Item No. 1 of 1

INVESTIGATOR: Morgan-Hubbard, M.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
ECO City Farms
6010 Taylor Road
Riverdale, MARYLAND 20737

FOOD SOVEREIGNTY: GROWING URBAN FARMERS AND FARMS

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: This proposal is a blueprint of a project to amplify, deepen and extend the knowledge and experience ECO City Farms earned over the past six years of offering intensive on-farm internships and apprenticeships, urban agriculture continuing education certification courses, gardening and master composting courses, nutrition education workshops, herbalism trainings and summer-long youth education programs. It test-drives a replicable curriculum and methodology by turning 24 novices, 60% of whom are socially or economically disadvantaged, into confident and competent urban farmers. ECO's educational approach includes comprehensive practical hands-on experiences and one-on-one mentoring/training, and a well-tested graphics-rich (rather than text-centric) culturally appropriate curriculum that includes all of the crop production, farm management, business, and management skills needed for graduates to roll up their sleeves and farm on their own land.In sum, ECO's project consists of all the elements required to become a successful sustainable farmer:1) intensive beginning and more advanced classroom training on a wide range of relevant farming and business topics;2) intensive hands-on experiential training in actual farm work;3) experiencing farming in all four seasons and at a variety of scales;4) tools, seeds and a personal training plot on which to experiment over time;5) a ready market for crops grown;6) a cohort and network of supportive farmers and mentors; and7) an opportunity to compete for placement on farmland in the second year with an experienced farmer close at hand and a small stipend to get started.

OBJECTIVES: Successfully recuit and retain 24 trainees from target audience for two 12 month training cyclesImplement a 12-month culturally competent, multi-modal training for each cohortPlace second year trainees on land, either through ECO or other networks, or otherwise embark on thier farm businessesCreat supportive networks of learning and opportunity for traineesMeasure, share and replicate ECO's beginning urban farmer training model

APPROACH: Approach: ECO's training program is designed to address the many facets of the urban agriculture experience and to overcome the challenges faced by people with limited resources and social capital so that they can enter the food sector as independent, self-employed farmers. Similar to the investment in a community college degree, a substantial amount of time, money and resources are expended on each trainee's education. The project emphasizes collaborative learning, uses plain language, multi-media visual, written and hands-on learning modalities, creates a safe space where all voices are heard and respected, and a one-stop learning environment where all involved support one another.During the two training cycles, all trainees will be provided with a small training plot (average 300 square foot) on which to experiment and grow vegetables for their families or for market. They will also receive a personal set of tools and seeds. At the end of 45 weeks of intensive training, members of each cohort will have the opportunity to compete for 5 placements on substantial plots of land, plus a mini-grant of $2,000, with ongoing mentoring by ECO staff in conjunction with local farmers. All trainees will also have the opportunity to sell what they grow directly to ECO for our multi-farm CSA, to Sandy Spring Friends School, and/or at three local farmers markets, one of which ECO launched in 2015.At the conclusion of the two training cycles, ECO will make the full complement of training materials and self-guided urban farm enterprise planning workbook available--through our extensive networks and on our website--to fellow urban farms and farmers. We will also organize an urban farming symposium to share our most promising practices and for the beginning farmers to tell their stories.In sum, ECO's project consists of all the elements required to become successful farmers:1) intensive beginning and more advanced classroom training on a wide range of relevant farming and business topics; 2) intensive hands-on experiential training in actual farm work; 3) witnessing and experiencing farming in all four seasons and at a variety of scales; 4) tools, seeds and a personal training plot on which to experiment over time; 5) a ready market for crops grown; 6) a cohort and network of supportive farmers and mentors; and 7) an opportunity to compete for placement on farmland in the second year with an experienced farmer close at hand and a small stipend to get started.How training is delivered: Our comprehensive farm apprenticeship training project combines the breadth of knowledge and skills required of a competent and confident urban farmer through ten hours per week of experiential learning, with three to four hours per week of customized classroom instruction and on-farm tours and workshops. It incorporates a mix of training modalities, including workshops, interactive talks/lectures, films, group discussions, and farm visits, to acquire the foundational skills in farming, construction, business and management. Trainees will rotate job stations and responsibilities throughout the year, learning every aspect of work at our two urban farms and farmers markets. In addition, they will test-drive their developing skills and learning through the development and maintenance of their own individual 300 square foot training plot. At the start of each cohort, each trainee will be assigned to one of ECO's staff as a mentor, who will be their "go-to-person" for the duration of the training. The mentor will be responsible for establishing a rapport with the trainee and support, evaluate and document their progress. This will assure that trainees receive critical one-on-one support and instruction and regular feedback on their progress.

