Item No. 1 of 1

INVESTIGATOR: Hedeen, L.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
Minnesota Food Association
14220-B Ostlund Trail North
Marine on St Croix, MINNESOTA 55047-9538

GROWING SUSTAINABLE FARMS: TRAINING, LAND AND RESOURCES FOR BEGINNING SOCIALLY-DISADVANTAGED FARMERS

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The Growing Sustainable Farms project will serve only individuals from socially-disadvantaged (SDA) backgrounds, but is open to the highly diverse groups which meet this definition - including immigrants and refugees from all over the world, women, limited-resource and African- and Hispanic-American farmers. This open approach is unique in the Midwest, as most of the newer farmer training programs established in recent years serve only one specific ethnic group. Our model offers rich rewards to the farmers and the community, as it creates the opportunity for strong, cooperative relationships to develop amongst diverse groups of people who would otherwise rarely form those bonds. Our farmer participants over the years have expressed their gratitude for the many new ideas they've learned from their peers in the program, who bring knowledge of culturally-specific foods and growing practices to our program. During the previous BFRDP grant period, a total of 19 distinct farms participated in our training program, representing 55 individual farmers from SDA backgrounds. All of these farmers were also limited-resource. Ethnicities of the immigrants served in the program were Hmong, Somali, Latino, Oromo, Karen, Liberian, Russian, Guatemalan, Ethiopian, Burmese, Bhutanese and Kenyan. We also had participation by African American farmers and military veterans.Minnesota has a strong agricultural tradition and vibrant, growing markets for local and sustainably-grown foods. However, SDA farmers continue to be underrepresented as farm operators. According to the USDA 2012 Census, there were 109,349 farm operators reported in Minnesota in 2012. Of those, only 798 (0.7%) were from non-white SDA groups, including individuals from Latino, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, or African American backgrounds. Despite recent growth in the number of certified organic farms in the state, the census also indicated underrepresentation by SDA farmers in this sector: only 3 of 519 farms with organic sales had principal operators from non-white backgrounds (0.6%). These numbers are disproportionate to the total non-white population of the state, which was approximately 18% as of the 2013 census. The first Certified Organic farm in Minnesota operated by a Hmong farmer, Mhonpaj's Garden, was a graduate of the MFA training program. The farm operator - who is also a woman - continues to play an integral role in our program as a farmer mentor (May Lee).These gaps in farming statistics follow broader trends in Minnesota for continuing economic gaps between white residents and minorities. As recently as January 2016, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal shared a report posted on Wallethub.com, which scored each state and D.C. on 10 measures of racial integration from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics. According to this report, Minnesota had the largest gap between blacks and whites in high-school graduation rates, the second-largest racial gap in income and home-ownership, and the third-largest racial poverty gap (Connor Nikolic, "Minnesota Ranks Dead Last for Racial Integration"). It continues to be of vital importance that organizations such as MFA focus their resources on assisting socially-disadvantaged individuals with improving their employment and economic status, in this case by successfully operating their own farm businesses. As stated earlier, MFA's training and incubator programs are open to all groups considered socially-disadvantaged and/or limited-resource, and are not limited to one particular ethnic group.MFA is committed to offering training and resources that meet the specific needs of beginning SDA farmers, and to ensure our programs continue to evolve and improve, we regularly solicit feedback and input from the farmers in our program. Each growing season, two listening sessions are conducted with farmers to provide an opportunity for feedback and ideas for improving all aspects of the program. In the past these sessions were hosted by staff, but this past year one of the more experienced farmers volunteered to facilitate and take notes at the session, which encouraged the participants to speak freely about their assessments of how the program was working. Additionally, at the end of the growing season training staff conduct one-to-one interviews with each farmer, going in-depth into topics such as how their growing season went, what challenges they encountered in and out of the fields, what parts of the training were most helpful, training needs that were not met, and ideas for improvement. All of this feedback was recorded and has been integrated into program development and design for this proposal.MFA was one of the first organizations in the country to design a training program for SDA farmers, with curriculum starting in 1998 and the incubator farm in 2005. It was the first such incubator in Minnesota, and continues to be one of only a handful of such programs in the Midwest. As a result of MFA's leadership in our community for over a decade in providing customized, land-based training to SDA farmers, the landscape of opportunities for immigrant and other minority farmers in the Twin Cities area has improved significantly. MFA's staff has provided technical assistance and consulting to other programs to help them establish new training programs, and has also worked to raise awareness of the needs of immigrant farmers by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, local Farm Service Agency offices, and private agricultural companies such as AgStar. As a result of this work and the high public profile of the annual Immigrant & Minority Farmers Conference co-hosted by MFA (the largest such gathering in the country), there are now new programs influenced by MFA's farm incubator model, such as the Hmong American Farmers Association and the Farley Center, in the Midwest.As these and other organizations have increased their focus on serving immigrant farmers, we have increased our collaborative efforts to support these organizations in providing practical training and assistance to farmers. MFA is considered the expert in our region for providing hands-on production training, and our staff is often requested to provide these technical skills to farmers in other programs, such as the SEED program run by Hmong American Partnership in St. Paul for beginning Hmong farmers. MFA is also the only Certified Organic training program for beginning SDA farmers in our state, and along with our partner the Farley Center in Wisconsin, are the leaders in the region for making organic production methods and certification accessible to this audience of farmers.

