BFRDP Projects

Building Farm Foundations and Planning for Success: Beginning Farmer Training for Military Veterans in the Northeast U.S.
[Progress Report]

Award Amount: $231,679
Grant Program: 2016 Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program Awards
Project Director: Margo Hale
Email: margoh@ncat.org
Organization: National Center for Appropriate Technology

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  • Overview
  • Results
  • Materials
  • Delivery Area
  • Comments

Project Overview

The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) partnered with Sterling College, Farmer Veteran Coalition of Vermont (FVC) and United Farmer Veterans of Maine, University of New Hampshire (UNH) Cooperative Extension, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) and New Entry Sustainable Farming Project in Massachusetts to educate and support military veterans in the Northeast U.S. who are beginning farmers. Our project, Building Farm Foundations and Planning for Success: Beginning Farmer Training for Military Veterans in the Northeast U.S., has served hundreds of beginning farmers who are military veterans in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and other Northeastern states. In the first year of the project we provided training to more than 250 military veteran beginning farmers in each year of our project. These trainings consisted of one-day workshops on various production topics in locations throughout the Northeast, and an intensive training through the week-long Armed to Farm program, NCAT’s sustainable agriculture training for military veterans.  The project supported veterans chosen to participate in Sterling College’s six-week Summer Agriculture Program and Farmstead workshops and provided registrations to MOFGA’s beginning farmer trainings. The project also offered farm business planning assistance to military veterans through workshops and one-on-one technical assistance.  We worked to build and strengthen the network of military veteran beginning farmers through outreach and supporting existing networks.

Number of Participants: 287

Results

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Delivery Area

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