BFRDP Projects

Our program creates a positive ecosystem promoting professional and financial growth for beginning farmers in the Atlanta
region through an agricultural incubator immersion program. The 20 beginner farmers per year includes veterans, socially
disadvantaged, limited resource, or farmworkers, including women, African-Americans, Latinx, Asian, and LGBTQ farmers, with
at least 60% of the budget going to serve these groups. Training includes the hands-on application of knowledge as they learn
and work on the farm weekly and all participants will receive training through the University of Georgia. The objectives of the project are to continue training of graduate students, complete the repairs of the training site 100%, and continue to
work toward agricultural sustainability. GIF has submitted request for no-cost extension from March 2022 to May 2023. During the extension period, GIF will continue classes through May 2023. For this, we will continue our advertisement, marketing, and community outreach efforts.

The project milestones are slightly revised based on the following learnings from the first year of implementation: the lesson learned from growing lavender is that it takes about three years to generate income and turn it into a profitable venture. Since three (3) years is a substantial period for the farmer to acquire the desired profitability, the cultivation of this crop cannot be considered sustainable for beginner farmers. In light of this, we adapted the project by designing a specialized program to train beginner farmers in handling, cultivating, and processing hemp. We are rationalizing this based on the development in the state regulation and market. As hemp farming is now legal and profitable, cultivating this crop usually takes farmers 3-6 months to realize. Thus, our activities are designed to expedite the revenue generation and profit-making process through hemp production to sustain farms and livelihoods for beginner farmers.