BFRDP Projects

FVC facilitates a national peer network that develops and provides access to training, education, internships, mentorships, jobs, financial and market opportunities for beginning farmer veterans. We combined new small scale livestock and vegetable production and business planning materials with existing core tools previously created through Risk Management Agency grants (One Page Business/Financial Plan, One Page Monthly Cash Flow Budget, and One Page Risk Management Plan). These tools have been adapted to explain small scale pork and pastured poultry production business, small scale honeybee, grass fed beef, lamb, goat, and vegetable business models. 

Over the grant period, FVC staff engaged with more than 6,000 new farmer veteran members through our headquarters in Davis, CA.

Farmer Veteran Coalition completed 27 workshops focusing on small scale livestock and vegetable production, risk management and financial education.  We have incorporated the new training materials into the workshops that target these farmer veterans and their specific crop and assist them in refining their own financial, production, risk management and business plans.  We held 13 webinars that focused on production and business planning.  Our most successful webinar focused on starting a farm from scratch: land assessment.  Over 140 veterans tuned-in live and the recording has 1,542 views. 

One of the workshops specifically focused on developing, supporting and educating women farmer veterans was held at the Stone Barns Center in March 2016. The women were educated on production, financial and risk management components of small scale livestock/vegetable operations. The 2017 Empowering Women Veterans Conference consisted of twelve hours of workshops in Santa Rosa, California.  This successful event saw many female farmer veterans bonding together to share their experiences and strength. In 2018, FVC partnered with NFU to bring women veterans together with other women farmers in San Diego, CA. Topics included financial literacy, marketing, collaborative farming and agritourism.  

October 2022 - September 2023    The UAPB Staff worked with beginning farmers to carry out the four objectives of the project.

Objectives One – To provide business training and assistance to Beginning Socially Disadvantaged and Limited Resource Farmers (BSDLRF).

BSDLRFs participated in business training with direct assistance from the staff.  Ninety-one (91) participants were assisted with enterprise budgets to develop financial plans. Forty-one (41) submitted financial plans to the Farm Service Agency (FSA). Eight (8) of the plans were funded for $840,000.

Objective Two – to educate BSDLRPs on using the Natural Resources and Conservation Services (NRCS) and the Cooperative Extension Services (CES).

BSDLRFs were educated (through educational sessions and direct assistance) on NRCS and CES. BSDLRPs learned about the NRCS Funding under the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP). This program provided an incentive payment (90% of the average cost of the conservation practice) for installing conservation practices. Twenty-five (25) BSDLRPs submitted EQIP Applications and were funded for approximately $500,000.
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To assist BSDLRPs in using the CES, the staff directly informed over 100 participants about the CES and some specific CES services. Consequently, 40 took soil tests to determine their land’s fertility and lime recommendation. Ten (10) took soil compaction tests, and 10 developed weed control plans. 

Objective Three- to provide vegetable marketing training.

To help BSDLRPs identify markets for their vegetable crops, three (3) vegetable marketing workshops were conducted. The workshop participants were vendors who were buying vegetables. These vendors explained their requirements for purchasing vegetables. Fifteen (15) BSDLRPs sold their vegetables to vendors who participated in the workshops.

Objective Four – to conduct a Beginning Farmers Class

Twenty-five (25) individuals completed the Beginning Farmers Class in 2023. The course consisted of seven (7) five-hour workshops conducted monthly. Applicants completing the class met the managerial ability requirement to receive a USDA operating loan.

Land access is a top challenge for beginning farmers (BFs); land transfer is a BFRDP statutory priority. The long-term goal of this standard project was for more New England
BFs to successfully access land to start or expand their farm businesses. Land For Good (LFG),
six partners and 13 collaborators in six states enabled over 200 BFs to access land or achieve
more secure tenure. Project goals were that: BFs are better prepared to access land to farm; more farms are effectively transferred to BFs; and stronger programs assist BFs to access land. Our objectives were to: educate, train and coach BFs on land access; help BFs find land and connect with landowners; educate and coach transitioning farmers on succession planning; improve succession planning providers and resources; and improve farm link programs. LFG recorded over 300 cases of intensive individual technical assistance to farm seekers. Collaborators planned, hosted, promoted, and delivered 60 land access educational workshops and seeker-landowner mixers, and Farm Succession Schools - including transitioning to new formats and online delivery in the last half of the project.  The New England Farm Link Collaborative made more farm properties available and visible to BFs, with 500 new properties posted to New England Farmland Finder alone, any more posted to 3 state farm link sites. We developed more structured coaching protocols around farm succession, continued a rigorous program of staff professional development, and developed new tools and resources. Over the 3 year project period, 86% of all BFs who responded to our annual impact survey found LFG services at least somewhat helpful. 75% of the 270 BF respondents to our annual impact survey during the project took some action, with 38% - or 103 BFs - gaining secure land tenure within the previous 12 months. Overall, over 205 farmers gained more secure land tenure and nearly 50 farmers complete succession plans. 

Finally, we improved the connectivity and performance of farm link programs in our region and nationally. We hosted the first ever national Farm Link Clinic in 2019 involving 27 programs, who then implemented program improvements. Wrote on participant, “LFG hosting the first ever national farm link clinic was a big first step in greater collaboration, networking and professional development for land access and transfer professionals. Ideally these clinics could be annual or every couple of years to continue this work.” 

We increased the number and enhanced the success of Native Hawaiian farmers to grow new agroforestry projects and improve resource management of existing projects. This project increased economic opportunity, food security and cultural connection to the forest in the Native Hawaiian community of Maui.

Objectives completed:

1) Trained 150 new and beginning Native Hawaiian farmers in agroforestry

2) Engaged 30 new Native Hawaiian youth in agroforestry as a career path

3) Enhanced the success of 50 beginning agroforesters

Future objectives to be fulfilled:

1) Facilitate 20 new farmers in designing an agroforestry/native reforestation project

2) Establish a demonstration farm cultivated by 100 new Native Hawaiian farmers

3) Provide land to 2 Native Hawaiian farmers to cultivate native crops and enter markets

4) Develop 10 new markets for agroforestry cultural crops.

To accomplish the goal we will conduct monthly classroom and hands-on workshops for an additional two years which are culturally appropriate and targeted at Native Hawaiian adults and youth.
We have established a new training program aimed at recruiting 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 brings 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 increases the number of veteran farmers and helps to ensure their success by providing them with farming skills; business development and management training; and ongoing technical support. This program also provide continued support through ongoing mentorships from the business, agricultural, and veteran communities.

Arcadia's Veteran Farmer Program was successful in its goal to increase the number of military veterans operating new, successful farm operations in the Washington, D.C. region. Within 3 months of the end of the first year of the program, six program participants have already started to farm, while another four have gained experience and or/employment in agriculture and agriculture related jobs. Interest in the 2017 program was high, and Arcadia is expanding the size of the class to accommodate the additional interest.

The project’s overall goals were to increase the number and enhance sustainability of veteran and other beginning farmers and ranchers, through an innovative, holistic model for education, training, technical assistance, and outreach, reducing self-employment barriers for veterans and other beginning farmer/ranchers (particularly those with disabilities). To accomplish the above referenced goals the project: 1. Provided a holistic and relevant educational experience to support farm enterprise education and sustainability through access to: a) face to face and online educational training in farm management and production specific agriculture practices; b) individualized educational planning and guidance to support diverse agriculture business interests; c) hands-on learning opportunities connected to online course content; and d) follow-up mentor support, 2. Established peer-to-peer learning through a Community of Practice, and 3. Offered an array of veteran transitional and disability support services. Outreach efforts were targeted toward military veterans and socially disadvantaged beginning farmers/ranchers with and without disabilities. The project provided participants with the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to make informed decisions regarding entering, establishing, and managing successful agriculture enterprises. The activities were designed to enhance participants’ success in agribusiness startup, business expansion and sustainability augmented by peer-learning and support services and experiential learning opportunities. Formative and summative evaluation measures for program improvement and overall evaluation were included. Program sustainability was addressed through strategic partnership engagement beyond the life of the project. Ease of replicability of the program has been engineered into the design of the program. Even though the project grant period has ended, the program is still being delivered.

Through the program 572 individuals increased their awareness and understanding of business and strategic planning, value added enterprises, conservation, economics decision making, risk management, animal production, vegetable production, and soil and pasture management. The program has held 80 hands on learning/field days with 1034 attendees. The program has held 9 one day workshops across the state with 531 individuals in attendance. Hours of agriculture production course work attended in excess of 440 hours and 1300 hours of hands on hours completed. Webinar attendance for the 3-year period was 4926 participants. The website page was viewed/accessed          107, 751 times. One thousand six hundred and six unique individuals were directly served through the program. One hundred and twenty-six individuals started farming, 725 individuals were helped to prepare to start farming and 126 improved their farming success.

The purpose of this project was 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.

1. Overall Goals
   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 has developed a Clearinghouse that will help beginning farmers and ranchers be more successful. The Clearinghouse has assembled 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. 

FarmAnswers.org has had over 86,000 individual visitors since it was launched, with those visitors viewing documents on how to get started farming through improving their farming success. Other BFRDP projects have used the Clearinghouse to share educational materials both with beginning farmers and other projects. And finally, the Clearinghouse has established an outcome-based reporting system to enable BFRDP projects to share the results that they have achieved with their BFRDP funding.

This renewal Standard BFRDP project built upon a successful Development Grant (PD: Kelly Coleman, award 2012-49400-19591). The lead agency (CISA) managed this state-wide project through an established network of five collaborating agricultural community-based organizations (CBOs): Berkshire Grown, Central Mass Grown, Northeast Harvest, Southeastern MA Agricultural Partnership and Sustainable Nantucket. One hundred percent of federal funds went to CBOs.

The long-range goal of this project was to improve the sustainability and profitability of beginning farm businesses in Massachusetts by providing tailored technical assistance. During this grant we served 521 beginning farmers in the following topic areas: entrepreneurship and business training (priority C), financial and risk management training (priority D), and diversification and marketing strategies (priority F). Activities included 81 workshops, 19 networking events, and 343 one-on-one assistance consultations, plus detailed program evaluation. After participating, farmers continued to have access to on-going technical assistance and peer support through the collaborating organizations. As a result, 92% of participants (520/568 surveys) “moderately increased” knowledge and 66% of participants (374/568 surveys) “substantially increased” knowledge in the areas of marketing, business planning, financial analysis, diversification, or value-added production. By the end of the project we had collected data to confirm that 119 farmers implemented a change (78% of the 134 respondents) and 23 have already seen an increase in their income by at least 5% (45% of the 51 respondents to this question).  We believe the success of these outcomes will improve the economy and food security of the region.

This project is a collaboration of six Maryland organizations: University of Maryland, College Park (UMDCP); University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES); University of Maryland Baltimore, Agriculture Law Education Initiative (ALEI); Farm Alliance of Baltimore (FAB); Black Yield Institute (BYI); Southern Maryland Agriculture Development Commission of the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland (SMADC). 

Our goal is to alleviate what beginning farmers have told us are two of the biggest barriers to their success: land access and market access. 

Thanks to USDA-NIFA funding, we were able to expand our efforts to support urban, peri-urban, and historically underserved beginning farmers. Different organizations in our collaborative team taught about market research, legal issues related to leases and land access, and methods of growing and marketing African heritage crops. We provided one-on-one coaching to agricultural and food entrepreneurs. We built new online resources for realtors, landowners, and land seekers. We trained historically underserved farmers on how to grow and market African heritage crops. We held community convenings and listening sessions to build concensus on urban farmland access and tenure. 

