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INVESTIGATOR: Leipler, E.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
PROVIDENCE FARM COLLECTIVE CORP.
502 JEWETT HOLMWOOD RD
EAST AURORA, NEW YORK 140522149

GROWING TOMORROWÂS FARMERS: BEGINNING FARMER TRAINING AND FARMLAND ACCESS FOR SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED POPULATIONS

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: PFC's Growing Tomorrow's Farmers project addresses intractable issues of fresh food access, farmland access, and access to agricultural and small business education for low resource individuals in the Western New York region. With farming and business mentorship and hands-on training and technical assistance, beginning and aspiring farmers will acquire skills and competencies essential for sustainable crop production and small farm business management to ensure success. Both quantitative and qualitative data will be collected throughout the 3-years of this project and will take the form of surveys and interviews (presented in each participant's native language) assessing participants'workshop skills acquisition;quality of life improvements such as improved access to culturally relevant foods and improved mental health and well-being; farmer's vegetable yields from years 1 through 3; farmer's sales and earnings records from years 1 through 3. Through the provision of free farmland and farming education to low-resource populations, PFC hopes to build a more inclusive and equitable food system in Western New York. This project will help otherwise land-less farmers gain a foothold in the local food system, develop farm businesses for supplemental income, increase culturally relevant fresh food access for their communitiesand ultimately, experience an improved quality of life for themselves and their families.

OBJECTIVES: Increase access to prepared farmland for beginning and aspiring farmers:1. Provide a minimum of 6 acres of plowed, amended, and fenced farmland annually to be divided among participating farmers.Through workshops and technical assistance, increase beginning farmers' knowledge of production and business techniques:1. Train farmers on sustainable crop production techniques through CCE/PFC workshops, field training, and 1-on-1 technical assistance;2. Educate farmers on launching and managing a small farm business through WEDI workshops and mentorship.Grow farmers' success through increased profitability and productivity in each subsequent year of training:1. Assist farmers in improving the profitability of their farm operations through collaborations with WEDI and BGG;2. Assist farmers in improving productivity of their farm through collaboration with CCE.

APPROACH: 1. Through collaboration with Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) and Cornell's Vegetable Program, PFC will educate farmers on sustainable agricultural production techniques. A training program will be designed to include: development and implementation of a two-tiered agricultural workshop series; a demonstration plot for training purposes; 1-on-1 support services. To develop the agricultural workshop series, PFC and CCE will first meet with PFC's existing and prospective farmers to evaluate their educational needs and interests. Workshops will be designed to meet farmers' educational goals while also providing a broad foundation of sustainable agricultural techniques. As PFC represents a diverse population of low-resource farmers with different spoken languages, cultural backgrounds, and agricultural experiences, care will be taken to ensure that training is culturally accessible and relevant. Language interpreters will be hired to assist farmers with limited English during each workshop. Time will be allotted throughout the workshops for farmers to share their skills and experiences, in order to facilitate peer-to-peer training opportunities. One 8-workshop beginner agricultural series will be created for farmers entering PFC's program; another advanced 8-workshop series will be created for farmers who have completed the introductory series. Agricultural curriculum will include topics such as: adaptive practices, soil and fertility, crop planning, seedling production, field seeding and transplanting, irrigation practices, weed management, pest and disease management, food safety and handling, and recordkeeping. A quarter acre demonstration plot will be maintained by PFC for training opportunities. PFC will demonstrate best practices for organic, small-scale vegetable and flower production in this plot. In-the-field workshops will primarily take place on PFC's demonstration plot. Additional hands-on learning opportunities will be provided through volunteer hours. Othersupport services to advance farmers' production knowledge and skills include 1-on-1 technical support and mentorship services provided by CCE vegetable specialists and PFC staff.2. Through this project farmers will receiveeducationon launching and managing a small farm business. Westminster Economic Development Initiative (WEDI) will lead this objective, leveraging the organization's extensive experience and resources in training immigrant and refugee populations in business planning. WEDI and PFC will develop and implement a 6-workshop winter series focused on small farm business development. Existing curriculum, developed by WEDI, will be adapted to incorporate farm specific instruction to best meet the needs of the farmers. Farmer input will be collected during the development phase of the workshops and at the end of each year. Topics to be covered include business planning, marketing, financial literacy, bookkeeping, accessing credit, and tax preparedness. Participation in business workshops will be required for all new incubator farmers, and additional advanced workshops will be available for farmers who have completed the introductory series. Business workshops will be publicized to community plot farmers, who may pre-register to take part in workshops of their choice. Farmers will gain access to additional business resources throughout the season through WEDI's business mentorship program. Three mentors will be assigned to PFC's farmers and will provide mentorship opportunities on a scheduled and as-needed basis. Additional business mentorship will be available through PFC's farm director and CCE staff.3. PFC and project partners will assist farmers in improving the profitability of their farm operations.One of the main barriers to success for immigrant farmers is difficulty navigating unfamiliar markets to successfully sell their product. PFC and BGG will aggregate produce from farmers for at-cost resale to mobile markets serving low-income communities in need of food access. BGG will also assist in transporting and storing produce in its commercial walk-in cooler. PFC will work with incubator farmers and organizations to find and navigate additional marketing opportunities as needed.4. Lastly, this project seeks to assist farmers in improving the productivity of their farms. PFC and CCE staff will provide ongoing technical assistance and mentorship in-the-field to achieve this objective. PFC staff will regularly perform field walks and communicate problems and suggested solutions to farmers. These opportunities for technical assistance are meant to solidify knowledge and skills gained in workshops and to further that knowledge into adapted behaviors. Improved techniques in the field will ultimately increase productivity and farmers' success. In addition to 1-on-1 support services, monthly incubator farmer meetings will be held to facilitate peer-to-peer training. During these meetings farmers will discuss production problems they are experiencing, solutions to these problems, and celebrate their successes. These meetings are also an opportunity for farmers to evaluate programs and provide suggestions. Altogether, farmers will increase the productivity of their farms by applying skills and knowledge learned from PFC, CCE, and farming peers.In order to evaluate the efficacy and outcomes of this project multiple techniques will be utilized,including, but not limited to: participant data collection, workshop surveys, annual incubatorfarmer interviews, annual organization interviews, required recordkeeping for all farmers,monthly incubator farmer meetings, and quarterly advisory committee meetings. The following metrics will be used for evaluation of this project:The number of new farm start ups will be measured through annual Interviews: # of new incubator farmers, # of new farmers earning over $300 of income from vegetables they grew in community plots.The number of farmers who increase their knowledge of production and business practices will be measured through workshop surveys,participant data, andannual interviews: # of farmers who attend workshops, # of farmers who receive technical assistance and mentorship, # of farmers who express increased knowledge from instruction; qualitative input of efficacy of training.The number of farmers who will increase the productivity of their farm operation will be measured through annual interviews and farmer records: # of pounds grown by farmers, % increase in farmer's production from previous year, qualitative input on production.The number of farmers who will increase sales from their farm enterprise will be measured through annual interviews and farmer's records: amount earned by each farmer through farm sales, % increase in farmer's sales from previous year, qualitative input on sales.The number of farmers who will experience increased quality of life as a result of this project will be measured through annual interviews, farmer meetings, and advisory committee meetings: # of farmers experiencing improved access to quality/preferred foods; # of farmers experiencing improved mental health; # of farmers experiencing increased ability to connect with their cultural practices; # of farmers experiencing increased sense of community; #of farmers with increased household income.