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INVESTIGATOR: Majumdar, A.; Muntz, ST, .; Evans, AL, .; Wynne, KA, .; Oates, JA, .; Becker, CH, .; Page, RO, .; Thomas, SO, .

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
108 M. WHITE SMITH HALL
AUBURN, ALABAMA 36849

A COLLECTIVE APPROACH TO PROVIDING RESOURCES, TECHNOLOGY AND ASSISTANCE TO BEGINNING FARMERS

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Alabama has an increasing number of specialty crop producers who grow high quality fruits and vegetables. With rising interest in crop production, many new farms are active statewide who need a strong educational support network with peers and educational institutions. Alabama Extension Commercial Horticulture is a statewide organization that has a network of Regional Extension Agents and Extension Specialists who provide science-based information and long-term education to beginning farmers, who otherwise do not have any other source of unbiased information. Nonprofit organizations such as Farmscape Solutions and Crotovina Inc. (partners on this project) providecritical consultation and networking support. Producer organizations (three in the project) are also critical to organize producers and prepare them for receiving educational training. This project is the first to bring together a statewide educational institution (Extension) with nonprofit organizations at the state and regional level for a collective approach to training beginning farmers. Through the development of a robust educational curriculum, phone app, and other electronic and printed resources, this project really aims at developing the "knowledge infrastructure" as a shared resource that will assist beginning farmers beyond the life of the grant itself. This project will also hire and training two Technical Service Providers who will provide focused, one-on-one producer training for directly benefiting 60 producersin three years (we are targeting abotu 2,000 indirect beneficiaries through Extension and other statewide organizations mentioned earlier). Special emphasis will also be provided to military veterans returning to or interested in specialty crop production.

OBJECTIVES: The overall objectives of our proposal are: (1) facilitate a collective approach for diverse beginning farmers initiatives; (2) develop distance learning resources to support train-the-trainer and educator-to-farmer activities; and (3) provide technical assistance and hands-on training to beginning farmers.The goals under each objective are as follows:Obj. 1. Conduct stakeholder feedback meetings and develop a three-year action plan for various aspects of the grant. Establish a communication system among all project participants.Obj. 2. Develop electronic curriculum and phone app as distance education resources that will be used by Regional Extension Agents, incubator farms and Technical Assistance Providers as the basic Beginning Farmer trainingn materials.Obj. 3. Provide one-on-one assistance and small grouptrainingto producers through active collaboration with the Technical Assistance Providers and nonprofit producer agencies.