The project applicants represent a regional coalition joined across the Tennessee and Virginia border in a region called the “Heart of Appalachia”. Our coalition represents a 20-year track record of building the local food economy from farm to fork, across all economic classes, across all ages. Through the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program we improved start-up opportunities for beginning farmers and ranchers to establish and sustain viable agricultural operations and communities. The coalition developed 4 main objectives in response to feedback from beginning farmers served by our organizations.

• Enhance Regional Coalition: The Coalition  increased networking and communication channels through quarterly meetings, an active working relationship between the Program Coordinators, and the development of a mentor learning infrastructure that continues to be successfully executed.
• Whole Farm and Local Market Education: In total 106 students participated in ARC&D's Winter Business Intensive and Field School. An additional 800 individuals particpated in the virtual Summer Field School held in 2020. A demonstration garden showcased the challenges and benefits of wholesale organic production.  Over the grant period,  12,500 lbs. of produce was harvested and approximately 966 individuals visited the sites.
• Internship-Mentorship Networking: Farmer and Rancher Mentoring (FARM) was created for adult and youth beginning farmers. Throughout the project period, 47 interns (200 hour and 70 hour) successfully completed the internship program. 31 farmer mentors participated in the educational experience. 
• Peer-to-Peer Circles: Peer learning circles are designed to create an educational and support network for farmers. A Women’s Farmer Roundtable was established in October 2018 in Tennessee and are still meeting regularly to date in 2020.The group plans to continue meeting after the project period. 

Over the course of Building Farm Foundations and Planning for Success: Beginning Farmer Training for Military Veterans, we have complete 4 -40 hour Armed to Farm trainings with 90 participants from throughout the Intermountain and North Western US. In addition we did a follow up training for Armed to Farm Alumni titled Armed to Farm 2.0 a Lean Canvas Enterprise Planning model with 13 hours of training.  This training had 13 Armed to Farm graduates that wanted to dig into their business plan or try out planning for a new enterprise. Of the 90 veteran participants in the Armed to Farm training, 23 have started farms and our post training evaluations indicate that 60 made positive changes to their business planning and production practices as a result of the trainings. 

In an effort to increase the success of our Armed to Farm graduates, we provided one on one technical assistance at the trainings as well as follow up technical assistance as needed. This included 55 individual technical assistance sessions by NCAT staff and our project partners throughout the course of the project.

We have watched a network of veteran farmers grow and solidify through the efforts of NCAT,  the veteran participants, and our project partners. We have a Montana based email listserve to promote agriculture events of interest for Armed to Farm alumni to attend. 25% of the Armed to Farm alumni in Montana have joined the national Armed to Farm Facebook group and participate regularly.

Our partner Vilivus Training Institute's efforts to recruit a veteran apprentice on their organic grain farm, did not materialize. Vilicus Training Institute, instead, provided mentoring and guidance on organic certification, USDA program participation, and cover cropping strategies to 10 veteran farmers.

Midwest GRIT is a peer-to-peer and professional education dissemination-based, year-long program to provide beginning grain farmers with the production, marketing, and business management resources they need to grow, market, and sell food-grade grains to their local communities in the Midwest region. Midwest GRIT delivers information through monthly webinars, bimonthly peer-to-peer networking and sharing sessions, at least 2 in-person events per year, professional grain grower conferences, direct technical assistance, and through the provision of a resource guidebook at the end of the program. The first cohort of 31 beginning farmers was convened in June 2022 and included 23 female, 7 male, and 1 nonbinary identifying participants. Twenty-six percent of the farmers in cohort 1 identified as an ethnicity or race other than white. The second cohort of 30 beginning farmers was convened in April 2023 and included 13 female, 13 male, and 4 nonbinary identifying participants. Twenty-seven percent of the farmers in cohort 2 identified as an ethnicity or race other than white. Cohort 2 is ongoing, but cohort 1 accomplishments include:

• Five participants from Cohort 1 grew and/or marketed food-grade grains for the first time following cohort participation
• Ninety percent of the Cohort 1 participants reported their access to peer/farmer community increased over the last year due to Midwest GRIT
• On a scale of 1 to 5, 39% of participants awarded their gains in knowledge of growing food-grade grains as a 5, indicating that GRIT programming significantly increased their knowledge of growing food-grade grains
• Participant also cited gains in knowledge in post-harvest handling of food-grade grains, marketing of food-grade grains, and business farming expertise
  
  
  
  
  

In Year 2, activities included 5 workshops and trainings that were conducted by First Nations and/or the three livestock associations. In Year 2, 117 producers attended and/or received technical assistance to advance their knowledge on conservation, ranching, marketing, processing, and much more.

In Year 1, the livestock associations were slow to report as a result in Year 1, 8 trainings were not reported they are summarized in the impact report.
In summary, the project proved to impact the advancement of the three livestock association and their capacity to manage their nonprofits. With technical assistance they increased their knowledge on grants management, nonprofit management, community outreach and engagement, and financial management.

The project also enabled the 3 livestock association to expand their outreach to Native American producers and explore potential new partnerships. As a result of their outreach, ND14R Ranch established a new market for cattle that did not meet the criteria to be deemed source-verified beef. Rather than taking the cattle to a sale barn they discovered a new market that has enabled them to receive higher sales that they would not otherwise receive at the sale barn. They also established a new partnership in the Navajo Agriculture Products Industry (NAPI) to finish off short sale calves to increase their weight and quality.

In addition, as a result of research conducted under the project, Point of Pines Cattle Association increased their cattle sales. In 2017, upon initiation of the grant project, the livestock associations were surveyed to identify the status of their organization, cattle herd, sales, and producers they serve. When surveyed in 2017, Point of Pines Cattle Association indicated that they were receiving $0.88/lb on their cattle sales. In 2019, at the conclusion of the project and through market research their cattle were selling for $1.25/lb.

Unlike private land owners, Native American producers manage their farms and ranches on trust lands. To do so, many are required to obtain a grazing and/or land use permit from the BIA if the permit was passed down to them by parents and/or grandparents. As such, livestock associations provide a means for Native American producers to continue ranching in some instances without a grazing permit because the land has been allocated for the association.  The associations serve in a quasi-cooperative capacity, managing all the producers’ cattle collectively, coordinating cattle sales, and maintaining herd health. While First Nations indicated that ranching startups was not applicable, five agribusinesses were initiated, with four of the businesses engaged in ND14R Ranch.

At time of final project reporting, First Nations learned that the executive director, Colleen Tessey of the Grasshopper Livestock Association was recognized with a Governor’s award for her contribution to Arizona agriculture and her work with the Grasshopper Livestock Association. She will be recognized at the 5th Annual Arizona Ag Roundtable on December 2, 2019 which will be attended by the Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue.

The primary goal of this project was to lay the groundwork for the future Chemeketa Incubator Farm (CIF) Program. The long-term goal of this project was to increase agricultural opportunities and support economic growth by providing land-based education and business planning for new and beginning farmers. 

Planning work has provided direction on how we can best increase equitable agricultural opportunities and support diverse economic growth by providing farm and food systems training that considers future and current beginning farmers' individual needs. Activities completed have allowed us to identify the specific resources and services that are difficult for aspiring farmers to access. The impact of this planning work has allowed us to refine original ideas in the initial proposal and acknowledge the diverse needs of aspiring farmers in our region. It has helped identify the most important topics and skills needed for future farmers to be successful in establishing sustainable farm businesses in the Mid-Willamette Valley.

We have designed a training program which includes options for a non-credit training certificate and access to a variety of community incubator farms in Chemeketa’s Tri-County Service District. We’ve worked closely with stakeholders and partners to survey aspiring and beginning farmers. We’ve also consulted partners and organizations serving similar target audiences in other areas so we can minimize common barriers to new farmers. We’ve designed the proposed training program to include the most needed training and resources related to career exploration in agriculture, farming principles and practices, farm business development and management, and topics in food sovereignty.

The long-term goal of this one year Development project was 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 helped 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 addressed 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 FMF beginning farmer training model is built on 30 years of experience in working hands-on with refugees and immigrants. The FMF program is based on a model of assessing and defining farmers in the three identified levels of beginning farmers’ capacity and providing training and technical assistance that respects each culture, and the capacity of each farmer to participate on both physical and emotional level. 

The VSU BFRDP team has been successful in accomplishing the stated objectives of the project. The VSU Small Farm Outreach Program conducted over 2000 efforts during the 3- year life of the project. These efforts included one-on-one on-the-farm visits, tours, phone calls, emails, and Agricultural educational training workshops/events (in-person and online). Participants received information about farm business planning and financial management, risk management education, production and marketing methods/techniques, demonstrations and farm tours. All evaluated events rated at a 90% percentile and higher indication that participants gained knowledge about USDA and other state agricultural agencies resources that are available to them. Participants indicated that they gained knowledge on how to create a business plan; gained knowledge that will help them to make an informed decision; and plan to use in the information gained in the future to enhance their farm operation. 150 beginning and veteran farmers were recruited, 84 participants have started and are operating a farm business. Twenty-one (21) applicants received Cost Share from NRCS. 98 participants increased knowledge on accessing FSA and other loan programs; forty-eight (48) developed a business plan and Thirty-two (32) applied to FSA and other loan programs; eleven (11) gained farmland.

The New Farmer Orientation sessions provided participants with a step-by-step guide of the many resources that are available to them, as well as connecting them to their assigned small farm State Program Assistant, and their local USDA Agency. It also provided snapshots of what a business structure looks like and things to consider when starting a farm business. 

Workshops such as USDA Information Sessions, Estate Planning and Land Transition, Agribusiness Production & Financial Management allows participants an open forum where they can communicate directly with USDA and respective representatives and gain first-handed information about the resources they need to become successful farmers.

Our Small Farm Program Assistants (PA) will continue to provide outreach, training, technical assistance and provide producers with direct assistance when completing applications, providing hands-on guidance and education relating to their needs.

The purpose of Cultivating Success: A Comprehensive Beginning Farmer Training and Mentorship Program for Idaho, is to increase the number and success of beginning small farmers and ranchers in Idaho. Methods include comprehensive training (in-person and via site-hosted interactive webinars), facilitating access to land and capital (via networking and meaningful online resources), and coordinate ongoing farmer-to-farmer mentoring (on farms). This system combined with the 42 county reach of University of Idaho (UI) Extension will allow the project team to reach nearly all of Idaho.  Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Idaho’s farms and ranches are working on less than 180 acres. Many of these farmers are women. UI Extension’s Cultivating SuccessTM Sustainable Small Farms Education program has been the primary educational resource for the target audience in Idaho for nearly 20 years. Since 2001, 575 people have completed one or more Cultivating Success courses in Idaho.  Participants identified land costs, land availability, start-up costs and access to capital as barriers to small farm success. This project proposed to re-invigorate the existing Cultivating SuccessTM program to address current needs. Key partners include Rural Roots, an existing farm networking and education non-profit organization, and several farmers who are already trained and experienced farmer mentors.  The program is providing needed education, mentoring and resource information to Idaho’s small-acreage farmers and ranchers. Post-workshop evaluations measured behavioral change and the effectiveness of the delivery formats. The project activities are in alignment with USDA-NIFA’s priorities addressing hunger and food security.

Indigenous Roots Forever: A Business Support Program for Tribal and other Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Beginning Farmers was a one-year collaborative program executed by the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust in Cranston, RI under the USDA-BFRDP FY2021-2022 Simplified Standard Grants initiative. The project ran through September 1, 2021, to August 31, 2022, and involved collaboration with Global Village Farms in Grafton, Support and outreach focused on historically underserved Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) beginning farmers in Massachusetts, where few educational resources for this population exist.

