Recipient Organization
SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS CONSERVANCY
34 WALL ST STE 502
ASHEVILLE,NC 28801
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Farm Pathways is a whole-farm training and innovative land access program for beginning farmers in the Southern Appalachians. Three partners, with guidance from regional farmers, are collaborating to implement the program: Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, Organic Growers School and WNC FarmLink. This project fills the current gaps in regional agricultural services by rebuilding a path to agriculture for the next generation of farmers.Our goal is clear. We want more farmers on the land and a system in which family farms can flourish. Our role is to facilitate training, land access, networking and mentoring systems through the start-up years to ensure that beginning farmers are prepared to start farming, add/change enterprises, or delay farming to increase the likelihood of success.Farm Pathways will accomplish this by providing:1. A structure of comprehensive, holistic, whole-farm educational opportunities for beginning farmers at multiple learning phases; 2. Equitable & Affordable Access to Land; 3. Ongoing Mentorship & Networking; 4. Increased regional leadership and community support of farmers that results from the collective impact and synergy of the team.The outcome will be 1200 beginning farmers who start to farm, enhance their farm plan, improve their farming systems, receive significant training & assistance with production and farm planning, and/or gain access to farmland & support. These methods will increase the success rate of beginning farmers in our region.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
40%
Developmental
40%
Goals / Objectives
The expected goals of Farm Pathways is to increase the number of successful beginning farmers in WNC by offering a trajectory in comprehensive, whole-farm training opportunities and curriculum, farmer-to-farmer networking, and access to farmland. Farm Pathways is providing a seamless process for new, existing, or expanding growers to move from early interest to successful farming or to integrate farming into their lives in a viable way.GOAL 1: A structure of comprehensive, holistic, whole-farm educational opportunities for beginning farmers to plug into at multiple phases on their journey. OBJECTIVES: a. Access to apprenticeships on sustainable farms and farmers trained to become effective mentors/educators to apprentices via OGS Organic Farm Finder - 60 beginning farmers profiled on the site. b. Formal classroom and experiential agricultural education through Farm Beginnings®, a 180+ hour, year- long, training leading to a journeyperson farmer certificate as a regional alternative to a four-year agricultural degree. - 45 beginning farmers graduate from Farm Beginnings® Farmer Training c. Aspiring and beginnings farmers receive practical, on-farm training in basic livestock, forest management, & crop farming practices via 39 OGS CRAFT, 24 SAHC Community Farm workshops & field days, and 24 workshops in a Beginning Farmer Track at OGS's annual spring conference.GOAL 2: Equitable & Affordable access to land OBJECTIVES:a. Increase beginning farmers' knowledge of options for acquiring or leasing land, resulting in 375 receiving assistance and support with negotiating equitable land leases and purchase, access to land on the SAHC Incubator farm or finding affordable farmland under conservation easements via WNCFL and SAHC.b. SAHC facilitates Buy-Protect-Farm plan resulting in 6 farm purchases by philanthropic investors; 6 bargain-purchases of conservation easements that protect farms and provide capital to the landowner to support farming enterprisesd. Establish beginning farmers on up to 6 farms that have been purchased & protected with conservation easements, through partnerships with agricultural agencies via SAHC, and 12 beginning farmers matched with land via WNCFL.GOAL 3: Ongoing Mentorship & Networking OBJECTIVES:a. 65 Beginning farmers are able to connect with an experienced producer mentor/coach for one-on-one technical assistance and consultation during and after the initial start-up years via Farm Beginnings® and OGS Team of Farmer Consultants/Journeyperson program.b. Membership in a farmer-to-farmer network of beginning and established growers to provide groupsupport and one-on-one assistance via CRAFT & Farm Beginnings for 270 apprentice & beginning farmers. c. SAHC provides coaching and technical assistance to 12 beginning farmers leasing land to start farming on the SAHC Incubator Farm.GOAL 4: Increased regional leadership and community support of farmers that result from the collective impact and synergy of the Farm Pathways Collaborative OBJECTIVES:a. The Farm Pathways team increases the region's awareness, advocacy, recognition, and support for farmers, farmer training and the importance of a local farming community.b. The team continues to deepen our understanding of the educational assets of our regional allies in farmer training, partners to provide technical assistance for beginning farmers, is engaged in actively building relationships between sustainable farming organizations, and is taking a leadership role to create a more regional resilience, health, interdependence, and robust farming community.
Project Methods
Diverse venues for the trainings:Farm Pathways is a multi-faceted, collective impact project that will employ diverse venues for the trainings.· Farm Beginnings® Farmer Training courses held at AB Tech Small Business Center, in Enka/Candler, NC or similar offices in the communities, around WNC, where farmers live and work.· The CRAFT & SAHC on-farm trainings will take place on CRAFT member farms around WNC and on the SAHC Incubator Farm, in Alexander, NC.· OFF is an online directory and matching service for farm apprentices. The hiring farm is the host and provides residential learning opportunities to take place on their sustainable farms across WNC.· The Incubator Program will take place on the SAHC Community Farm, in Alexander, NC and provides beginning farmers with a 100-acre property close to Buncombe County markets and area businesses.· Land consultations, transfer proceedings, and the private donor fund by SAHC and WNCFL will be managed at the SAHC office in Asheville, NC and on landowner properties.OGS Farm Beginnings® students and SAHC Incubator farmers must complete an application and review process to be accepted into the programs. This also helps us assess which level/type of training they are prepared for so we can better direct & support them along their farm pathway.In addition to our already strong connections, we will reach diverse populations through traditional print media, radio, online, social media, schools, conferences, community groups, and regional allies. The Partners have established partnerships with the Warren Wilson College Farm, Appalachian State University, and University of NC at Asheville and is able to directly connect to agriculturally minded students. Additionally, our team has developed a collaborative outreach plan in which we can help coordinate & recruit limited resource beginnings farmers and ranchers to one another's programs.To further strengthen the content of programming and increase outreach capacity the team will work with NC Cooperative Extension, the USDA, the WNC Ag Options Program, Carolina Farm Credit, Farm Bureau, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, Mountain Valleys Resource Conservation & Development, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Southern Appalachian Family Farms, WNC Food Policy Council, Asheville-Buncombe Food Policy Council, Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and other agricultural support agencies in our region.Evaluations:Evaluations of Farm Pathways: Integrating Farmer Training with Land Access initiatives are rigorously completed on a regular basis following a detailed evaluation calendar. Each of our trainings has an evaluation strategy. For trainings that occur once we use a formative evaluation that helps us improve the training. For ongoing trainings, such as CRAFT & Farm Beginnings®, we use both formative and summative evaluation methods. Class participants complete enrollment & graduation surveys, as well as individual session evaluations. Evaluation tools include written and online forms, and check-ins with individual participants as needed. Partners will also conduct ongoing process evaluation to document how the program is implemented and operating in relation to project goals, objectives, & expectations. We have developed a set of indicators to track outputs and outcomes across the three partners that include limited resource status, amount of time farming, knowledge gained, preparedness to start farming, starting to farm, and plans to change or add an enterprise. Evaluation results will be reported, as required, to the BFRDP program, as well as to the CRAFT Steering Committee, OGS Farmer Education Committee, press releases to the media, OGS, SAHC & WNCFL blog posts, newsletters and annual reports.