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INVESTIGATOR: Mangham, M.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
IN HER SHOES, INCORPORATED
4480 RIVER STONE TRL
DOUGLASVILLE, GEORGIA 30135

INCREASING AGRIBUSINESS VIABILITY:MEDICINAL HERB TRAINING PROGRAM

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The Increasing Agribusiness Viability Among Women and Minorities Project will provide education, training and mentorship opportunities to a minimum of 20 new and beginner women and minority, particularly Blacks, farmers each year in South Fulton, Douglas, Carroll and Cobb Counties. The goal of the project is to increase economic viability among this target group through crop diversification and exposure to new markets in alignment with the BFRDP goals. The project budget $98,587 annually with a minimum of 90 percent of the proposed project budget being used to serve our target group. Eighty percent of the award will be used to fund training through community based nonprofit organizations, small farm programs and academic institutions.Project Objectives are Outreach, Provide Comprehensive Training and Education, Business Development Technical Assistance and Capacity Building for Ongoing Support which will give our most vulnerable small farmers increased resources to thrive.In Her Shoes, Inc partners with Farm Bureau, Sweet Peas & Carrots and other collaborators on outreach and awareness to target women and Black farmers and increase partnerships capacity. Local farmers and training programs such as Botanologos School of Herbal Studies, City Fresh Herb)and Univerity of Georgia (UGA)Hemp Farm and UGA Horticulture Department will deliver a 12-session training cours and one on one consultations. UGA Small Business Development Center will provide business development training and technical assistance to trainees under this project.Expected Outcomes over the 3 year project term include:60 new and beginner minority and female growers participants42 new and/or beginner farmers increase farm income by 20 percent due to lessons learned60 participants demonstrate increased knowledge, skill and capacity in herb production practices42 trainees improve agribusiness practices through training12 new partnerships to our network for ongoing support to new and beginner farmers

OBJECTIVES: The goal of the Increasing Agribusiness Viability project is to increase economic viability among women and minority, particularly Black farmer through crop diversification and exposure to new markets in alignment with the BFRDP goals. The project budget $98,587 annually with a minimum of 90 percent of the proposed project budget being used to serve our target group. Eighty percent of the award will be used to fund training through community based nonprofit organizations, small farm programs and academic institutions.Project Objectives:Conduct Targeted Outreach, Provide Comprehensive Training and Education, Business Development Technical Assistance and Capacity Building for Ongoing Support which will give our most vulnerable small farmers increased resources to thrive.In Her Shoes, Inc partners with Farm Bureau, Sweet Peas & Carrots and other collaborators on outreach and awareness to target women and Black farmers and increase partnerships capacity. Local farmers and training programs such as Botanologos School of Herbal Studies, City Fresh Herb)and University of Georgia (UGA)Hemp Farm and UGA Horticulture Department will deliver a 12-session training course and one on one consultations. UGA Small Business Development Center will provide business development training and technical assistance to trainees under this project.