The project utilized outreach and individualized educational services as well as intensive learning and technical assistance to increase understanding of sound business practices. Thirty-eight beginning BIPOC farmers participated in the program with over twenty showing some gains in business planning and marketing knowledge. Two farms (representing 8 farmers) saw an increase in revenues as a result of implementing this knowledge into their own businesses.

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.

Underserved New and Beginning Producers face eight (8) major challenges: access to land, capital, labor, markets, risk management, weak leadership, managerial capacity, digital inclusion, and Heirs’ property issues.  The Pandemic intensified these, showing loss of land/farms, labor shortages, inadequate financing, loss of outputs, marketing contractions, and decline of producers’ health and operations.

The Institute and Partners implemented solutions using clustered approaches, building Beginning Veteran and Small Farmer Village Models of agricultural producers. Four (4) Beginning Veteran and Small Farmer Agricultural Group (VSFAG) Village Models of agricultural producer sites were established. To date, two of the four VSFAG sites were consolidated due to residential development of the original site and relocation. The VSFAG sites in Treasure Coast and North Florida are confirmed for implementation in year 2.  This three-year project supports building four (4) agricultural groups of 20 - 40 New & Beginning Veterans and Small Producers in Florida to receive training, technical assistance, direct financial and disaster assistance for on-farm resilience and risk mitigation.  The long-term goal shows these groups transitioning from pre-cooperatives to cooperates in five years.  

The Institute’s partnership includes mentoring farmers & ranchers, and subject matter specialists from Universities/Private Industries.  The objectives: (i) Target and build satellite groups of the most vulnerable producers and provide training and technical assistance regarding BFR program priorities, (ii) Provide financial support directly to producers to stimulate production and marketing; and (iii) Expand these intervention models to other producers in the target areas and the rural South.

Expect outcomes: Four integrated Veteran and Small Farmer Village Growers groups established; 75% BFRs demonstrating how to create Resilient Farms & Ranches; 90% BFRs building their capacities to create self-insured risk management systems to be able to recover quickly after a disaster; 100% BFRs receiving USDA programs support to develop their small farm or ranches/groups.

This project has recruited and enhanced the sustainability of new and beginning farmers and ranchers in Texas by helping them develop successful farm and ranch operations using the "Model Farm Concept". 

(1) We have established and in the process of starting model farms on our campus farm and in several of the counties that we have agents located.  The model farms includes High Tunnels for year round vegetable production, one acre commercial gardening plots (43,560 Initiative), strawberries, grafted cucumber production, sweet potatoes and peas production.  We have also conducted workshops and field days to expose producers to these production areas and to connect them to mentor farmers/ranchers as well as USDA personnel. 

 (2) We have provided scale-appropriate instructional and experiential training in production, business management and marketing; via field days, bus tours and workshops. We have engaged producers in hands-on-learning some examples of this have been the Agriculture Field Day, Small Farm Outreach Workshop, Soil Health Series, and Agroforestry Workshop.

(3) We have developed an effective partnerships between Beginning Farmers and Ranchers (BFRs) and USDA, State agencies, CBOs and other successful farmers by creating mentorship opportunities and facilitating information sharing on programs and services available to them.

(4) We have developed a BFR database in which we delivered targeted program and marketing information  as well a disseminated  information to our target audience.  This has been a joint effort between the Agricultural and Natural Resource (AGNR) unit of our Cooperative Extension Program (CEP) and the two prominent CBOs working closely together.

The project goal includes implementing a program to arrest  the decline of Beginning Farmers and Ranchers (BFRs) and expand new producers in the lower twelve (12) Florida counties, through education, outreach, technical assistance, training, and access to Federal programs over three (3) years. This is achieved by building their capacities and strengthening their skillsets leading towards the development of viable farms and ranches.  The project targets forty (40) BFRs consisting of Socially Disadvantaged, Veteran, Women Tenant, Urban and Limited Resource farmers and ranchers engaged in Specialty Crops, Small Livestock, and Honeybee Enterprises.  To date working with forty five (45) BFRs the shocks from natural disasters and lack of access to capital have been minimized with initial steps taken to develop sustainable markets.  

The objectives and corresponding activities are (i) development and adoption of two Quick Response Tools for Rapid Farm Redevelopment and Expansion; (ii) training and (iii) technical assistance in farm business planning, leadership, management, climate-smart farm production (specialty crops, small livestock, and honey bee), food safety, recordkeeping, marketing, land leasing, microlending, cooperative development, postharvest and processing technologies.  The expected producer outcomes are (i) 12% [5] develop a pre-cooperative cluster; (ii) 30% [12] develop profitable farms as defined by stabilized annual incomes; (iii) 30% [12] are engaged in enterprises that show improvement in cash flow on an annual basis; (iv) at least 25% [10] develop Individual Small On-Farm Resilient Funds; and (v) 30% [12] utilize the Small Farm Update and Communication App (FarmTalk-Forum).

The goal of this project was to enhance the viability of new and beginning farmers (NBFs) in WNC by providing them with the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to start and/or grow successful farm operations focused on direct market opportunities. In achieving this goal, project activities provided NBFs with training, technical assistance, and resources to develop and implement direct marketing strategies in four key areas:

• Marketing - we helped NBFs build and establish their farm brand (farm identity, values, story), and develop and implement a marketing plan (through communications and direct market channels). 150 NBFs learned and implemented new direct marketing strategies, project goal was 160.
• Farm business planning - we helped NBFs use farm business financials and recordkeeping to manage and develop direct market business plan. 112 NBFs learned business planning/recordkeeping strategies, project goal was 100.
• Production for direct markets - we helped NBFs develop applicable production planning and management strategies including crops/varieties to grow, food safety, post harvest handling, and pest/disease control options. 77 NBFs developed and/or implemented crop plans for direct market channels, project goal was 90.
• Development of market opportunities - we helped drive consumer demand for, and connection to, direct market channels (CSA, agritourism, farmers markets). 231 NBFs participated in (and benefited from) print and radio direct market promotions featuring CSAs, farmers markets, farm tours, upick, and other direct markets, project goal was 160.
  

Despite the challenges introduced by the advent and continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need to adapt workshop and resource content and format to meet the demands of an unprecedented time, it is apparent this approach to assisting New and Beginning Farmers (NBFS) in western North Carolina was ultimately successful as the majority of project deliverables were met or exceeded.

ISED Solutions started its EET award collaboration with 20 refugee farming incubator projects (RFIPs) nationwide, to review beginning farmer curricula and programs for refugees, identify the gaps and develop, pilot test, and distribute specialized curricula, course workshop modules, and multiple instructional tools and manuals for instructors and technical assistance providers.  We also focused increasingly on specialized methods – skills development that also lacking among RFIPs personnel, and that lacking these can put refugee projects and farmers at a large developmental disadvantage.

Achievements related to the major objectives were:
*Established three EET project teams: Developers, Evaluators (Testers) and Advisory team.
*Collected over 100 existing curricula, identified gaps, and establish development priorities.  Posted onto a Google drive for partner and staff access and use.  Converted / upgraded more than 30 to post to website for brand access.
*Planned and initiated development of 26 new modules incorporating audience content with instructional methods targeting farmers, and/or instructor training or guidance tools targeting trainers.
*Planned and began developing comprehensive skills and capacity development for RFIP trainers / instructors, via written guidance, webinars, conference calls, readings, and meeting presentations.   
*Organized six multi-day meetings to bring together all partners, and also connect with other incubators, in sync with the New Entry/NIFTI annual conference in the fall.
*Supported a Community of Practice development approach via national meetings, webinars, conference calls, emails, resource sharing, and joint planning and development of resources designed for use by any or all interested refugee farming incubators.
*Began dissemination via Farm Answers, New Entry / NIFTI, IRC, and other partners. 
*Attended USDA/BFRDP grantee meetings every year.

As of Years 3&4, we posted over 60 new and expanded resources.  These are available here: https://nesfp.org/new-american-resources. Also, a comprehensive teaching  handbook was developed for staff who are providing (T&TA) in immigrant and refugee farmer-training programs. There have been over 4500 downloads.

ECO City Farms’ Empowering Emerging, Historically-Underserved Urban Farmers in the DC Metro Area 2022-5 is a multi-pronged program to counter the epidemic of food insecurity and diet-related illnesses in our communities by increasing agricultural opportunities and economic growth through developing new and expanded markets, increasing competition and proliferating locally grown food, farms and farmers. We specialize in preparing new and emerging urban farmers with fewer than three-years of experience in farming. Our pool of potential urban farmers is drawn from the diverse populations of the Washington, DC metropolitan area, particularly Prince George’s County, where ECO City Farms has established and run a Certified-Naturally Grown non-profit urban commercial teaching and learning farm on two sites for the past 12 years, and in 2022, launched an incubator farm for new farmers at the County’s Watkins Regional Park. 

In year one of the project, 80% of our trainees met the criteria of limited resource and/or socially-disadvantaged participants from historically underserved populations. We commenced a program that offers our trainees substantial classroom and hands-on learning opportunities; access to a wide network of local farmers, farm educators, and resources for beginning farmers; and everything they needed to ready them for a successful start in the practice of just, resilient and sustainable urban agriculture.

Our overall goal is to deliver high-quality training to underemployed, beginning farmers that prepares them to start farming businesses or enter careers as farmers. In Year 1, we provided provide agricultural, professional, financial, and business skills training to 16 beginning farmers in the KNOX Urban Farming Program through our newly-redesigned three-level program model. In Year 1, 4 participants have scaled up their existing farm businesses, 4 adopted a new marketing practice, 1 developed a business plan, and 7 adopted a new production practice. We also provided training to 10 non-program participants, focusing on low-space, high-yield growing. In Year 2, 1 participant created a new farm startup, 3 adapted a new marketing practice, 3 developed a business plan, and 5 adopted a new production practice. In Year 3, 1 participant created a new farm startup, 2 adapted a new marketing practice, 1 developed a business plan, and 8 adopted a new production practice. 

Additionally, we leveraged local partnerships to meet needs of participants not covered through the program and promote the importance and community value of urban farming in Hartford. Hands on Hartford provided access to their commercial kitchen, enabling participants to create value-added products. reSET provided basic business model and marketing trainings. Farm Credit East provided agribusiness and financial literacy trainings.

We also increased access to healthy, locally grown food in Hartford by leveraging KNOX’s partnership with local organizations and farmers markets to engage participants in growing produce to sell to the community. KNOX sold produce grown by participants to organizations such as Hartford Public Schools, Foodshare, My Local Chefs, and Hartford Healthcare’s Food FARMacy Program.

Our goals align well with USDA’s program goals to educate and mentor beginning farmers to improve their successes in farming and provide them with knowledge and skills to make informed decisions for their operations. 100% of total federal funds requested are allocated to nongovernmental organizations. 95% of the budget is allocated to serving socially disadvantaged farmers.

The High Desert Food & Farm Alliance continues to collaborate with Oregon State University staff and regional and state-wide partners to improve and ensure farm and ranch viability in Central Oregon through targeted educational activities, mentoring, improved market access, and diversification. This project is currently being implemented in the tri-county region, and serves primarily small family farmers and ranchers who grow and raise food for local markets.  The project is improving farming practices and market diversification through educational, networking, grant, and mentoring opportunities; has developed and implemented a regional agri-tourism project (the High Desert Food Trail); is providing assistance to the Central Oregon Veterans Ranch to develop and sustain a livestock program with a dual therapeutic and economic focus; and improving farmer and rancher understanding and engagement in public policies that affect their operations.

