BFRDP Projects

Developing the Next Generation of Sustainable Farmers in Georgia: A Comprehensive Training Program
[Final Report]

Award Amount: $652,852
Grant Program: 2014 Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program Awards
Project Director: Julia Gaskin
Email: jgaskin@uga.edu
Organization: University of Georgia

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  • Overview
  • Results
  • Materials
  • Delivery Area
  • Comments

Project Overview

    The overall goal was to increase the number of small to mid-scale sustainable farms in Georgia. To do this, we developed a comprehensive, statewide training program for beginning farmers that can be easily sustained into the future. We leveraged resources through partnerships with UGA Extension, Georgia Organics, Fort Valley State University, Georgia Department of Agriculture, the UGA Small Business Development Center, and the Ag Credits Union of Georgia. The program includes Small Farm Business Planning Training/AgAware Training, a Small Fruit & Vegetable Production Training or Small Ruminant Production Training, and a Hands-on internship/mentorship/incubator opportunity. We have hosted the full program in 10 counties throughout Georgia and two other counties offered just Small Farm Business training, overall we had 447 unique participants take part in the program. We met or exceeded 11 of our 14 goals for the program: 

  • Small Farm Business Planning Training/AgAware Attendance: 367 (Goal=350)
  • Number that improved business practices: 359 (Goal=350)
  • Small Fruit and Vegetable Production Attendance: 117 (Goal=150)
  • Small Ruminant Production Attendance: 90 (Goal 45)
  • Number that improved production practices: 200 (Goal=195)
  • Number Hands-On participants: 57 (Goal 69)
  • Number that completed all three steps: 43 (Goal 69)
  • Number of facilitated webinar courses: 12 (Goal=7)
  • Number of courses developed: 3 (Goal=3)
  • Number of new farmers as a result of program: 90% CI [31-102] (Goal 35)
  • Number of beginning farmers in program: 143 (Goal 35)
  • Number of beginning, minority farmers: 139 (Goal 12)
  • Number of trainers trained to teach: 20 + 10 assisted (Goal=11)
  • Number of farmer networks strengthened: 12 (Goal=7)

The program will continue to run in Georgia and can be used as a frame work for other states as well. 

Number of Participants: 447

Results

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