In the second project year, Delta
Farming Start delivered technical assistance, mentoring, and intensive,
targeted training in farming start-up, farming practice and management, AG
related business, and other critical areas to 45 selected participants.
Participants are 100% African American, limited resource,
socially-disadvantaged, small farm and ranch or are currently farmworkers.
Participants are also 100% focused on specialty crop production. Participants
completed quarterly 2-day training, received and will continue to receive
ongoing one on one coaching and visits to their farms, soil testing with
financial resources for soil preparation, tilling, row creation, and precision
seeding equipment through the Delta Farming Start program for the life of the
project. Participants were either prepared to start small independent farm
operations or other agriculture-related self-employment, or to grow and
diversify their existing limited resource farming operations.
In addition to 1,698 hours of training, coaching and mentoring, the MDC
Delta Farm Start, BFRDP project year 2, Delta Farm Start has provided 1) 45
micro grants of $500 to participants for start-up or expansion expenses
covering 102 acres of participant land, 2) access to 44 acres of donated
land, 3) access to tractors, tilling and precision seeding equipment, at
low or no cost to participating farmers, 4) connection to irrigation and
hoop house resources, 5) connection to processing plant, 6) MDC
cold transportation and cold storage for product, and 7) secured
aggregate buyers for participants. (*Note: Please See Steps section below for
additional detail on services provided to participants.)
Individual participant earnings project year 2 ROI:
Delta Farm Start project year 2 return on micro grant investment to farmers (ROI) = 812%
Of 45 funded
micro-grants of $500, a $22,000 investment, grant recipients as well as an additional 10 participants who were
not grant recipients but existing farmers have jointly increased their total
annual earnings by $178,636.