These objectives are being accomplished through a number of activities including: in person and virtual workshops and hands-on educational demonstrations at regional farms and ranches, butchering facilities and grocery stores; a farmer/rancher mentorship program; on-farm pasture and greenhouse management for veterans; and publishing of print and online materials for consumer education and engagement. These activities are designed to enhance participants’ success with sustainability augmented through peer-learning, support services, and learning opportunities. With the supplemental funding to the original award, HDFFA distributed On-Farm Efficiency Grant (OFEG) funds to 15 Central Oregon farms and ranches, 13 of which were supported by this grant. This financial support has enabled BFR to make substantial improvements to their operations, including season extenders and enhanced irrigation. HDFFA takes an iterative approach, evaluating each project to inform program improvement and overall success and impact. The target audience is 250 individuals with a direct impact on 60 beginning farmers and ranchers. The project is collectively impacting regional farmers, ranchers and consumers, while simultaneously informing regional and state-wide organizations.

According to the 2012 Census of Agriculture, of Maryland's 12,400 farms, 20 percent are owned by people 65 years or older - a percentage that rises with the addition of farms owned by 55-65 year olds. With agriculture the largest industry in Maryland, contributing 350,000 jobs, the mass loss of farmers and their expertise in the upcoming 5-10 years, coupled with land-access obstacles for new farmers, could create a labor and farming vacuum with grave effects on the state's economy. What's more, agriculture remains the single largest source of sediment and nutrient pollution to the Chesapeake Bay, contributing 40% of nitrogen and 50% of phosphorus, according to the Chesapeake Bay Program. Much of this can be reduced by farmers well trained in cover cropping, drip irrigation, buffers, rotational grazing, and other conservation innovations that also allow them to remain profitable.

The Ensuring New Farmers' Long-Term Commercial Success: A Comprehensive Beginner Farmer Training Program for Maryland project collaborative developed and implemented a comprehensive program for first-year and intermediate-level farmers that included: 1) a supportive mentor community and resources for farmer success over the long haul; 2) specialized training in grazing, urban farming, and restaurant marketing for those interested; 3) a market outlet for new Baltimore area farmers, Chesapeake Farm to Table, which is set up to work with and train new farmers; and 4) needs-based mini-grants and flexible apprenticeship scheduling to meet needs of socially disadvantaged and low-income farmers. The project played a critical role in growing a new farmer workforce well-trained in practices that ensure long-term economic success, reduce agricultural pollution to the Chesapeake Bay, and build soil health. 

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, was developed and delivered, helping 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 assisted new farmers in skills development and regional farming practices for success.

In Year 1, we recruited 12 farmers with with less than 10 years experience, and provided 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 has supported Food Works in recruiting people of color, women, veterans, LGBTQ and low-income farmer trainees into agriculture. 92% of trainees began actively farming by the close of Year 1 (9/2024).

The long-range goal of this project was 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 included

• Four regional BFR listening sessions
• One BFR networking and education conference
• Joining the Farm Beginnings Collaborative, gaining access to their network of beginning farmer educators, curriculum components, and best practices.
  
• Three advisory committee meetings used to refine a Kansas-informed curriculum based on financial and business planning and management. 
  

Primary objective 1 succeeded in developing a Beginning Farmer/Rancher curriculum that focuses on
business and financial preparedness.

Primary objective 2 was partially successful.  The Kansas Rural Center provided a virtual education conference for beginning farmers but was unable to gather input from the target number of 150 beginning farmers and farm training experts.

Due to design issues with evaluation tools and a poor response rate to post-event surveys poor quality data was gathered regarding what beginning farmers who participated in the education conference learned and their demographics. 

The long-term goal of this project is to increase the number of beginning Kansas farmer/ranchers and improve the success of their businesses.  This work is ongoing and efforts will continue after the grant to provide equitable education, mentoring, and technical assistance to beginning farmers and ranchers.

The long-term goal of this project is to support the development of strong, effective, and long-lasting farmer and rancher training programs to ensure that beginning farmers and ranchers (BFRs) can enter the field and establish successful farming businesses. This educational enhancement team project aimed to meet this goal by equipping BFR training organizations nationally with tools and skills to effectively conduct evaluations that clearly document program impact, improve programming, and enable program staff to identify and respond to farmer needs. Such documentation and program improvements was intended to increase participants' success and provide the accountability needed for the long-term viability of BFR programs.  Over the entire project term, from September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2022, the project served over 222 unduplicated individuals (not all sessions could be assessed) who attended 7 webinars and 18 learning community sessions (there were 577 including duplicates). Additionally, many more have accessed our online materials.  From post session surveys, 95% at least somewhat agreed that the knowledge gained was useful, and 88% reported they at least somewhat agreed they were inspired to make changes or improvements to their program’s evaluation efforts. There were 49% that reported that they used something they learned from engaging with the GREW project sessions or resources.

In the "Expanding Integrated Solutions to Achieve Farmland Access for New Farmers" project, Jan Joannides, Executive Director of Renewing the Countryside with Co-PDs Lori Stern, Executive Director, Marbleseed, and Martha McFarland, Farmland Viability Coordinator, Practical Farmers of Iowa, along with Nathan Aaberg of The Land Connection in Illinois are expanding the services and network of the Farmland Access Hub to assist beginning farmers and ranchers (BFRs) in obtaining secure access to land in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois.

Through this project, we have: 1) Helped BFRs become prepared to seek land; 2) Assisted these BFRs in obtaining improved leases or purchasing land; 3) Worked with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) BFRs to reach these same goals; 4) Grew the network of Farmland Navigators and Support Service Providers (SSPs) to support the work; 5) Created a thriving network of dozens of organizational Hub Partners in the Upper Midwest to integrate our work and sustain longevity (https://www.renewingthecountryside.org/farmlandaccesshubPartners); 6) Engaged farmland owners to raise awareness about transitioning land to beginning farmers. Specifically, we helped 164 BFRs purchase farmland or obtain favorable lease or use agreements. An additional 300-plus BFRs made progress towards accessing farmland. We supported and provided training to a network of 17 Navigators, who are providing 1-on-1 assistance to BFRs, including referring them as needed, to specialized expertise from a network of more than 150 Specialized Service Providers. We educated 325 landowners about transitioning land ownership to beginning farmers. We held the 2023 Upper Midwest Farmland Access Summit, attended by 215 farmers, farmland access advocates, technical specialists, and policymakers, which strengthened partnerships, build strategies, and heighten awareness of BFR farmland access issues and opportunities. 100% of the funds requested are allocated to nongovernmental organizations.

The overall goal of the Farm Management Educational Program (FMEP) was to recruit, train and equip 300 new, beginning farmers and ranchers (BFRs) with the tools and resources necessary to generate and implement a feasible farm plan, becoming sustainable in vegetable and meat goat production. The objectives for year 1 were to provide educational training and hands-on demonstration in basic crop and livestock production; financial management and risks mitigation; market diversification and risks mitigation; food safety and biosecurity; and to bring awareness of programs and services of the current farm bill. 

In year one, we proposed that 300 participants would learn the fundamentals of farming. However, we exceeded our goal by 58% and serviced 513 participants who learned valuable farm fundamentals in the 5 risk management areas of production, financial, marketing, human resource and legal risks. As a result of these training modules in year 1, participants have utilized farm management tools to sustain their operations, which we did not expect to see until later in the program. Some of the farm management tools utilized by participants was how to organize and set up their farm record system, implementing strategies learned from the hands-on training (developing and implementing a vaccination schedule, checking animals for anemia using the goat famacha chart). Another outcome from year 1 (Cohort I) was the number of participants who were concerned about their land and property rights. They were given valuable information on how to clear up issues with heirs property with a direct contact to the Mississippi Center for Justice.

In year two, there was 154 NBFRs (Cohort II) signed up for the online course in the summer of 2020, and 100 participants successfully completed it.  The participants received their user names and passwords and proceeded with the course activities. The first set of modules were offered June 1 - July 3, 2020 and provided participants with insight on Farm Fundamentals of Livestock and Vegetable Production; Financial Management; Marketing; Food Safety, and available USDA programs and services.  The current modules on Farm Business Plan Development were offered during the period of July 23, 2020 - November 27, 2020 and provided individuals with educational resources to generate and implement a feasible farm plan.  The participants rated all virtual zoom trainings through a real time evaluation zoom poll that instantly tabulated results shared at the end of each session.

In year three, participants will have the opportunity to implement their Farm Business Plans, utilizing accessible resources. To date, participants have developed over 60 Farm Business Plans that are being reviewed and prepared for implementations.  The year three training schedule is complete and the virtual training dates are February 4, 2021 - July 29, 2021.  The outputs for this project include farm management tools necessary for viability. The outcomes will enhance the capacity of new farmers and ranchers to implement a realistic farm plan, market a quality product, explore the many beneficial opportunities in the farm bill, and have a more productive workforce.

During Farm School NYC’s three-year USDA BFRDP grant from 2016-2019, we achieved the following objectives:

• 257 students gained knowledge and skills through courses to produce food sustainably and develop and manage innovative marketing activities. We organized over 55 Citywide Certificate courses—1,197 hours of instruction—at more than 20 farms in New York City and the Hudson Valley that improved participants’ knowledge and skills to produce food sustainably and manage marketing activities. We also conducted 24 workshops and immersive trips.
  
  
• 29 students gained more intensive on-farm training through our Farm Intensive Certificate Program.
  
  
• 41 students gained in-depth, hands-on experience through 140+ -hour apprenticeships to produce food sustainably and develop and manage marketing activities at 17 different farms in urban and rural settings.
  
  
• 45 alumni gained additional information, skills, and networking opportunities to support their entry into farming. We developed a variety of networking and continuing education events for alumni, including two new advanced skills courses – Soilless Production and Mushroom Production, two sponsored conferences, Farm School NYC’s CRAFT programming, two Summer Solstice Food Justice gathering, and end-of-season gatherings and student graduations. Moreover, we engaged alumni as teachers for courses – more than 25% of our teachers by the last year of this grant.
  
  
• 99 Regional farm apprentices and junior farm staff participated in our urban-based Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT) program. We launched the first urban CRAFT program in the Northeast, with 99 participants at 22 events.
  
  
• 21 low-resource students eligible for our two most subsidized tuition levels completed Farm School NYC’s certificate program. This low resource group is 76% female, 5% gender nonconforming, 43% African American, 24% Latinx, and 14% Asian. This comprises 75% of those graduating, reflecting Farm School NYC’s demonstrated commitment to serving limited resource and socially disadvantaged New York City communities, and our outreach, selection and tuition strategies.

The Tilth Alliance Farm Works (TAFW) Agricultural Training and Incubator Project expanded opportunities for farmers in the Puget Sound Region (Washington).  Beginning farmers, including socially disadvantaged and limited resource farmers, veterans, and   immigrants have been recruited through strong partnerships with community groups, as well as other social service providers and young farmer networks. Project participants completed a 20 week farming and business operations course with hands-on and classroom components, tailored to meet the cultural background and language of the participants. At the end of the training, participants had access to land leased at heavily subsidized rates, as well as on-site technical assistance at the nearly 13-acre incubator site.  Beginning farmers benefit from the shared infrastructure and learning community that is maintained with farmers working alongside each other as well as from socializing and sharing at communal meals. Farmers also benefited from support in developing markets, including selling their product to Tilth Alliance Produce, a food hub operating a CSA and subsidized CSA for low-income participants.