PROGRESS: 2016/08 TO 2019/07
Target Audience:The target audience for our beginning urban farmer training project were applicants who reflect the predominately non-white (85%), female (51%) and recent immigrant (20%) residents of close in Washington, DC andPrince George's County, in Maryland where we farm on two different urban farm sites. Our projectattracted and successfully trained targeted individuals who are part of the growing number of area residents from all backgrounds possessing a strong desire to become farmers and produce food for their families and the expanding local healthy food market. Cohort 1 included 18 trainees,88% of these traineesqualifiedunder USDA's classification of economically or socially disadvantaged. Cohort 2 included 17trainees, 94% of these traineesqualifiedunder USDA's classification of economically or socially disadvantaged. Cohort 3included 19 trainees,84% of these traineesqualifiedunder USDA's classification of economically or socially disadvantaged.[Our goal each year was 60% classified as economically and/or socially disadvantaged.] Changes/Problems:As an urban farming program, ECO staff worked hard to recruit and select trainees who were primed to succeed and met basic program criteria. We also selected people who resided within reasonable commuting distance from the farm (average 8 miles) so that transportation would be less of a problem. Moreover, we wanted our class to reflect the demographics of the area. Our County is primarily people of color (85%) and our local area is largely low income. But the area is also very transient and costly. During our training year, many of our trainees faced challenging life changes--pregnancy, birth of children, job changes, car and other transportation difficulties, job and family-related relocation, illness and physical injury-- making it hard to train for the entire 10 months. Added to this were weather challenges-- incessant rain, wind and cold/heat, that occasioned seasonal scheduling difficulties and staff changes at ECO City Farms as well. All of these circumstances made for fluxuating attendance in the third and fourth quarters of each year, and more unevenness of participation than originally anticipated. From the point of view of many area trainers, drop off in participation is an occupational hazard of voluntary training programs. At the same time, participants do uniformly acknowledge that they enjoyed and greatly benefitted from the training, and that it offered them the engagement with farming skills, agricultural knoweldge, practical ideas, strategies, plans and other aspiring farmers they felt they needed to implement their farming dreams and visions. In the second cohort, a number of the new and beginning farmers we recruited believed that they did or would eventually have access to the land on which they would farm. We had originally anticipated that land access would be their greatest problem, and built land access into the program as an shared incubator space in the second year. However, few of the trainees showed interest in this option, as they worked full time and could not make time for this opporuntity with a stipend that was not a living wage. Moreover, the land required too much prep work and water access was more limited than initially specified. As a result, instead of providing land, we offered stipended apprenticeship and other employment at ECO, as well as supplemental coursework for a new group of trainees along with all previous trainees in the third year. During the course of the training, ECO was able to directly employ 9 of our trainees, two of whom are still employed at our farms. We added a third year of training to our training plan that was not in the original proposal to increase the number of new and beginning farmers we got to train and to test out another approach. We offered 11 of our Fall 2019 farm apprentices the opportunity to become Beginning Farmer trainees. In addition to their weekly work on the farm, they were able to take the 10 week course at Prince George's Community College and earn the Certificate of Completion of the program, plus continuing education credits. 