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INVESTIGATOR: Tronstad, R. E.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
888 N EUCLID AVE
TUCSON, ARIZONA 85719-4824

GROWING THE MANAGEMENT SKILLS OF NATIVE AMERICANS AND LIMITED-RESOURCE BEGINNING FARMERS IN THE SOUTHWEST

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: This proposal emphasizes the priority topic areas of: basic crop farming practices, entrepreneurship and business training, financial and risk management training, diversification and marketing strategies, curriculum development, resources, vocational training for veterans, farm safety and awareness, and in the other subject areas: advanced training for soils and irrigation, hoop house operation, and food safety. Our target audience includes Native American tribes in Arizona and New Mexico, Limited Resource Producers, Youth, Veterans, and other beginning farmer participants. This renewal grant is based on successful partnerships with University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and tribal agents, and NGO/CBO partners who were identified during the current grant. About 40 percent of the budget will be allocated to the NGOs/CBOs.Lessons learned and feedback from participants of our current grant indicated a need for more in-depth science-based curriculum to address soil and water salinity, farming as a business first, conducting market surveys, economics of equipment selection, working towards organic certification, tax information and strategies, irrigation, zoning and regulations for farmers, farm worker and food safety, non-chemical pest and disease control methods, selecting companion crops for different seasons, and related topics. This Standard BFRDP proposal focuses on empowering beginning and limited resource producers to learn these skills through ongoing hands-on demonstration, instruction, and curriculum proposed over the three years. The third year of our proposed education emphasizes individual mentoring to better enable participants to adopt production processes learned and business plans proposed. We are building on a successful foundation of having engaged over 373 participants in the current grant cycle and are incorporating the lessons learned to improve the effectiveness of participants adopting the skills and knowledge gained through the program. We will deliver relevant information to limited resource audiences that include Southwest Native Americans, CBO's/NGO's, and military veterans with the goal of having participants complete a production and/or business plan for a specialty crop small farm enterprise.

OBJECTIVES: Key Goals Help beginning farmer audiences become more economically vibrant through acquiring sound production and business skills for small-scale specialty crop operations. We are proposing to improve the economic viability of our beginning farmer audiences and participants through the following educational objectives:Take the lessons learned and science-based curriculum developed from our current beginning farmer grant of "Enhancing Beginning Farmer Specialty Crop Management Skills and Opportunities In The Southwest," to new audiences while delivering more in-depth training to some of our existing most engaged audience locations.Expand our science-based curriculum by adding more in-depth training in subject areas identified by beginning farmer participants. These include soil structure, solarization of soil for organic production methods, irrigation, water quality, collaborative marketing strategies, entrepreneurship, record keeping techniques, accurate break-even cost of production values, income tax planning, and business planning that considers common community goals.Develop a Small Farm Cost of Production Estimator, similar to a Nursery Break-Even Price and Profit Estimator (http://ag.arizona.edu/extension/riskmanagement/managing finance risk/index.html) which estimates production costs on a square foot basis for different crops, to facilitate the tracking and logging of expenses for small-scale farms operating under arid southwest conditions. This spreadsheet-based estimator will help participants record expenses and obtain accurate cost of production and risk assessment estimates for different crops, elevations, soil, and water regimes in the Southwest.