This project is a collaboration between Kentucky State University (KSU) and multiple community-based organizations (CBOs) in Kentucky who provide agricultural training to serve veterans and the socially disadvantaged.   We just completed the first year of this project and trained 175 BFs.  We trained them in how to start farms, production, and business planning.  Most BFs started farming operations: 35 refugee BFs started a market garden at Louisville Grows CBO's 5-acre farm and sold their crops to a nearby grocery store (called Save-A-Lot Store).  Another CBO, the International Center at Bowling Green, Kentucky, received a multi-year lease for a 5-acre farm from the city government.  This farm will be used next year to teach refugee BFs about commercial-scale produce farming by Mr. Tehran Jewell, Kentucky State University 1890 Land Grant Extension Area Agent and veteran commercial produce farmer.

During 2017, we experienced much success in refugee BFs starting vegetable production, sales, and, in essence, making money.  Several refugees were surprised at the income potential of small-scale and urban farming, in conjunction with direct-to-consumer sales.  Some realized
that they could earn more through this type of farming than from their minimum-wage jobs.

This year, refugee BFs at the International Center started an intensive hydroponic salad greens project: they learned how to construct a high tunnel, start seeds in Rockwool cubes, mix the correct amount of hydroponic fertilizer, etc.  These BFs have developed marketing plans and found two local outlets for their products. 

Another CBO, serving minority and impoverished BFs in the Appalachian Kentucky, started a catfish enterprise.  Local catfish farmers were struggling with marketing because they did not have wholesale outlets and did not have the resources to make retail sales.   This created an opportunity for this BFRDP project to collaborate with another NIFA 1890 Capacity Building project which was investigating fish transportation and holding systems.  BFs at this CBO were provided with a fish tank, and they started holding and marketing catfish locally.  This provided a means of risk management via enterprise diversification for BFs who were only selling produce.

According to USDA’s 2012 Census of Agriculture, the number of beginning farmers and ranchers (BFRs) reached a 30-year low in 2012 – down 20 percent in just five years. One key reason for the decline is finding, affording and securing appropriate land to purchase or rent. More than 40 percent of U.S. agricultural land is owned by principal operators and principal landlords over age 65 years . While this land is likely to change hands in the next 20 years, according to the 2014 Tenure, Ownership, and Transition of Agricultural Land Survey (TOTAL), agricultural landowners only plan to transfer about 10% of their land in the next five, mostly through gifts or trusts. Only about 2 percent is projected to be sold on the open market.

The future of American agriculture hinges on the successful transfer of farm and ranch land to the next generation. While many resources are available to support BFRs in production, marketing, and business planning, relatively few exist to help BFRs gain access to land. Farmland for the Next Generation is filling this gap. Its goal is to help BFRs secure land tenure from retiring producers as well as institutional and non-operating landowners. So far, we have evaluated existing curricula and resources, drafted a curriculum map, course outcome summary and comprehensive curriculum to meet the needs of diverse populations, regions, and agricultural systems. We selected 25 Land Access Trainers (LATs) through an open and competitive application process who will work with us to pilot the curriculum with 500 BFRs, help evaluate, validate and ultimately extend to other trainers.  We delivered a first training on the curriculum to the LATs. Based on their feedback and input from our Educational Enhancement, we revised and refined the draft curriculum for the LATs to pilot with 500 BFRs in Year 3. 

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) accomplishes 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 launches them onto their own farms. It moves urban farmers onto larger plots of land. It leads 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 increases 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 creates new independent farms in a state where land values are astronomically high. Feed Rhode Island: Growing Sustainable Farms helps SCLT create significant change quickly in Rhode Island. 

Final Project Summary:
Our three-year training project amplified, deepened and extended the knowledge and experience ECO City Farms acquired over the previous six years of offering intensive on-farm internships and apprenticeships, urban agriculture continuing education certification courses, gardening and master composting courses, nutrition education workshops, herbalism trainings and summer-long youth education programs. We test-drove a replicable curriculum and methodology and over three years trained 54 new and aspiring farmers, 88% of whom fit the USDA classification of "socially or economically disadvantaged," and we worked to transform these novices into confident and competent urban farmers. ECO's educational approach included extensive practical hands-on experiences, one-on-one mentoring/training, farm visits, and a comprehensive culturally-appropriate curriculum incorporating the crop production, farm management, business, and marketing knowledge needed for graduates to roll up their sleeves and farm.

ECO's project consisted of all the elements required to become a successful sustainable urban farmer:
Intensive beginning and more advanced classroom training on a wide range of relevant farming and business topics; Certification of successful completion of the intensive classroom training by Prince George’s Community College and ECO City Farms; Extensive hands-on experiential training in actual farm work; Witnessing farming in all seasons and at a variety of scales; Training in the use of a variety of farm implements and construction tools; Experience of processing and marketing of crops grown; Supportive cohort and a network of local farmers and mentors; and Opportunity for employment at ECO City Farms with an experienced farmer close at hand and salary.

Free-range and pastured poultry operations are gaining increasing popularity and are particularly attractive to beginning farmers because of the relatively low start-up costs. However, there are significant challenges associated with economic viability, animal welfare, food safety, environmental management and training. The UC Davis Pastured Poultry Farm has created the Pastured Poultry Producers Training and Outreach Innovation Hub (3P I-Hub), which focuses on multiple training opportunities for beginning farmers including interested military veterans with respect to five areas: 1) husbandry, 2) housing, equipment and predator management 3) food safety,  4) environmental management and 5) business management and marketing. The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (ATTRA/NCAT) helped facilitate recruitment of beginning farmers in California and Oregon.  Further recruitment of military veterans who are new or beginning farmers was done via collaborations with the UC Davis Veterans Affairs Office and the Farmer Veteran Coalition. ATTRA/NCAT was involved in course development and teaching in addition to UC Davis faculty. The efficacy of the training program was evaluated via surveys, and Social Network Analysis was used to identify successes and gaps in recruitment. Based on our Social Network Analysis (SNA) surveys, our 2017-2018 workshops resulted in 40% of the attendees increasing their knowledge sharing network following our workshops. One of the primary challenges of beginning farming is developing a knowledge sharing network, so this result is encouraging.

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.  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.

During the 2015 growing season which followed this project's conclusion, participating farmers increased their income from produce sales at market by 214% over the previous year.  Other factors besides this project contributed to this increase, especially participants' improved English language skills, but the farmers also grew a wider variety of cool season crops, and improved both their produce displays and customer service.

Since the conclusion of this project, lesson plans developed for this project have been improved, expanded, and contributed to ISED Solution's 'Educational Tools and Methods for Beginning Refugee & Immigrant Farmers' which is developing and testing curricula and instructional methods for assisting displaced refugee farmers with continuing their careers in farming here in the United States.

Our Project Goal is to increase the number, diversity, profitability, and environmental sustainability of beginning farmers (BFs) 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 are expanding our programs and audiences to:
1. Increase the technical, business management skills of BFs.
2. Provide intensive business incubation support to selected BFs and increase regional incubation capacity. 
3. Connect BFs to existing wholesale markets, and develop new marketing opportunities.
4. Support cooperation among farm businesses, and develop cooperative models for farm business ownership, management, and business transfer.
5. Increase the impact of farmer-to-farmer mentoring by increasing farmers' skills as educators and mentors.
6. Provide entry-level, on-farm learning experiences for diverse “Explorers,” with priority on immigrants, refugees, people of color, veterans, and limited resource trainees.

Our 2015 Programs included:

• Farm Business Incubator Program (year-round)
• Farm Business Planning Course (10-weeks)
• Finger Lakes CRAFT (6 months)
• "Year-Round High Tunnels" technical course (10 months)
• Draft Animals Practicum (2 days)
• Single-session workshops (Farmer Educator Training, Explore Your Farm Business Idea, Get Ready for Market, Landseekers Meeting)
• Finger Lakes LandLink (ongoing)
• Farmer Networks (Cooperative Farming Network, Finger Lakes Orchards Exchange, Homestead Farmers & Gardeners Network, Farmer-2-Farmer Network)
• Individual mentoring in production, marketing and business management (year-round)
• Press Bay Holiday Market Days (new market serving mostly BFs)

In 2015 we served a total of 176 unique individuals who participated in our programs and/or received individual consultations and mentoring. 39 of those individuals participated in more than one program. At least 15 of our trainees began farming commercially in 2015, and at least 8 new farm businesses were launched.

Stone Barns Center's beginning farmer training program, the Growing Farmers Initiative, focuses on preparing new farmers to pursue economically and ecologically resilient farm enterprises in a rapidly changing world. We have sought to strengthen the rigor of our ecologically based farming curriculum so that we develop perceptive, adaptable farmers who will also champion sustainable agriculture and help others succeed. Our programs include apprentice training, workshops, conferences, and online learning.

We delivered high-quality, experiential-based technical training in the science and business of agriculture for our group of nine to twelve apprentices during their nine-month training here. Apprentice workshops met weekly and covered essential topic including soil science and management, plant botany, landscape design and ecology, engine mechanics, animal husbandry, and farm business planning. These sessions, open to young farmers from throughout the region, were taught by Stone Barns staff and other experts.

Our conferences and online learning platforms exposed farmers from across the U.S. to the principles of resilient farming. In total, the 2015 and 2016 and 2017 Young Farmers Conferences welcomed 850 young farmers from 38 states, 22% on scholarship, and covered topics on crop production, business management, animal husbandry, land access, and more. Each workshop was approximately 90 minutes and the majority of participants requested that the workshops be offered again the following year. We also hosted Poultry School in these years for 350 farmers.

Last, our E-Learning tools have reached a wide audience, with 105,286 unique views in the past three years (average 25 minutes viewing time).

Building on the successes of two prior BFR projects, the Growing Roots project provided in-depth, culturally- and regionally-appropriate training to support the economic and ecological viability of the next generation of diverse California farmers and ranchers. Our focus was on five Northern California regions comprising ten counties.

There are five core partners: UC Berkeley, National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE), Sustainable Agriculture Education (SAGE), and Alameda County Resource Conservation District (ACRCD), who collaborate with ten “learning hubs” (farmer training sites) and Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs and NRCDs) to offer workshops, field days, farmer tours, networking events and one-on-one technical assistance.

Our key outcomes were (see Progress Notes for some context on statistics):

• Improved ecological production practices, business planning and marketing strategies, food safety programs and sales among our target farmers and ranchers.
• Increased BFR networking and access to resources, assistance and farmland itself.
• Increased knowledge among at least 521 BFRs, with 75% planning to adopt one or more new practices after attending our workshops, and 44% having done so within 6 months.
• Increased knowledge of at least 87% of all participants in our education programs, where 70% intended to implement what they learned.
• Increased knowledge and access to culturally-appropriate resources for Latino, Mien and Hmong farmers.
• Increased the farm success of at least 921 unique farmers and ranchers. 
• Increased capacity of 4 new agricultural learning hubs.
  

This project 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 grant is based on successful partnerships with University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and tribal agents, and NGO/CBO partners who were identified during the previous BFRD project. About 40 percent of the budget is allocated to support our NGOs/CBO partners.

Lessons learned and feedback from participants of our previous grant indicated a need for more in-depth science-based curriculum to address plant production topics including soil and fertility management, salinity, irrigation, crop selection for different seasons, and integrated pest management. On the business and marketing side participants wanted information on farming as a business first, conducting market surveys, economics of equipment selection, working towards organic certification, tax information and strategies, zoning and regulations for farmers, and farm workers and food safety. This Standard BFRDP empowers beginning and limited resource producers to learn these skills through ongoing hands-on demonstration, instruction, and curriculum. The third year of our project emphasizes individual mentoring to better enable participants to adopt production processes learned to their own operations and implement their proposed business plans. We have engaged over 250 participants to date in our current project and are building on our previous experience to assist participants in adopting the skills and knowledge gained through the program. Our project goal is to have participants complete a production and/or business plan for a specialty crop small farm enterprise. 