8 students from the Future Harvest Beginning Farmer Training project who were more advanced in their farming joined this group for the classroom training and received their certificates as well. The class was taught by a local young new farmer of color in conjunction with ECO's Director of Urban Agriculture and Composting Guru. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?ECO City Farms' BFRDP entitled, Food Sovereignty: Growing Urban Farmers and Farms, was a comprehensive training program for seriously committed aspiring, new and beginning urban farmers who wanted to learn about every aspect of the joy and business of growing healthy ecologically-sound food. The entire project was a training and professional development project for aspiring, new and beginning urban farmers in the DC metropolitan area, particulary Prince George's County, Maryland where we farm. It was an 10 month long, classroom training and hands-on apprenticeship program that was designed to teach evey aspect of farming as a practice and a business. New and beginning farmers learned in-class (for 3 months) and on-farm (for 7 months) what it takes to successfully grow and sell food in an urban setting. Ten of 2018 cohort of trainees completed more than 300 hours of training, including the Prince George's Community College AGR-319: Intensive Introduction to Urban Commercial Agriculture -a theory based education, taught by ECO and visiting specialists, including University of Maryland Extension personnel, and ending with a Certificate in Commercial Urban Agriculture from Prince George's County Community College. For the first two years, ECO's 10 month training program was divided into quarters. Each quarter was packed with a variety of training and professional development opportunities, including farm work, farm visits and conferences. Farmers grew in knowledge, understanding and practice. They learned the theory in a classroom setting, applied it with others and the practiced it in their own backyard, garden or farm. Continual self-evaluation allowed them to measure their own progress and accumated learning and to review with farmer trainers if they had remaining questions or required assistance. Additionally, they participated in many farm visits and supplemental classes with the members of other area farmer training programs. Participants also attended regional events hosted for farmers by the Smithsonian, DC's Department of Parks and Recreation, Prince George's County Community College Financial Empowerment Center, University of Maryland Extension, Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association, Future Harvest CASA, and Maryland Department of Agriculture. Beginning farmers also visited and worked on other farms in the area including: Blueberry Gardens, Arcadia Vegetable Farm, Forested, and Owl's Nest Farm. They learned marketing and practiced it hands-on, herbalism and nutrition. In year 3 of the program, 19 additional aspiring farmers attended the classroom portion of the program for 30 hours and engaged in hands-on farmwork, either with ECO farmers for 6 months, average 6 hours per week for a total of 144 hours of farm training, or with Future Harvest's Beginning Farmer Training Program, apprenticing at area urban, peri-urban and rurual farms. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?ECO has discussed and shared our training approaches and materials, as well as our progress, challenges and results, with staff from other local BFRDP projects, with staff from the University of Maryland Extension, the Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association, and at the the 2018 Northeast Beginning Farmer Learning Network Summit in 2018. We also have share our story with other projects yearly at the BFRDP Conference. ECO regularly attends local meetings and conferences where the program is discussed and encourages all of our trainees and staff to do the same. We have worked with representatives of the State Department and visiting fellows who observed and participated in our trainings, travelled to Zambia and Jordan to train new farmers, and are discussing replicating the program in Ghana. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