APPROACH: The primary approach to success is through a comprehensive education and training program. Information obtained through assessments of previous trainees show that majority of new and small farmer's primary concern is sustainability or increasing revenue. The training will focus on herb production best practices, revenue- generating uses, medicinal herbs uses, scale productions for market demands, developing post-harvest products and business plan integration.The proposal is to train 20 participants each year through a series of 12 to 14 training sessions commencing January through late October of each year with evaluation, closeout and recruitment for the following year occurring in October- December. The delivery approach is designed to maximize participation and the overall learning experience of training participants while prioritizing safety. With this consideration in mind, training will be employ social distancing, the 10 person maximum attendance and constant sanitizing of shared tools. Training will be implemented through online interactive training (25%), webinars (25%) and infield training workshops (40%), demonstrations and one on one mentoring(10%). Online training through Microsoft Teams, Skype, Facebook Live and other free software allows for group interaction and exchanges between trainers and trainees. Online training sessions will also be recorded and may be viewed at a later date allowing for flexibility.Pre recorded training webinars will be used to cover basic training topics that include site selections, herb and hemp products uses, crop scheduling, market demands, post handling and packaging. Webinars offered on product development will focus on strategies for establishing markets, determining time, labor, space, and equipment needs and Good Agricultural and Collection Practices (GACPs), for providing consumers with high quality accurately identified herbs that are safe and as free as possible of contaminants, starting with the production or collection of the raw materials. Webinars and training materials used for the project will be shared through the West Georgia Beginner Farmer website and in farmanswers.org if not already available.Hands on training is critical to knowledge retention for most farmers and is essential to obtaining projected outcomes. Four demonstration sites are being provided by project partners for hands on (in-field) training workshops, three of which allow for year-round training through the use of greenhouses and other training infrastructure onsite. Additional sites will be acquired, if necessary, to allow for compliance with distancing and capacity recommendations related to COVID-19. Hands on training will be held in two parts to allow a maximum of 10 persons per sessions and individual tools and supplies will be provided to each participant during training and thoroughly cleaned after use. All infield training workshops will be recorded and made available online for viewing for those trainees not in attendance onsite.Infield training curriculum topics include basic farming practices such as cultivar selection, sourcing of propagative material (seed and clonal, incl. in-house), soil preparation (field production), protected environment facilities (greenhouse production), pots and trays (plastic and biodegradable), transplanting (manual and mechanical fertilizers and potting mixes, handling and planting of plugs, mulching, irrigation, monitoring pH, soluble salts, tissue analysis, disease and pest scouting and management (incl. biological control), harvesting and post harvesting.Post-harvest training and demonstrations will build knowledge in post-production processing and herbal product development to include herb processing for health and wellness uses, value-added products (e.g. pesto sauce - fresh or frozen, vinegars, jellies) and dried culinary herbs (bulk sale) retail packages (e.g. tea bags, herb blends, simmer sacks, carpet fresheners.)IHS will make available a two-acre demonstration site where trainees will have access to quarter acre plots to use as test site for herbs and/or hemp plant production, if needed. All demonstration sites are strategically located in the region to allow for easy access. Some locations offer a greenhouse for year-round growing and demonstrations as well as seasonal plots.Hemp ProductionHemp production and processing training will be provided as a subset of the medicinal herb training program for interested growers and will follow the same safety precautions. Hemp production is new territory for many Georgia farmers, therefore, this project will cover a broad range of hemp training topics that lay the foundation for successful hemp farm operations. Training through online webinars and infield training will result in understanding:Best practices for growing, harvesting and processing industrial hemp for grain, fiber, and CBD productionHemp breeding, cultivation, horticulture, agronomy and testingUses for hemp products, including raw materials and hemp processing for food, fiber and CBD production. Hemps fertility needs and timing of planting and harvesting, varieties for suitable crop rotation and fiber and grain yield for different varietiesBenefits of hemp as a cover crop or synthetic herbicide, micro-climate matterGrowing needs for various strains, testing and harvesting for end usesThe UGA Hemp Farm will serve as a workshop location and demonstration site for hemp production, harvesting and processing training. Demonstrations and field training exercises will be video recorded and made available to partners and for future training. Hemp harvesting and processing equipment will be procured with project funding and will be used during the project term and for continued training use beyond the project term.IHS will coordinate with local USDA Farm Services Agency and Natural Resource Conservation Service agencies to present information on services and resources available to new and beginner farmers as a part of a workshop. IHS will also coordinate with Georgia Department of Agriculture to participate in workshops providing an overview of the Hemp regulations and licensing process. Information and travel assistance supplemental training opportunities within the region will be provided to trainees as well.Business Development training will result in a better understanding projections of cash flow, lean periods when crops are not being sold, cost of production, and estimates of total crop value for the season. Mr Anduze of UGA SBC will show attendees how to incorporate yield and production cost into a business plan to project income and expenditures. Business management training will also include planting schedules forms, continuous income flow, income & expenditure projections, production and calendar development and budget development. Training will also cover choosing a target audience and marketing best practices. Mr. Anduze will offer technical assistance with business plan development to trainees in a one on one setting.IHS will coordinate with the Georgia Department of Agriculture to present information at a training workshops on state licensing requirements for produce sales for public consumption and the new Hemp licensing application.