PFC's Growing Tomorrow's Farmers project addressed intractable issues of fresh food access, farmland access, and access to agricultural and small business education for low resource individuals in the Western New York region. With farming and business mentorship and hands-on training and technical assistance, beginning and aspiring farmers acquired skills and competencies essential for sustainable crop production and small farm business management to ensure their success. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected throughout the 3-years of this project through surveys and interviews (presented in each participant's native language) assessing participants' skills acquisition; quality of life improvements such as improved access to culturally relevant foods and improved mental health and well-being; farmer's vegetable yields from years 1 through 3; farmer's sales and earnings records from years 1 through 3. Through the provision of free farmland and farming education to low-resource populations, PFC is building a more inclusive and equitable food system in Western New York. This project is helped otherwise land-less farmers gain a foothold in the local food system, develop farm businesses for supplemental income, increase culturally relevant fresh food access for their communities and ultimately, experience an improved quality of life for themselves and their families.

With this project, Renewing the Countryside is completing a comprehensive, multi-year
project that addresses farmland access challenges facing beginning farmers in Minnesota,
Wisconsin and Iowa. We and our partners have developed an integrated process that assists new, resource-limited farmers in accessing farmland that is a good match for their operation and offers secure terms.

Throughout the project our collaboration has:
• Conducted eight farmland access literacy trainings (including 1 webinar) reaching 299 farmers. An abridged version was also presented to 360 college and university students.
• Convened 44 farmers to attend in-depth farmland access bootcamps to become better prepared for pursuing their land access goals. (Three more bootcamps are scheduled.)
• Connected 710 beginning farmers and 582 people who work with farmers to farmland access resources and information.
• Launched the Farmland Access Hub, with eight Farmland Access Navigators that have provided in-depth support to 188 beginning farmers, 65 of which have achieved farmland tenure with support of a Navigator.
• Initiated a media campaign reaching 40,000 people. This media campaign has helped to build awareness around the systemic farmland access barriers for beginning farmers and rally supporters together to help identify and implement regional initiatives to overcome such barriers.
• Held a successful Farmland Access Summit, where 87 stakeholders including, policy makers, service providers and farmers discussed farmland access models, issues and solutions. 
• With support from Partners and our Steering Committee, we have participated in discussions leading to government financial and legislative support for beginning farmer land access support in both Iowa and Minnesota. 

The number one challenge beginning farmers face is find and securing affordable, appropriate farmland. To address this issue in Illinois, The Land Connection’s project, “Land Access Solutions for Illinois’ Next-Generation Farmers,” has launched a farmland access program for the entire state – Illinois FarmLink – with a director, three farmland access navigators, and a website.

The Illinois FarmLink team is addressing farmland access challenges through three types of services. First, the program provides free advising services as a way to give farmers customized advice and ideas that will help farmers take useful next steps for their situation. Second, the program directly connects farmers and farmland owners through the website’s online profile system, networking events, promoting farmers and farmland opportunities in our monthly email newsletter, and direct matchmaking. Third, Illinois FarmLink provides education and resources to boost knowledge and insight for farmers.

Because farmland owners are so fundamental to the farmland access success and because farmland succession can make or break farmland’s future availability to farmers, Illinois FarmLink offers those same three groups of services to farmland owners as well. Illinois FarmLink has also begun partnering with other organizations around succession planning education programming so that farmland owners will be able to make wise, informed succession plan choices.

In the coming year, Illinois FarmLink will also convene a statewide coalition of organizations. farmers, and farmland owners with the common goal of addressing key land access challenges in the state in coordinated ways. The program is also committed to making sure it provides the services and resources people of all backgrounds and financial assets will find useful.

To build further awareness of Illinois FarmLink and its services, we will be advertising the program extensively (in print, radio, and online) and conducting outreach to our networks of partners and farmers.

Our 2017 National Young Farmer Survey found land access to be the number one challenge that young farmers and ranchers face. Many of these are first-generation farmers from non-farming backgrounds, who need support to determine how land tenure decisions will impact the financial health of their farm businesses. Although there are a number of financial planning tools available, none are specifically focused on financial decision-making for land access.

The goal for this project was to create educational tools and programs that enable beginning farmers and ranchers across the country to make informed financial decisions during the process of accessing land so that they will have a solid framework on which to build strong, sustainable farm businesses. We achieved this goal by creating the Finding Farmland program, which consists of a unique calculator tool, a companion online course, and a workshop series, all focused on helping farmers approach the financial decisions related to land access.

The Finding Farmland Calculator (http://findingfarmland.org) is a web application designed to help farmers and ranchers across the country make informed financial decisions during the process of accessing land. The site was created in partnership with Fathom Information Design, a technology and design firm that partners with clients to understand, express, and navigate complex data through visualizations, interactive tools, and software. The main feature of the website is a unique mortgage calculator that farmers can use to compare financing costs for different farm properties, or to compare different financing scenarios for a single property. Farmers can also enter financial information from their records and business plans to more comprehensively understand creditworthiness and how purchasing farmland fits into their overall farm financial planning. The Calculator is used by farmers as a business planning tool and by lenders and technical assistance providers as a beginner farmer teaching tool.

The Finding Farmland Course serves as a companion resource to the Calculator, in that it provides instruction, context, activities, and suggested resources that will help beginning farmers seeking land access to confidently approach the financial decisions they will encounter. The Course contains nine lessons, beginning with goal setting and land tenure options, moving into financial planning methods and financing options, then ending with lessons on different land access methods: leasing, buying, and transfers. Each lesson features a blog post and podcast featuring expert guest presenters; an activity; an instructional video for using topic-relevant features of the Calculator; and a compilation of suggested external resources. The whole course is free and can be taken any time at your own pace.

From September 2017 to February 2019, Young Farmers organized and hosted eleven full-day or half-day Finding Farmland Workshops for beginning farmers with partner organizations in regions across the country. These workshops reached 269 farmers, and developed an internal staff capacity to present on topics related to financial decision making for land access at conferences, on webinars, with our chapters, and by request from partner organizations.

This project reached more than ten thousand individual beginning farmers during the grant period, and has enabled the Coalition to develop an educational platform that will serve farmers and ranchers seeking land access for years to come.

The overall project goal was to create a vibrant network of beginning farmer training across
Michigan catering to a range of perspectives and needs while moving everyone who desires to farm
along the path of business viability. We especially targeted farmers with several years of experience, seeking to address key elements that often derail farming business success: land access, capital access, market access, business planning, and a strategy for scaling up. Intensive on-farm workshops facilitated and led by teams of farmers and other experts were the primary means of assisting farmers. In addition, we provided stipends to a cohort of beginning farmers and we created tools and other learning resources. 

Our initial strategy focused on two sites. The Michigan State University Student Organic Farm in East Lansing, MI build on nine years of training beginning farmers and the Genesee County Women in Agriculture Network established a training/demonstration farm site in Grand Blanc, near Flint, MI. We developed, conducted and evaluated training programs appropriate for both the sites and the participants. We also worked to engage Spanish-speaking farmers and identified many more of them than indicated by the most recent Census of Agriculture. 

ORIS’s long-term goal for this project is to improve beginning farmer success and food security among refugee and immigrant communities in New Hampshire. We do this by supporting beginning farmers with the knowledge, skills and tools they need to make good farm business decisions and enhance sustainability. The target audience is 100% immigrant farmers who have operated a farm or ranch for fewer than 10 years. This funding addresses the needs of limited resource beginning farmers and ranchers, socially disadvantaged beginning farmers and immigrant farm workers planning to become beginning farmers or ranchers.

Year 1 progress:
Hosted thousands of hours of orientations, informational meetings, and technical workshops.
Expanded farm stands and CSA pickup sites; developed two new contract wholesale customers
4 farmers attended the 2017 Community Food Systems Conference
6 farmers from attended NASAP workshops
Purchased 56.8 acres in Dunbarton; 7 acres actively cultivated
Secured access to 4 acres in Concord for incubator farmers. Installed washing station and 12 gravity fed drip irrigation kits for beginning farmers.

Year 2 progress:
Through 2,072 hours of training and technical assistance on 3 incubator farms, ORIS facilitated culturally and linguistically appropriate outreach, business planning, peer-to-peer mentoring, and access to 9 farmer’s markets, 5 farm stands, 6 Mobile Market sites.

Year 3 progress:
Through 2,054 hours of training and technical assistance on 2 incubator farms, ORIS facilitated culturally and linguistically appropriate outreach, business planning, and access to 11 farmer’s markets, 1 farm stand, 20 Mobile Market sites, and CSA program that grew exponentially.

COVID-19 challenged ORIS’s training, recruitment, and ability to connect refugee farmers other food systems players. Still, farmers embraced COVID-19 safety, while significantly increasing their sales. Farmer independence grew significantly. All farmers are eager to leverage the successes of this year, invest in their plots, and continue building their businesses.

Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas (CCNEK) in partnership with Cultivate Kansas City (CKC), is using BFRDP funds for a successful incubator training farm called New Roots for Refugees, and for new activities that support the scaling up of refugee farmers to meet wholesale demand in the Kansas City area. The long term goal is that refugees farm in Kansas City independently on land that they own or lease at a scale that they desire and manage. To reach this goal, we have identified the following objectives: Removal of Barriers to Marketing, Adapted and Increased Agricultural Skills, Financial Management and Farm Capitalization, and Whole Farm Planning.

The incubator farm program provides non-traditional lease agreements to gain access to land that require refugees to complete trainings and establish a path toward managing their own farm business. For each year of the program, refugee farmers take on additional responsibilities, taking the refugee farmer from dependency to independent farm business operator in 4 years. Specific emphasis is put on using equipment to maximize efficiency and profit, as well as teaching farmers how to plan infrastructure for their future farm sites. 

In our first grant year, we graduated 2 farmers onto their own land and helped them establish infrastructure at their new farm sites. We are on track to graduate another 7 farmers by helping them acquire land and develop infrastructure as well. From August 2016 to July 2017, New Roots farmers sold over $124,000 in produce to Kansas City metro area residents.

CCNEK and CKC have been working together since 2005 to help refugees start farm businesses, providing infrastructure, training, technical assistance, and marketing support. CCNEK has a long history of working with refugees, while CKC brings agricultural expertise, making an effective partnership for serving refugee farmers.

Project Summary


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.

In year one, this project began to (1) increase the readiness of aspiring farmers to begin farming independently through Farm Vision and conference workshops; (2) increase farm viability and profitability of established early career farmers to improve their success with workshops, mentorships, and individual technical assistance; (3) increase access to farmland for beginning farmers with development of Heartland FarmLink and Heartland Farm Beginnings course; and start to (4) evaluate, report, and disseminate results of our work.

In year two, the project deepened support for farmers starting and sustaining their farms in a pandemic. Largely this was accomplished through reworking existing content into virtual offerings such as Farm Vision and Farm Beginnings program. OEFFA increased farm viability and readiness to start farming through our online conference and ongoing phone and email technical assistance. Supporting farmers and land owners to create successful land transfer to ensure the continuity of sustainable farmland in Ohio was a major focus of year two. We developed and facilitated a three-part workshop series for land owners to write succession plans. Additionally, the Farmland Specialist worked closely with several farm seekers and land owners to clarify and enact transfer plans.

