We provided over 2100 person hours of technical farm training, business management training, and general assistance to more than 40 socially disadvantaged urban farmers in the Houston, TX metro area. The training and assistance was delivered through one-on-one meetings, group workshops, demonstrations, field trips, and farmer conferences.
Participating farmers received training in business financial & risk management, credit scores & how to access credit, personal & business budgeting, financial record keeping & analysis, creating business plans, assessing profit potential, accessing financing, crop planning, new tools, soil health, pest management, fertilizing, cover cropping, irrigation, curing, pruning, wholesale readiness, marketing, snap/EBT, and food safety.
Over the course of three years we saw our efforts result in participating farmers adopting new practices and tools that increased their production, reduce labor, improve their business management, access new markets, and expand their businesses. Though we had challenges along the way and had to adjust how we allocated our available resources, overall, the project was a success in improving the business health our our targeted farmers.