Performing Department
Research and Education
Non Technical Summary
Organic seed production presents a lucrative opportunity for beginning farmers. Currently, the supply of high-quality commercial organic seed lags behind demand, and seed companies cite the lack of skilled seed producers as a primary factor. Beginning farmers are increasingly interested in producing seed as a primary enterprise, element of income diversification, or to ensure specific varieties remain available for on-farm use. High-quality seed production requires specialized skills not commonly available in beginning farmer training programs. The seed production internship program developed in BFRDP #12671 began to meet this need, but participants in that project have requested more intensive seed production instruction and assessment, enhanced networking opportunities, and increased internship support to fully prepare them to enter the seed market. This project responds to these requests by 1) creating an online facilitated seed-production course open to program interns and other beginning farmers; 2) increasing opportunities for peer- to- peer and in person learning for participants (regionally and nationally); 3) delivering seed production intensives and networking events in target regions to facilitate national program expansion; and 4) providing professional development support for interns upon program completion. This program is expected to reach 650 beginning farmers in the three-year project period. OSA and MESA will leverage combined decades of experience in farmer educational programming, organic seed production and project management to design, implement and evaluate this project.
Animal Health Component
80%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
80%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goals of this project are to a) increase the quantity and quality of organic seed available to organic farmers, b) increase the number of beginning farmers producingorganic seed for contracts or on-farm use, and c) improve beginning seed producers' practices to increase their profitability and decrease their financial risk.The primary goals of this project are to a) increase the number of beginning farmers producing organic seed for sale or on-farm use, b) build beginning farmer capacity to produce high quality seed of diverse species to support enterprise success, c) strengthen the network of beginning farmers, experienced farmers, seed mentors and educators available to share resources and provide continued peer to peer learning as beginning farmers' needs for specific information evolve.
Project Methods
On-farm Seed Production Internship ProgramOSA and MESA will facilitate an on-farm, one-season seed production internship program that provides beginning seed growers with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience at established seed farms. Host farms will compensate interns and work with interns to set expectations for the experience according to their standard of practice. A bilingual internship coordinator, James Sarria of MESA, will support hosts and interns in establishing terms that work for everyone. Host farms will belocated throughout the United States and have been vetted by the project team for quality business practices and at least five seasons of organic seed production experience. Host farmers will serve on the project Advisory Board, which provides feedback on the internship program and online course. Advisory Board participation also allows intern hosts to learn from each other and share best practices for mentoring beginning seed growers. The Advisory Board will meet remotely every spring and fall and will have an in-person listening session at the Organic Seed Growers Conference in the winters of 2020 and 2022.The internship coordinator will conduct an intake interview with each intern to ascertain prior experience level and professional development goals. If important knowledge gaps are identified, the coordinator will recommend particular resources from the "expected knowledge" section of the program website, which includes basic information on plant families, flower and fruit structure, seed biology, and plant genetics. Interns will be expected to attend the lessons and complete the required assignments for the course (described below) in addition to their on-farm duties. The internship coordinator will follow up with each intern midway through the season and will advise them on the completion of a professional development plan at the end of the program. The professional development plan will include a detailed statement of the individual's goals as a farmer, and a plan for further education, connections, or resources needed to achieve those goals. The coordinator and intern host will follow up with each intern 6 months after the completion of the internship to support implementation of the professional development plan. Types of support may include review of business plans, letters of introduction to seed companies for contracts, advising on job searches for on-farm work, additional advanced training opportunities, or other individualized needs.This meeting may also engage members of the Advisory Board, or other seed professionals willing to share information or connections relevant to the intern's goals.Interns and intern hosts will also be invited to participate in in-person learning opportunities designed to strengthen relationships with other beginning and experienced seed producers. Interns and hosts from around the country will be invited to participate (with no conference registration fee) in the 2020 and 2022 Organic Seed Growers Conference, which OSA hosts in Corvallis, Oregon. These conferences will each feature a "beginning farmer track" with two workshops and one networking event oriented toward beginning farmers and their mentors. Each conference will also include project Advisory Board listening sessions, where project participants and the Advisory Board can meet to discuss project progress and any needed adjustments. OSA and MESA staff will facilitate this meeting. Host farms and interns in Western Washington and the Bay Area of California will also participate in one "regional hub gathering" per season with other hosts and interns in their region, to facilitate co-learning and networking among participants. Project staff will serve as hub coordinators in WA (OSA) and CA (MESA) to facilitate the engagement of a regional host farmer network and communicate with hosts and interns about what kind of gathering structure would be most useful to them. OSA and MESA staff will also conduct regional outreach promoting the internship program, online course and regional hub gatherings.Seed Production Online CourseThis project will create a six-month course within MESA's"virtual campus".This unique platform allows farmers in different regions to find each other, interact and learn together or on their own schedule. Cohorts of participants will start and end together to support collaborative learning. The curriculum development team (including MESA and OSA staff, with input from the Advisory Board) will develop a series of publications and webinars that include pre-internship "expected knowledge," such as plant families, flower and fruit structure, seed biology, and basic genetics.The team will develop monthly facilitated lessons with learning objectives and applied homework assignments that participants can share with each other, their hub coordinator and mentor farmer. These lessons will be facilitated by the course coordinator (Healy). The new course will expand on existing educational materials to include more information on seed crop and business planning, managing growth and scale of operations, yield and profitability forecasting, growing and managing stock and foundation seed, inventory management, quality assurance for germination, disease, and pest management, and how and when to make smart capital investments. These topics will be added in response to feedback from previous participants, and expert consultants will be engaged as needed to design and deliver curriculum.Nathan Corym of Living Earth Foundation and Travis Greenwalt of Highland Economics have already agreed to serve in this function for one lesson each.Following the flow of the season, the lesson topics will include enterprise budgeting and economics, field planning, business planning, variety trials, seed selection, disease and pest management, seed harvesting, seed cleaning/processing, inventory management and seed storage.Seed production intensives and conference workshopsOSA and MESA will partner with three regional organizations in the Northeast (NY), Southeast (NC), and Hawaii to host one-day seed intensives and workshops in conjunction with established agricultural conferences targeting beginning farmers. These trainings will be delivered over the three-year project period, one per year. OSA will partner with the regional organizations for event planning, agenda development, and promotion. The partner organizations will be NOFA- NY, the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, and GoFarm Hawaii. Partner organizations will provide logistical support and leverage their communications to reach beginning farmers within their region who might not be aware of OSA's trainings.Regions are selected to target areas with high interest in organic seed production and events that target beginning farmers. The training events will include a half-day training on basic considerations and techniques for organic seed production, as well as basic economic considerations for beginning contract seed production. The seed production training will introduce the online curriculum and follow the basic outline of the course content, while directing participants to the internship and additional resources for ongoing independent learning.Beginning farmers who have not (yet) participated in an internship or the online course will also be invited to participate in the "beginning farmer track" at the Organic Seed Growers Conference (OSGC) in 2020 and 2022. This track will include two workshops and one network event specifically targeted toward beginning farmers and their mentors. Specific workshop topics will be chosen in conjunction with the project advisory board and interns based on priority needs for additional information, context for seed work, or particular skills. Organic Seed Alliance will offer 20 beginning farmer scholarships and 14 host farm scholarships for each year of the OSGC, to facilitate attendance from these groups nationwide.