Project Overview
La
Cosecha, a Spanish
word for harvest, provided training for first and next generation socially
disadvantaged Latino farmers so they can become successful farmers in specialty
crop production, and crop diversification. The programming was very useful for beginning Latino farmers, farm laborers, their children, and interested
Latinos with non-farming backgrounds. During three years a series of workshops (16)
to train farmers were offered including: 1) IPM and production (145 farmers),
2) Access to USDA programs (25), 3) Vegetable crops (111), 4) 4-H introducing
Latino youth to agriculture and related activities (505), 5) Pesticide
education (81), 6) information of the program to farmworkers (2,893), 7) Pesticide
certification credits (354), and 8) GAPs and business and marketing (123). Thirty-one
farmers obtained the pesticide certification, 142 visits were performed to
field farms to address issues related to crop production, 50 field demonstrations
were performed by our outreach specialist on crop production, 30 farmers were
provided information on irrigation systems. In addition, communication via text messages
and phone calls were performed. Survey instruments to evaluate the impact of
the program were designed and performed too. Educational materials from MSU
Extension were provided. We established a successful bi-cultural and bio-linguistic
program for Latino farmers with different levels of knowledge and
skills. Currently, one of the main issues for many farmers is the variable
price of the blueberries in the market. In addition, lack of labor to harvest
the fruits in the past few years and this year has been a limiting factor in
the business operations. We believe that La Cosecha program and other similar
programs in the nation face the same dilemma: despite the success in training
beginning farmers the ability to have a long-term impact is limited due to the
relatively short term of the project.
Number of Participants: 4698
Promotional Materials
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Educational Materials
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Reports & Evaluations
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Individual Stories / Examples of Success