IMPACT: 2016/08 TO 2019/07
What was accomplished under these goals? Successfully recuit and retain 24 trainees from target audience for two 12 month training cycles: Over the 3 year period, ECO actually recruited and trained 54 trainees from the target audience for two 10 months programs and one 6month program. Retention over the period was challenging for some of the trainees, however all 54 received the certificate of completion jointly issued by Prince George's Community College and ECO City Farms. Implement a 12-month culturally competent, multi-modal training for each cohort: We shortened the training scheduleto less than 12 months, due to trainee and staff schedules, however an appropriate culturally-competent multi-modal training program was instituted and carried out three times over the three year period. During this time, we were able to record significant changes in trainee knowledge, behavior and practice all three years,through written records, self-reporting and observation. Place second year trainees on land, either through ECO or other networks, or otherwise embark on their farm businesses: Over the three year period, 33 of our trainees reported embarking on farming or food-related businesses in accordance with the plans they developed during the program. Of these, over the course of the project, 9 trainees were hired directly by ECO for at least one season. Create supportive networks of learning and opportunity for trainees: Through the course of the three years, each Cohort of trainees developed very strong bonds with one another and with ECO City Farms farmers, as well as with area farmers they met through the course of the project, via farm visits and networking opportunities provided by the project. Many of the trainees continue to work with one another and retain their connections with local farmer networks. Measure, share and replicate ECO's beginning urban farmer training model: ECO's training model has been refined, modified and improved over the course of the program. We have shared it at Beginning Farmer Training Program conferences and with our peers in the area. We have had the opportunity to present our model at the Future Harvest annual conference and with the NE Beginning Farmer Learning Network in 2018. In 2019, we submitted a new proposal to USDA Beginning Farmer Training Program based on an impoved version of this model and it was funded. We intend to share this new model with our local and national urban farming peers online and through visits to their sites over the next three years.

