BFRDP Projects

When people think of Wyoming, they conjure scenes of cowboys, cattle and the open range. Most of that “open range” is a semi-arid, high altitude landscape. The people that live here, all 577,737 of us, need affordable, nutritious food: fruits, vegetables and meat. And, some Wyoming folks want to produce that food for their local markets. They report challenges with climate, inability to access arable land, and a lack of business skills. This aligns with the findings of the State of Wyoming’s 20-year strategic initiative, ENDOW (Economically Needed Diversity Options for Wyoming): ag economic growth is challenged by the lack of skilled workforce and value-added ag businesses. As a community college, we know local and want to help our local food producers grow nutritious foods by developing financially and environmentally sustainable farm businesses. Therefore, Central Wyoming College (CWC) led an initiative to increase the availability of locally-grown food and expand employment and business opportunities in agriculture.

CWC provided the knowledge and skills for beginning farmers to launch their own independent farm businesses through a comprehensive 5-month Crop Production Practicum (CPP) and a semester length Small-Scale Farm Planning and Management course. The goal was to increase the number of economically and environmentally sustainable farm businesses. To date, 20 participants have completed the CPP; growing fruits and vegetables using regenerative and sustainable farming practices for the high altitude, short growing season and semi-arid climactic conditions existing in Wyoming. Nine participants have completed the Small-scale Farm Planning and Management Course. Four participants entered the Farm Incubator in the spring of 2023 and three of those successfully launched their own farm businesses. Through the incubator, beginning farmers had access to land and farm infrastructure, technical assistance, mentoring, financial management, business planning and marketing support to operate viable farm business enterprises.