OBJECTIVES: The overall goal of the Growing Sustainable Farms project is to create opportunities for socially-disadvantaged farmers to launch farm enterprises, and to increase the sustainability of farms operated by socially-disadvantaged farmers with up to 10 years' farming experience. This 2-year project will offer comprehensive training to beginning farmers, including classroom sessions in business planning, financial management and marketing; field sessions and workshops demonstrating organic vegetable farming techniques; 1:1 technical assistance, including legal expertise on securing land to farm; access to high-quality land with needed equipment and infrastructure; and multiple opportunities to connect with and learn from other SDA farmers.Goal 1: Create opportunities for socially-disadvantaged (SDA) farmers with 0-3 years' experience to launch farm enterprises. Objectives:Deliver a comprehensive training curriculum for beginning SDA farmers in running an organic vegetable operation, including classroom and in-field sessions.Offer an apprenticeship track for SDA individuals interested in exploring farming as a career without a land commitment.Remove barriers to entering farming by running a high-quality incubator farm with access to land, infrastructure, equipment, tools and support.Create opportunities for farmer-to-farmer connections and learning for very beginning farmers, including the annual Immigrant & Minority Farmers Conference and Farmer Exchange events with the Farley Center.Guarantee a market for beginning farmers by operating a food hub which sells through CSA, farmers' markets, wholesale and retail outlets.Outputs (totals for 2 years)- 80 beginning SDA farmers attend an MFA training session- 6 farmers complete apprenticeship track- 30 farmers participate in land-based incubator- 500 SDA farmers attend conference- 6 farmers with 0-3 years' experience participate in Farmer Exchange events- $160,000 of produce purchased from farmers by Big River Farms food hubGoal 2: Increase the sustainability of farm enterprises run by SDA farmers with 3-10 years' experience operating a farm. Objectives:Provide technical assistance and training in the areas of business planning, marketing, production issues at scale, leases and land access strategies.Assist farmers with accessing land to farm, either through MFA's Whole Farm Management program or on property they lease or purchase independently.Create opportunities for farmer-to-farmer learning and networking for farmers with 3-10 years' experience, including the Immigrant & Minority Farmers Conference and Farmer Exchange events with the Farley Center.Continue to expand market opportunities for farmers to sell their produce to the Big River Farms food hub.Outputs- 50 farmers attend a training session in more advanced topics- 10 farmers participate in MFA's Whole Farm Management program- 6 farmers receive 1:1 technical assistance to secure their own farmland- 26 farmers receive brief legal consults to help with land and credit issues- 500 SDA farmers attend conference- 15 farmers with 3-10 years' experience participate in Farmer Exchange events- 5 new accounts created for Big River Farms food hub