into the future.

Land Stewardship Project (LSP) project entitled Regional Farmer-led Education and Training Hubs for Building Resiliency and Viable Farms in Minnesota and Wisconsin is responding to the emerging needs of farmers in four distinct geographic service regions of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and uses partnerships to provide relevant education, mentoring, and technical assistance to beginning farmers with diverse needs.

The long-term goals of this project are to: 1) Offer proven beginning farmer training programs for varying levels of farming experience, with enhanced, farmer-informed curricula; 2) Develop two new farmer-led regional training hubs to increase resiliency of beginning farmers with 5-10 years’ experience; and 3) Collaborate with Red Lake Nation to develop a new curriculum and build community capacity to support socially-disadvantaged beginning farmers. The key collaborating partners for this project are: Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service (MOSES); Angelic Organics Learning Center; Soil & Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) in three rural Minnesota counties; Cultivating Resilience, LLC; established farmer-leaders from across the region; the 4 Directions Development (4DD) corporation and community leaders of the Red Lake Nation.

This collaborative project will be led by LSP, a nonprofit community-based organization with more than 25 years of experience developing farmer-informed and farmer-led programming to support beginning farmers. LSP’s grassroots model makes the farmer’s voice the primary source of information for all programs and services offered, and has resulted in a set of unique and successful farmer training programs, some of which have been replicated across the country, such as the Farm Beginnings program. LSP’s farmer-led and community-based approach leads to ongoing innovation in how we engage and support beginning farmers, as the changing needs of farmers dictate the curricula and delivery models of our programs. 

This program has a goal to increase the ability of socially disadvantaged and limited resource farmers and military veterans to operate their farms and forestry enterprises in a 20-county area around the I-95 Corridor in the Lowcountry region of SC. The needs of these landowners have been identified as:

1. lack of knowledge, technical assistance and resources to sustainably manage their land,
2. landowners "disinterested" attitude in harvesting as shown by lack of planning for the future of the land, and
3. dealing with the complications of land owned by groups of legally undetermined joint heirs (i.e., heirs' property), which is a critical barrier to successfully owning and managing farming/forestry enterprises.

This collaborative will accomplish this goal by achieving the objectives of:

1. increasing farmers' capacity to access technical assistance and government cost-share programs for farming and forestry management,
2. increasing farmers' knowledge of farming and sustainable forestry and full array of forestry-related programs, resources & markets available to them and
3. increasing landowners' knowledge of how to resolve their heirs' property (HP) issues in order to benefit from USDA cost share programs and establish succession plans.
   

This project is designed to meet the Standard Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) project's long-term goal of improving the success of beginning farmers and ranchers (BFR) in farming and management of nonindustrial private forest lands by providing the tools of education/training, mentoring and outreach programs that help them make informed decisions to increase the likelihood that their operations will be sustainable.
Collaborating institutions/organizations: Center for Heirs' Property Preservation, AgFirst, ArborGen, SC Forestry Commission, The Nature Conservancy of SC, Beaufort County Open Land Trust, Clemson University Extension Services, SC USDA NRCS, Increasing H.O.P.E., USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station and Woodland Community Advocates.

Our goal is to increase the number of beginning farmers who operate successful, profitable farm enterprises in New York --specifically, Delaware, Schoharie, and Otsego Counties–as well as strengthen and ramp up the operations of beginning farmers Statewide in the first 10 years of operation, thereby keeping approximately 200,000 acres of arable farmland in production and sustaining NYS’ role as a leading agricultural State in the Northeast. This goal fulfills our 30 year mission--to increase the number and diversity of successful farm enterprises and related businesses in New York. We will implement our three-year project to: 

1) establish 12-15 new farms in Delaware, Otsego, and Schoharie Counties with high impact, deep touch “A-Z” services from farmland access to landowner/producer matchmaking, on-farm skills building to business development to access to capital to markets/sales; and 
2) enhance, strengthen, and ramp up operations of 1,000 beginning farms Statewide in their first 10 years with our mid/light touch services using business development and management workshops and webinars, on-farm events, facilitating networks/peer connections, interactive online content and resources, and referrals. 

With a range of partners, our project will deliver relevant, “farming for a new era” content: 
facilitating access to farmland in the 3 counties;
technical assistance on securing farmland; 
educational training via peer-to-peer mentoring, apprenticeships, pasture-walks; 
legal and business support; 
business development;
financial planning;  
product development;
assistance in accessing capital;
market R&D, market planning;
producer/buyer/distributor matchmaking to secure market share;
social support.