In year three we officially launched our Produce Farm Manager Apprenticeship program and enrolled out first apprentice, expanded the number of host farms enrolled in the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship program, and settled into offering many of our courses (including Farm Vision and Heartland Farm Beginnings) in an online format.  We also resumed some in-person components of our work, including our annual conference, a beginning farmer meetup, and a farm tour focused on beginning farmers.


Year 4 concluded our grant term, and gave us the data needed to evaluate, report, and disseminate the results of our work. We concluded much of our programming and sought feedback from participants in the form of surveys, meetings and conversations with stakeholders, and data analysis. All programming that continued, such as Heartland Farmlink, was analyzed and refined by our Begin Farming and Land Access Educator. While we were able to get some very valuable feedback, we observed a low rate of participation in surveys and similar feedback opportunities from our participants. We suspect there is an over-saturation of this type of data collection in our participants’ lives and we are brainstorming ways to encourage higher participation in the future. However, the information we collected reflects an increase in knowledge, confidence, and readiness from our participants. The pandemic had a notable effect on our programming and outreach, and made it necessary for everyone to pivot, and adapt to an unpredictable situation. Although it affected the number of farmers we reached, compared with our original proposal, we are proud to say that at the end of this grant, were operating again at full capacity. We saw several new farm owners through their initial education, and their first years of business operation, involving them in training the next cohort of new business owners, most of whom use sustainable and organic practices. We observed a positive reputation among our graduates and in the wider community, as many new participants have expressed interest and excitement about our 2024 programming, specifically in Begin Farming. We’ve formed lasting relationships with new farmers and scores of professionals, all with the shared goal of supporting the next generation of farmers who will feed us while stewarding our invaluable farmland into the future.

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 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 220. Our intent is to reconnect to our agricultural heritage.
SBCA's three year small standard BFRDP grant is underway with a target audience of refugee farmers who have not operated a farm, or have not operated a farm for more than 10 years in the US. 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 established by New American producers
- 10 cooperative farm enterprises launched involving 60 beginning refugee farmers
- 60 farmers generated income by sales at either farmers markets or to institutions via wholesale
- 40 farmers demonstrated significant skill development with competency-based self assessment
- 100 beginning farmers and ranchers made beneficial changes in farm operations
- 20 beginning Bantu farmers established livestock operations

Collaborating organizations include:
- Cooperative Development Institute
- Cultivating Community
- Cumberland County Food Security Council
- Good Shepherd Food Bank
- 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 Organic Farming Certificate Program is a hands-on, comprehensive internship training program ranging from 9 to 22 months in organic agriculture designed for new and beginning farmers, with an emphasis on military veterans. The program is an extension of the Rodale Institute Farmer Training (RIFT) with elements that enhance the current Veteran Farmer Training Program (VFTP) at Rodale Institute. Interns who successfully complete the program receive a Rodale certificate.  The program serves the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond through activities aligned with the following goals and objectives:

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. Objectives: Deliver and refine comprehensive, immersive classroom and field curriculum; enhance entrepreneurship support and farm business training; expand training in organic animal production and handling; expand opportunities for practical training on regional organic farms; offer additional internship opportunities on regional organic farms. 

Goal 2: To increase the number of successful organic farm enterprises in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Objectives:  Expand post-graduation organic production and business support; create online resource for Mid-Atlantic equipment loan programs; continue informal regional land access and job opportunities network; continue introducing participants to diverse organic farmers and networks.

Goal 3: To support military veterans in their transition to the civilian workforce. Objectives: Institute a National Organic Farmers network; continue providing dedicated recruitment and support for military veterans.

In the third year of the project, HOPE engaged over 869 BFR individuals in person and virtually, providing farming and
ranching training. Adding our digital imprint, including our website and socials, expanded our reach up to 73,969 (869
engagements + 73,100 digital engagements). These numbers were obtained through various channels including social media, workshops, conferences, and our cohorts. An example of the positive impact we have had on our participants is Sandy Woods. Sandy Woods, a new permaculture micro farmer in Harlingen, Texas, passed by the HOPE farm while running
errands. Her curiosity led her inside, where she consulted with HOPE's founder, Diana Garcia-Padilla. With the
encouragement and instruction on farming techniques in the LRGV provided during her consultations, Woods learned valuable techniques about growing in the Rio Grande Valley that have allowed her to now sell her organically grown dragonfruit, bananas, berry jams, and many other value-added products at HOPE's indoor farmers market.

In the second year, our program has engaged over 1,150 BFR individuals in person, providing farming and ranching training. Factoring in our digital outreach, including social media and online lessons, our reach expands to over 79,000 individuals. These numbers were obtained through various channels including social media, workshops, conferences, and our 6-week BFR cohorts, the latter of which has seen the participation of 68 individuals.
The number of individuals participating in our cohorts did not significantly increase in our second year, however, HOPE saw an increase in the number of participants who were committed to learning on a higher level and found greater success in their farming ventures.
An example of the positive impact our practical skills workshops are having is the success of Daniel Reza, the owner and operator of Green Wing Microgreens. Shortly after Reza started growing microgreens for his family, he happened upon HOPE’s social media post for an “Intro to Growing Food” workshop. Reza says he learned more about the magic of soil, about proper tool usage, and the importance of the foundation he is using to grow his microgreens. With his enhanced knowledge and opportunities found at HOPE, he has now added an additional source of revenue to his household. He not only sells his organically grown microgreens at area famer’s markets up to four times each month, but now, here at HOPEs indoor market, his products are available for sale to the public four days a week.
As we move into the third year, we plan to invite more guest experts to speak at our workshops, provide more individualized training and personal visits with growers, and offer more online resources for farmers across the region to be successful in the field, as well as in operating their farming businesses.

At the time we developed the project plan and grant application the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was still unclear. As a result we were unable to do some of the activities we’d planned, particularly those requiring travel or large gatherings. Other activities were adapted for virtual delivery.

We did assess the food sovereignty programs offered by tribal colleges in North Dakota and concluded that partnering with an existing program would be more effective than launching an entirely new food sovereignty program.

We recruited students in the northeastern region of North Dakota for our Farm Beginnings course and served 15 students of which seven were from the northeastern region and six were Native American Beginning Farmers. The Farm Beginnings class met nineteen times starting January 28 and ending April 22. The course included 40 hours of online material plus readings, worksheets, podcasts, pre-recorded videos and a digital resource library. Nine new Whole Farm Plans were created as a result of the course.

We also held a focus group to assess the demand for beginning farmer education on the Spirit Lake reservation. We found that there is interest in education on farm business planning, production methods, and especially Native American led education on traditional farming methods and uses of plants.

The North Dakota Local Food Development Alliance met monthly and doubled in membership and engagement. The Alliance gained several new members from the northeastern region. A food security initiative serving the Spirit Lake Tribe called Wana Wota joined the Alliance. The Alliance launched a Tribal Food Sovereignty working group with tribal members, NDSU Extension's Tribal Liason and USDA Rural Development's ND Tribal Liason all participating.

Recognizing the challenges of starting any type of business, the Corporación Juvenil para el Desarrollo de Comunidades Sostenibles (CJDCS), through its AgroInnova program, successfully provided a comprehensive training experience with both conceptual and practical components. The program implemented innovative outreach and recruitment methods and delivered meaningful hands-on technical assistance to beginning farmers and ranchers.

The program was designed for 140+ participants, including 10% Military Veterans and 70% socially disadvantaged individuals. It aimed to develop five formal value-added enterprises using locally grown products and enlisted five experienced farmers/ranchers as mentors to empower the next generation of agricultural entrepreneurs. Participants were expected to complete the 6-month training cycle, including five specialized certifications, followed by hands-on mentorship and an apprenticeship component supervised by agricultural experts.

During the first two years of the program, it exceeded its targets, recruiting 203 participants and achieving 94 completions—surpassing the goal of 91. Four training cycles were conducted, offering 95 workshops and 21 farm visits, including practical experiences that reinforced theoretical knowledge. Twenty-two participants have completed business plans with marketing components. The Universidad del Sagrado Corazón facilitated 20 certificate courses, equipping participants with critical skills for agricultural business success.

Additional achievements included the incubation of four value-added enterprises, focused on products such as local coffee, medicinal plants, hot sauces, and vinaigrettes, and the active engagement of eight experienced farmers as mentors. Despite challenges such as weather disruptions and scheduling adjustments, the program adapted to ensure that all goals were met and that participants were well-supported throughout their training journey.

By the end of the reporting period, AgroInnova had made significant progress in fostering agricultural innovation, sustainability, and economic development in Puerto Rico.

The Regenerative Poultry and Vegetable Farming in the San Luis Valley for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers project built on Rio Grande Farm Park (RGFP)'s existing Farmer Incubator program. This program supports farmers in starting their own small farming enterprises, generate economic return from farming, and attend workshops on regenerative farming and business development practices. The majority of RGFP’s incubator farmers are immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala and operate as a cooperative. 

The goals of this project were to 1) introduce poultry farming as a new income pathway for farmers in the San Luis Valley, improving their economic health; 2) ensure that farmers have the knowledge and skills to launch successful food-related enterprises; and 3) increase farmer income and consumer access to fresh local produce by creating a direct-to-consumer farm stand model selling fresh, local, organic goods.  Through this project, RGFP increased local farmers' capacity to generate income and offer local food to the community. 

The project focused on three key elements:

1. Poultry Farming. RGFP introduced a new poultry farming model based on Minnesota's Main Street Project. This model uses poultry as the centerpiece of production while integrating diverse regenerative agricultural farming practices.
2. Enhanced Education. In conjunction with partners, RGFP offer in-depth education on   new markets, financial management, regenerative agriculture, and poultry farming. Additionally, incubator farmers convened regular meetings with support staff to plan, and evaluate the season and programming. 
3. Farm Stand Pilot. Incubator participants started a farm stand pilot run by the cooperative that they created and operate. The farm stand was set up in Alamosa, CO and operated for three days/week for seven weeks.  It provided a new market channel while gauging capacity for and community interest in a permanent stand that could sell chickens and produce. 

The overall activities on the first year were limited by the pandemic mandatory curfews, and the political unstable environment during elections and related transitions.  These factors refocus our strategies from direct contact with farmer and ranchers in public settings to online tools, phone conversations and email communications. The government directives for no public gatherings limit public events attendance (e. g., produce market places, social/public events, farm visits, and others). Also, there were delays during the Christmas holidays, from November 2020 to February 2021 in which businesses and farmers became unresponsive to our attempts to outreach and set up meetings. However, we were able to:

• plan strategies for year 2022,
• educate employees about the grant requirements,
• draft powerpoint presentation to share with the public,
• create and record a BFRDP grant program introduction video,
• research educational information from USDA library and other private sources to be use as educational materials,
• research and evaluate educational printing material affordable options,
• attend USDA seminars about the BFRDP grant requirements,
• secure a collaboration contract with the University of PR-Mayaguez Agriculture Department to provide agriculture subject matter experts during the grant implementation to meet the education deliverables,
• translate BFRDP information and educational documents for future distribution,
• market BFRDP grant in our organization website,
• meet with other organizations to assess the local agriculture community,
• meet with other organizations to acquire local agriculture data collection,
• develop internal documents to onboard farmers and ranchers,
• create online information seminars, 
• create online registration and survey tools,
• contact other community organizations to inform about the BFRDP services and seek collaboration (e. g., Farmers Bureau, University of Central Florida),
• meet with a handful of farmers in person that were willing to overcome covid-19 concerns

You can summarized the first year as a period of preparation. Also, as a period of initiating the BFRDP grant implementation plan. 

