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INVESTIGATOR: Bacigalupo, A.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
Land Stewardship Project
821 E 35TH ST STE 200
Minneapolis, MINNESOTA 55407-2102

FARM BEGINNINGS FROM REGIONAL TO NATIONAL: BEGINNING FARMERS AND VIABLE FARMS INITIATIVE

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Land Stewardship Project's, Farm Beginnings from Regional to National: Beginning Farmers and Viable Farms Initiativeis an important investment in the future of food, farms and rural and urban communities. Farm Beginnings is emerging as the most effective way to increase the numbers of beginning farmers who are building green, fair and healthy food and farm economies. Consistent with results from the previous decade of evaluation surveys, respondents to the 2014 Farm Beginnings graduate survey show that 79% of graduates are farming. The key to our success is that our farmer training is farmer-led, community based, and focused on sustainable agriculture. The Farm Beginnings Collaborative is a national alliance of regional groups who are offering Farm Beginnings programs (http://farmbeginningscollaborative.org/). The long-term goal of the Farm Beginnings Collaborative (FBC) is to expand the use of farmer-to-farmer training models as a proven approach for increasing the number and viability of farms producing food for local and regional food systems. When all 50 states have access to at least one Farm Beginnings program, we will have developed the capacity to train more than 1,000 beginning farmers into new farm businesses each year. To get there, we need to strengthen existing Farm Beginnings programs and replicate the Farm Beginnings program from our existing ten organizations and farmer alliances serving 12 states to more than 30 additional organizations and farmer alliances serving all 50 states.Across the country, FBC members know countless aspiring and beginning farmers who encounter barriers that prevent them from getting started and thriving in agriculture. It is much harder than it should be to start farming. The issue of increasing profitability is commonly identified by all beginning farmers as a primary barrier to long-term viability. Lack of a livable income was identified as the most common barrier to getting started farming according to a recent survey of 1084 beginning farmers in Wisconsin, with a lack of access to land and capital tying for the second most common barriers (Beginning Farmers in Wisconsin: 2014 Survey Summary, Paine 2015, http://datcp.wi.gov/uploads/Farms/pdf/BeginningFarmerSurveyReport.pdf). Beginning farmers of color face even more extreme barriers like structural racism, interpersonal prejudice, language barriers, and an inaccessible agricultural infrastructure. FBC members recognize that our goals, compelling values and self-interest as a collaborative are furthered by achieving racial justice. The FBC serves beginning farmers from diverse backgrounds. These beginning farmers are often underserved by USDA programs and include women, low-income households and people of color. They are urban and rural, with and without farm backgrounds. Nearly 40 percent of our participants have low incomes (household income under $30,000), 63% are female, 47% are between the age of 26 and 35, and 18% are people of color. Some FBC member organizations have developed innovative approaches to training socially disadvantaged beginning farmers. To address these barriers the FBC proposes to strengthen our current programs through sharing innovative approaches and knowledge to improve financial planning education and increase the capacity of FBC member organizations to train and support socially disadvantaged beginning farmers.In addition to training, the FBC addresses the primary barriers that are facing new farmers who are entering the field for the first time by connecting farmer-trainees with a support network and mentoring opportunities. Farm Beginnings programs have addressed this by working with local networks to support our graduates. While maintaining the core components of the FB program, each FBC organization adapts to the specific needs of their state and region, working with local farmers, resource people and other partners to adapt the model to their region. In each region where FB is offered FBC members have built relationships with bankers, accountants, university staff, local extension educators and other resource people who form an important long-term community for beginning farmer training and success. As a part of strengthening FB programs, we will increase the connection between beginning farmers and USDA programs in each state as an essential component of a local support network.Recognizing the impact of this farmer-training model, organizations around the country are requesting permission to license the curriculum and join the FBC. However, our current resources and infrastructure currently limit our growth and ability to take on new members in new states and train more farmers. Due to the frequency of requests to replicate Farm Beginnings to new states and the rapid growth of the FBC, FBC members developed a 5-year strategic plan to focus on our core mission and maximize our impact. During the FBC strategic planning process, we determined that strengthening FB financial planning educational components and bringing new groups into the FBC would require a significant investment. . The FBC strategic plan lifts up the following priorities for the next three years:Improve financial planning education for beginning farmers through new and improved curriculum, professional development of Farm Beginning educators and sharing of best practices with other beginning farmer educators,Replicate Farm Beginnings with 3 to 5 new organizations joining the FBC in regions currently not served by the program,Increase the capacity of Farm Beginnings programs to reach socially disadvantaged farmers, andIncrease use of USDA programs by beginning farmersThe successful execution of this proposed project can and will have positive long term impacts in the regions covered by each FBC member organization and nationally.Long Term Impact 1: Nationally there will be more successful beginning farmers, increased diversity of farming systems and increasing availability of sustainably raised food for local food systems.Long Term Impact 2: Farmer-to-farmer training models and methods are replicated around the country.During the three years of this project the FBC will train and assist three to five new programs as they adopt FB and join the FBC. Through the outreach with CRAFT farmer alliances and other national allies and groups the FBC will identify organizations that are interested in FB, assess the feasibility for replication and provide training and support for the successful launch of 3 to 5 new Farm Beginnings programs.With five new Farm Beginnings programs starting over the course of three years the FBC will reach a total of 585 beginning farmers. The FBC members annually track the collective mid and long-term impact of our training efforts using several indicators. Using our previous evaluation results as a target: 400 beginning farmers or ranchers will be engaged in farming (70%); 230 beginning farmers or ranchers will start farming or ranching (40%); 290 graduates will meet their goals for family income from agricultural production (50%); 525 graduates will use sustainable practices (90%); 290 graduates will increase the number acres in sustainable production (50%); 351 graduates will sell their farm products direct to consumer (60%); and 400 graduates will sell their farm products within a 50 mile radius of their farm (70%).In Farm Beginnings from Regional to National: Beginning Farmers and Viable Farms Initiativewe are addressing gaps that aim to strengthen beginning farmer training, replicate Farm Beginnings, a proven farmer training modeland improveoutreach to and outcomes for socially disadvantaged beginning farmers. This is an important investment that will significantly support the development of thegreen, fair and healthy food and farm economy.

OBJECTIVES: The long-term goal of the Farm Beginnings Collaborative (FBC) is to expand the use of farmer-to-farmer training models as a proven approach for increasing the number and viability of farms producing food for local and regional food systems. To get there, we need to strengthen existing Farm Beginnings programs and replicate the Farm Beginnings program from our existing ten organizations and farmer alliances serving 12 states to more than 30 additional organizations and farmer alliances serving all 50 states.To reach this goal we have prioritized the following objectives for the next three years:Identify gaps and improve financial planning education for beginning farmers.Replicate Farm Beginnings with 3 to 5 new organizations joining the FBCExpand the capacity of Farm Beginnings programs to reach socially disadvantaged farmers, andIncrease the use of USDA programs by beginning farmersAs a result of this project we will have increased the knowledge and skill of 17 beginning farmer trainers in financial planning education; 15 farmer training organizations will have adopted improved curriculum, 3 - 5 organizations will start Farm Beginnings programs and we will share a Best Practices Report: Financial Planning Education for Beginning Farmers with 500 individuals either through on-line views of the report or during in-person presentations. The long term impact of this project will be that there are more successful beginning farmers served through expanded and improved farmer-to-farmer training programs that are connected to the Farm Beginnings Collaborative from resources generated through this project.