PUBLICATIONS (not previously reported): 2016/08 TO 2019/07
No publications reported this period.

PROGRESS: 2016/08/01 TO 2017/07/31
Target Audience:ECO worked to specifically target applicants who reflect the predominantly non-white (85%), female (51%) and recent immigrant (20%) residents of Prince George's County, MD where we farm. Our project sought to attract and successfully train the growing number of area residents from all backgrounds who possess a strong desire to become farmers to produce food for the expanding local market. More than 30 people applied to our program. ECO selected a first cohort of 18, rather than 12, due to potential attendee loss over the year, and because the applicants were so competitive. The group was evenly split between men and women. 88% of original participants fit USDA's classification of socially and/or economically disadvantaged. All but 3 of the participants selected were people of color. All live within 8 miles of ECO City Farms and have evidenced interest in being suburban/urban farmers. Changes/Problems:Unexpected results of the project: It was disconcerting to find that our trainees initially reported a marked decrease in their knowledge and skills after completing the first quarter of our training. This seemingly contradictory effect was a result of our evaluation methods. In order for us to better assess the prior knowledge that existed among our group, each trainee was required to answer a Skills Self Assessment at the start of the program. The questions asked were adapted from resources on Farm Answers and the New England Small Farms Institute's Northeast Small Scale "Sustainable" Skill Self-Assessment. The competencies evaluated are in line with the proposed "Occupational Profile for a Vegetable Grower" currently under review by the Department of Labor. We hoped to use this assessment to measure any increases in knowledge and understanding by requiring participants to fill out this survey at the start of each quarter. Rather than ask participants to rank their knowledge on a continuum, we ask for participants to indicate for each skills whether they: • Know nothing about this • Know something about this • Know how to do this • Actually did it • Mastered it • Can teach it Therefore, our initial results captured that our students over assessment of their abilities. It captured the fact that few of us realize how much we don't know until we begin to learn more about a new topic. We found that most of our trainees were very confident in their skills before the classes began, checking boxes indicating that they had mastered skills such as: interpreting soil tests, writing a crop plan, creating a marketing plan etc. However, once they delved more deeply into those topics, our trainees recognized what mastery looked like and realized that they really didn't know as much as they thought they did until after the training, hence the initial drop in self-assessed capability. A second unexpected result is the rate at which our participants found work in the agricultural sector. Many began working on farms in the area, and while that was a terrific outcome, they then found they were too exhausted to attend class from 6-9pm on Wednesdays, and found it hard to balance their new work responsibilities with their training commitments. For the next cohort, we hope to integrate the outside farming experiences more cohesively into the hours required by our training. Improvements for Next Year's Project: Built into the design of our project is that we are in fact doing it all over again. We will engage a second cohort for our second year, and in this second round, we plan to use the same basic curriculum, books and instructors, modified by adjustments to the amount of time available for any given instructor and incorporating the expertise of some of our first cohort trainees. The changes we are making this second time around are intended to improve our outcome(s). They are informed by concerns of our participants as well as reactions of staff and instructors. A major change is that we were unable to provide as much hands-on farming experience in all seasons because the land we hoped to provide our trainees-- like much potential urban farmland-- was strewn with bricks, pavement and other debris from a former multi-family building that once occupied the land. We had anticipated some of this and wanted our trainees to learn about how difficult it really is to farm on land in cities, but we did not have sufficient time allotted in the program to improve the soil sufficiently to actually grow food. Instead they chose to farm on other sites throughout the area, in their back yards and community gardens. This coming year, we will have them farm at ECO City Farms alongside ECO's farmers and interns year-round, both in boxes for their personal use, and in beds already well cultivated by ECO farmers. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?ECO City Farms Food Sovereignty: Growing Urban Farmers and Farms is a ten month, intensive training program where new and beginning farmers learn in-class and on-farm what it takes to have a successful urban farm business. Starting in January 2017, and finishing November 2017, our trainees will have completed 400 hours of training, including the Prince George's Community College AGR­302: Intensive Introduction to Urban Commercial Agriculture -an ECO City Farms taught Certificate Program. ECO's 10 month training program is divided into quarters. Every quarter is packed with a variety of training and professional development opportunities. Program participants were given their own personal set of tools, seeds -as specified by their crop plan-, raised beds at ECO -if desired, and in need of space-, and over 250 on-farm hours. Participants attended in-class, theory based education, taught by ECO, earning them a Certificate in Commercial Urban Agriculture from Prince George's County Community College. On many Saturdays during the summer, they also acquired experience marketing and selling food at the Port Towns Farmers Market. Additionally, they are members of Future Harvest CASA and participated in many of their field education classes with the Future Harvest Beginning Farmer's cohort and Arcadia's Veteran farmer training program. Participants also attended regional events hosted for farmers by Smithsonian, DC's Department of Parks and Recreation, Prince George's County COmmunity College Financial Empowerment Center, University of Maryland Extension and Maryland Department of Agriculture. Beginning farmers also visited and worked on other farms in the area including: Blueberry Gardens, Arcadia Vegetable Farm, Forested, Old City Farm and Guild, the Farmacy, Owl's Nest Farm and Melwood among others. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Because we are still completing our first cohort of trainings, we do not yet have results to disseminate. On the other hand, the program has effectively connected with two other local BFRD projects with whom we have discussed and shared trainings, approaches and outreach materials.ECO City Farms will also make a presentation at the 2018 Northeast Beginning Farmer Learning Network (BFLN) Summit in January which will provide an opportunity to feature our results to interested parties from the entire East Coast. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, we will be in the middle of training our second cohort of trainees. We will know more about how well we met the goals for our first cohort and how well we did in recruiting and selecting our second cohort. We will have more assessment material regarding both cohorts. We will have made some adjustments to our training approach and can assess their impacts. We will have engaged some members of the first cohort for second year and be better able from their performance to see what we might have missed. We will have launched ECO's Beginning Farmer Training Web page for information about our program and for farmers to blog and connect with one another and will post more of our project accomplishments and learnings on Farm Answers.