New Jersey boasts productive, high-quality farmland located near some of the most densely populated and diverse markets in the world. Fruit and vegetable, nursery, floriculture, and greenhouse operations exist, along with strong public commitment to farmland preservation and agricultural industry development. However, successful continuance of agriculture in the “Garden State” depends upon developing a skilled next generation of farmers. The RU Ready to Farm: Getting Rooted in the Garden State program has successfully expanded the existing Rutgers Cooperative Extension RU Ready to Farm initiative to a multi-year, statewide program providing technical education, mentorship, and land access opportunities to beginning farmers. Phase I included program establishment, advisory board assembly, hiring a coordinator, developing curriculum, and recruiting participants. The students in Phase I of the program gained access to 15 2-hr video modules that covered the basics of starting and running a successful farm, bi-weekly zoom meetings with our team of Cooperative Extension experts to discuss course material and go over individual students' plans and goals, and tours of various farms across NJ where students had the opportunity to learn from successful farmers in the area. In Phase II, trained facilitators delivered basic and advanced educational modules through web-based primers, in-person instruction, and experiential learning.

In Phase III trained participants can obtain mentored farm-based apprenticeships, pilot their agricultural endeavors through a farm incubator program, or acquire acreage to launch their farm businesses through a land access program. Expected outcomes include increased technical knowledge, intention to utilize skills acquired, and intention to establish farm businesses in New Jersey. Each year, the program will reach 500 potential participants, receive 50-75 applications, and enroll at least 30 new participants, with most enrollees continuing to complete advanced training and access land in years two and three respectively. Approximately 20 participants are projected to join an existing agricultural enterprise, with 15 expected to launch their own farm business, contributing to ongoing agricultural success in the Garden State.

A partnership of Easter Seals Wisconsin (ESW), Wisconsin Farm Center (WFC), and University of Wisconsin-Extension (UWEX), the Securing Beginning Farmers Through Succession Planning project, in keeping with BFRDP goals, addresses the need of Wisconsin farmers who do not have succession plans in place (56% of farmers over the age of 55) to ensure the successful transition of farm operations to the next generation of beginning farmers, over a three year period. We successfully completed the three-year grant period by exceeding all project goals.

The long-term goal of the project was to increase the number of beginning farmers in Wisconsin and to enhance their sustainability, with the primary objective to provide the outreach and individualized, on farmsite, guidance, information and technical assistance necessary for farmers and farm families to develop and implement effective and sustainable succession plans for their farm business operations to transition to the next generation of beginning farmers.

UWEX provided statewide outreach to farmers and families; WFC Facilitators and ESW FARM Specialists provided senior farm operators and beginning farmers with the guidance, knowledge and tools needed to make informed decisions on continuation of the farm business, retirement plans, and financial, tax and inheritance issues.

During the three years of the project, 123 farmers were guided and encouraged to complete a succession plan by FARM Specialists, resulting in 62 individuals completing and finalizing an effective, sustainable plan for the next generation of beginning farmers to assume management of their own farm business operation, with the assistance of WFC Facilitators. Twenty-three others are in process.

The Cornell Small Farm’s Northeast Beginning Farmer Project (NBFP) has aimed to ensure access to resources, education and supportive networks to all who are interested in farming in the Northeast. The project, Strategic Investments to Ensure Long-term Success of Veteran-owned and Advanced Beginning Farms, has built on the vibrant NFBP network to create focused, community based training programs and farmer-to-farmer networks for addressing the needs of two underserved groups: military/veteran farmers and individuals who have been farming for 4-7 years (aka “advanced beginners” or “re-strategizers”).

We designed two main project objectives to increase and sustain the number of farmers in these groups by delivering training and infrastructure to target their specialized needs. Through a Farm OPS program for veterans, partnerships were developed across the state, enabling training and networking opportunities - including three Armed to Farm intensive trainings, workshops, and a New York State Veterans in Agriculture Conference. Additionally the project established On the Job Training opportunities for farming and a statewide Veterans in Agriculture listerv. A Profit Team Project offered advanced beginning farmers funding to work with consultants and focus on improving profitability for long term operational sustainability. Additionally, through the development of new online courses, wholesale readiness training, and tractor safety courses, re-strategizers were offered an opportunity to enhance skills for success.

These new resources have been developed within New York State to leverage our experienced network of agricultural professionals and expanding new farmer community.  However, the model and best practices for implementing it can be distributed widely through the NBFP infrastructure and customized for other target populations (e.g. farm workers, under-served minority groups interested in farming, women, new Americans). This project represents a broad strategy to build upon the strong, established platform of the NBFP, while growing and adapting to the changing needs of all beginning farmers.

Alabama A&M University (AAMU) has been providing training and technical assistance to rural residents since the time of the visionary, Dr. George Washington Carver. Opportunities in agriculture abound for the next generation of farmers, but many veterans, limited resource, and socially disadvantaged individuals are unaware of these opportunities and/or experience a myriad other barriers to equitably accessing available programs and services. The goal of this project is to grow the next generation of farmers, and assist them overcome the said barriers so they are able to develop, operate and own profitable and sustainable farm enterprises. AAMU is partnering with Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Alabama Agricultural A+ Marketing Association, Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, JD Booker Farm, Staysail Group, and Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund to develop a comprehensive training program and disseminate videos, curricula and decision-making aids structured to engage veterans, minority populations and those who aspire to advance farming opportunities. Over 36% of the requested funds are allocated to partner community-based organizations; 8% of the funds are budgeted to recruit and assist veterans; and 41% will be used to assist limited resource, socially disadvantaged beginning farmers. The Center begin the promoting  the program through partnering with several community-based demonstration farms throughout Alabama.  The Center has used various training methods such as  demonstrations farms, field days, workshops and group meetings. The project will continue to provide year-long programs of classroom and hands-on in-field instruction and demonstrations on essential skills and information to empower new farmers with the knowledge to be successful. The project has recruited and reached nearly 2,500. This year the project has assisted 187 new farmers, 65 veterans, and 200 beginning farmers, and reached over 3,300 farmers through effective outreach delivery and information dissemination.  Based on strong partnership, target audience support, and the proposed innovative approach including online resource development, this project will be self-sustaining.

Leading Pennsylvania's economy with $7.4 billion in sales each year, Pennsylvania's future depends on agriculture. Yet, the farming population is aging, and 16,000 Pennsylvania farmers are projected to retire in the next ten years. This project was designed to increase the number and success of beginning farmers in Pennsylvania. Our focus was on a group previously not specifically served -- new farmers in years 2 to 10 who are establishing their businesses. The program consisted of four main program areas:

• "Models for the Future" On- farm Demonstrations
• Study Circle Networks
• New Commercial Fruit Grower Courses
• Support for Women in Ag and for Hispanic/Latino Growers
  

Seven on-farm demonstrations provided living classrooms where new farmers learned cutting-edge best management practices in the context of working farms. Six study circle learning networks provided opportunities for new farmers and educators to learn from each other and from on-farm demonstrations. "New Commercial Fruit Grower Courses" provided new producers with in-depth knowledge on starting a fruit business. Additional study circle networks provided support specific to the needs and learning preferences of women and Hispanic/Latino farmers. Information gathered and demonstrated through model plots and study circles was used to create new farmer-specific educational materials and reach a national community of new farmers.

Case studies and interactive budgets for the model plots are posted at the project website to expand outreach to new farmers on rotation cover crops and other sustainable production practices. Seventy-one Study Circles were held for 702 establishing farmers, and 70% of participants who completed post-program surveys (n=454) said they planned to adopt a new practice. Seventy percent increased knowledge in an area that will increase crop productivity; 25%, environmental sustainability; and 75%, profitability. Surveys of adoption rates were 61% for Women in Ag  (n=254), 90% for Latino growers (n=32), and 100% for new commercial fruit growers (n=30).

The mission of HAP’s SFUM program is to enhance food security and community development by providing beginning farmers and their families with the education and resources needed to make informed decisions to enhance their farming success and sustainability.
During the three year project period, HAP collaborated with respected partners to deliver more than 49 professional development workshops to 50 beginning farmers which impacted not only the farmers, but their extended families and networks.  Beyond the cohort members, the SFUM program was instrumental in supporting annual farmer conferences that provided networking and professional development opportunities to benefit the entire Hmong farming community and their food production abilities in the St. Paul and Minneapolis metropolitan area in Minnesota.  Outreach and networking reached over 700 members of the Hmong farming community over the three year project period.
Professional development workshops provided information critical to success in agricultural entrepreneurship, as well as current topics of interest to the farmers each year.  Farmers learned about the business aspects of farming needed to increase their ability to support themselves in the U.S.  For example, they learned about marketing fundamentals and were able to create marketing strategies and plans including signage, product display and social media to impact their sales and income as they expanded into new farmers markets and community supported agriculture (CSA) co-ops.  Through mentorship, technical assistance, and field visits, they also learned about organic farming techniques that influenced their decisions regarding pest and weed management and the potential earnings related to producing organic certified produce.  Nearly all of the cohort members reported learning new strategies about business planning, budgeting, marketing, farm law and new techniques that improved their ability to grow and sell quality produce.

Sustaining Rural Communities Through Beginning Farmer Mentorship, Training and Marketing:

Project Summary - The goal of the proposed project “Sustaining Rural Communities through Beginning Farmer Mentorship, Training and Marketing,” is to support New Entry Farmers to improve their economic success and the sustainability of agriculture and the food system in two historic African American farming regions in Alabama and South Carolina.  

The overall goal of this collaboration is to elevate the next generation of farmers and keep it going, building the essential network of relationships to sustainably support, share and learn from one another. The Project Goal is to expand and sustain the economic success and sustainability of New Entry African American and other socially disadvantaged beginning farmers in South Carolina Alabama and beyond, improving access to fresh food in their historical African American communities and other communities like theirs. The project will result in an innovative and replicable to create a new generation of economically independent farmers who support their communities, with focus on African American New Entry Farmers, including veteran women farmers. The project will increase both respect and capacity within the target population with regard to agriculture as a career option, strengthen the infrastructure to help New Entry Farmers succeed, and improve food security within the low-income communities where they work. The Rural Coalition will coordinate the project with The Rural Advancement Fund of the National Sharecroppers Fund (working with African American Young Farmers groups in three counties in South Carolina) and Cottage House, Inc. (in two counties, with African American women veterans forming the Advisory Team).

The proposed BFRDP was to serve 120 individuals, 10% Veterans and 72 were expected to complete the program successfully.  The BFRDP surpassed all goals by recruiting 470 individuals; 325 started training; 110 attended more than 1 workshop, 167 completed the program successfully rather than the 72 proposed, and at least 69 started farming.  We recruited over 100 Veterans, 69 enrolled in the BFRDP and 24 graduated successfully.  385 Specialized Certificates were presented by the Interamerican University Continuing Education Division in 19 separate instances.  119 workshops and 22 visits to farms were included in 6 cycles of training of 6 months each.  Puerto Rico experienced and Earthquake and the COVID-19 Pandemic and the program was stopped, but continued its success after re-opening.  12 documentaries of successful graduates were filmed, 16 Business Plans were completed, over 30 farms were visited by our team of over 10 Agronomists and 168 completed their budget. We encouraged participants to include their families and had 15 family circles.  BFRDP graduates currently participate in our Farmers’ Markets selling their agricultural related products and most importantly, all of the participants are aware of the importance of Food Security in the Island as we import over 90% of our food.  Some are farming for their own consumption, alternative health products, some have agro-tourism projects and other are sawing commercially and have developed value added products.