BFRDP Projects

Strategic Investments to Ensure Long-Term Success of Veteran-Owned and Advanced Beginning Farms
[Final Report]

Award Amount: $712,500
Grant Program: 2014 Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program Awards
Project Director: Anusuya Rangarajan
Email: ar47@cornell.edu
Organization: Cornell University

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  • Overview
  • Results
  • Materials
  • Delivery Area
  • Comments

Project Overview

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.

Number of Participants: 1150

Results

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