IMPACT: 2016/08/01 TO 2017/07/31
What was accomplished under these goals? ECO City Farms Food Sovereignty: Growing Urban Farmers and Farms is a ten month, intensive training program where new and beginning farmers learn in-class and on-farm what it takes to have a successful urban farm business. Starting in January 2017, and finishing November 2017, our trainees will have completed 400 hours of training, including PGCC AGR­302: Intensive Introduction to Urban Commercial Agriculture -an ECO City Farms taught Certificate Program. To date, 19 participants received a Certificate in Commercial Urban Agriculture from Prince George's County Community College, 11 are on track to complete their 400 hours, and 13 have secured employment in the agricultural sector. ECO's 10 month training program is divided into quarters. Every quarter participants self-evaluate their skills based on the occupational profile for a vegetable farmer, developed by the New England Small Farms Institute. Using the quarterly evaluations and two, one-on-one check-ins, our staff is in tune with how participants are receiving and using their newly acquired knowledge and based on this, are actively improving the program. By giving students the knowledge and on-farm experiences required of urban farmers, we are directly improving the chances of success for farmers in our community. With the conclusion of the program (mid-November, 2017), ECO City will give two graduates the opportunity to continue to work with ECO City Farm to enhance their learning and experience of year-round urban farming. Successfully recruit, train and retain 24 trainees from target audience for two 12 month training cycles (Note: we have not yet completed the first of the two training cycles) Of the initial cohort of 17, one (1) was unable to participate after acceptance into the program. That left 16. Two (2) additional participants joined us soon after the program officially began. That increased our number to 18. One (1) of these participants left mid-program to become a full-time farmer in California. We count her as a successful participant, as she completed much of the coursework and was inspired and felt equipped to leave her job and become a full-time farmer. An additional participant, owner of an urban farm, also dropped out mid-program to run his farm, leaving us with 16 potential program graduates. ECO's overall target outcome is that upon completion of program, 70% of graduates or 14 trainees would begin farming and/or initiate related food production enterprises. This report is being written before the end of the first year for cohort one. However already 6 trainees have started farming and 4 additional trainees have indicated that they are experiencing improved farm success due to their involvement in the program, 19 people successfully completed our Commercial Urban Farming Course with Prince George's Community College, and the majority of the trainees are poised to meet the program requirements of attending twice/week, and completing 400 hours of training over 39 weeks in one year. Implement a 12-month culturally competent, multi-modal training for each cohort ECO's project participants were a diverse group of trainees who identified as African American, African, Caribbean, European-American and Latinx. ECO worked to ensure that the curriculum featured culturally appropriate content taught every Wednesday evening's (3 hrs) and on Saturdays (6 hrs), via classroom, hands-on experiential and on-farm learning. Farm tours and invited guest-speakers rounded out the training modules and enriched the curriculum and experiences. To date, we have accomplished and completed the following steps toward this goal: Attended Beginner Farmer Training Conference Reviewed materials on Farm Answers Clearing House for Curriculum Materials, Applications, Best Practices for comparable programs Developed ECO's Teaching Approach, Curriculum and Program Design Compiled and Select Teaching Materials Selected and Purchased Farming and Financial Education Textbooks Selected and Produced "Dream Books" for Trainee Personal Planning Assembled Binders of Educational Materials for Trainees Determined and Developed Evaluation/Assessment Criteria in Keeping with Program Outcomes Develop Evaluation/Assessment Tools Created Google Program Email and Drive for Program Materials and Communications with and amongst Trainees Developed Criteria for Participant Selection Created Program Application Made Program Application Available on Website Compiled list of Organizations and Partners to Help with Trainee Recruitment Compiled list of Community Listservs and other Recruitment Channels Advertised Training through Listservs, partner organizations, newsletters Printed, Read and Assessed Applications and Prioritize Trainees Contacted, Interviewed and Selected Applicants Meet with Prince George's County Community College Counterparts and Made Arrangements for Course and Certification Worked with PGCC to develop and circulated Advertisement Scheduled Instruction and Classroom(s) and notified Selected Trainees Scheduled Year-Long Program, complete with trips, trainings, workshops and breaks Worked with Future Harvest CASA to Coordinate Membership of Trainees in FH CASA and to Introduced Trainees at FH CASA Annual Conference Launched phase one of program in partnership with Prince George's County Community College (27 hours of in-class learning) Meet every Wednesday & Saturday from January to November, completing 400 hours of training Conducted quarterly skills assessments with participants Held mid-program check-in interview Completed and filed RVS and Reeports for year one Place second year trainees on land, either through ECO or other networks, or otherwise embark on their farm businesses Already six (6) trainees have started farming and four (4) additional trainees have indicated that they are experiencing improved farm success due to their involvement in the program. However we have not yet completed year one of training and do not yet have results for this goal. Create supportive networks of learning and opportunity for trainees All of the trainees who participated to date in this ECO City Farms project have indicated that they feel that they are now part of a larger network of support and learning. They see one another in this cohort of 18 beginning farmer trainees for 9 hours weekly; they have met with other beginning farmer programs; they have visited area farms and as a group, attended the annual DC farming conference, Rooting DC and the annual Future Harvest Conference for farmers from the DMV region. They have been successfully connected with one another and across the region. Our trainees are members of Future Harvest CASA and have taken trainings with their beginning farmer cohort. We have also held workdays and tours along side Arcadia's Veteran Beginning Farmer Training Program. Measure, share and replicate ECO's beginning urban farmer training model At the time of this reporting, we are working on measuring and sharing results to date and our teaching materials. This project will engage two cohorts of trainees for one full year each. We have not yet completed year one and have a second cohort who will spend a subsequent year training. The purpose of our initial assessments is to refine and improve the project for cohort two trainees prior to sharing or replicating our methodology. However, we are already convinced that the intensive hours and curriculum of this program makes for a better understanding of both the challenges and rewards of urban farming and creates a supportive community that is required for successful urban farming.

PUBLICATIONS: 2016/08/01 TO 2017/07/31
No publications reported this period.