Non Technical Summary
SummaryThe primary goal of this Project is to empower the underserved Latino farmers and ranchers to have improved understanding of and equitable participation in the full range of USDA programs and services. NLFR aims to provide outreach, mediation, capacity building, training, technical assistance, and demonstrations on best practices of water and soil conservation; inclusive of issues concerning food, agriculture, and rural development to socially disadvantaged Latino farmers and ranchers, as a National Center for Latino Agricultural Production and Effectiveness (the Center).ProjectNLFRTA is working to expand on its 16-year history of relational trust-building and boots-on-the ground experience serving disadvantaged and underserved Latino farmers and ranchers by establishing a National Center (the Center) that provides training and technical assistance (TTA) and supportive services that enhances capacity building to socially disadvantaged Latino farmers and ranchers.Through various activities and projects, the Center will serve as a national link among Latino farmers. In addition, it will aim to better connect USDA with Latino producers through local efforts with USDA Service Centers. These endeavors are to benefit both groups by reducing current gaps in service delivery and ameliorating linguistic and cultural barriers. All efforts are in support of USDA goals to earn greater trust among producers and provide more effective services.Unquestionably, the agricultural industry in our nation needs diverse agricultural leaders that are well informed and protect our resources by using best practices in conservation of soil and water. The Center will act as a hub that effectively connects community organizations and land grant colleges and universities, among other institutions, for leadership development and greater partnership among future Latino agricultural conservation leaders, farmers market development in communities, identify farmers and ranchers to enter into certification programs, special projects, and guided demonstration internships that will increase the diversity of agricultural workers nationwide.Approach:Three major developmental strands will guide Center initiatives for the strengthening of Latino farmers and greater leadership development:1. Training and Technical Assistance, TTA: This strand will provide training and technical assistance (TTA) services to underserved Latino farmers and ranchers to enhance their efficacy, increase productivity, and improve relations with USDA agencies and Service Centers.TTA will also focus on direct assistance to USDA agencies and service centers to improve and bolster outreach to Latino farmers. This means creating more effective alliances, better ways of working together, and more practical methods by which to provide information to the field. Current practices must be improved for agricultural agencies to move beyond extant methods that have limited information dissemination and communication.2. Information Resources and Networking: This second strand addresses the practical warehousing and utilization of important and relevant resources for information sharing in both Spanish and English. These are to be restructured into simple and easily understandable language. Efforts must be about ensuring higher quality of practical, relevant, and understandable information together with more direct assistance.TTA will also include a series of practical, useful, and hands-on webinars, workshops, special events, and regional gatherings. These will aim to greatly foster opportunities for Latino farmers to assist one another and serve in guidance, working in community. It also will advance the level of partnering between farmers and USDA centers, with greater support for more adequate information provision and hands-on assistance.3. Agricultural Leadership: This strand aims to develop a vibrant cadre of Latino agricultural leaders via certification programs, guided internships, farmers market development (a critical component of our economy) and selective field placements with established producers. The initiative represents a bold new attempt that expands on a former program, Latinos in Agriculture, led by associates of NLFRTA.The initiative will be aided further by an agricultural certification program implemented by the University of DC (UDC) in its efforts toward agricultural leadership development in association with NLFRTA. In tandem with Latino farmers, these efforts aim to increase the flow of new workers, adding a new generation of Latinos into the field of agricultural production.In addition, the agricultural leadership initiative will count on efforts led by a network of land grant colleges and universities together with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), nonprofit organizations whose mission is to promote Hispanic student success, and with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The focus is about the continuous development of all students, especially disadvantaged Latinos to enter the agricultural field.Altogether, these new sets of bold initiatives represent viable opportunities for Latino farmers. All efforts will work closely with the Regional Centers of the NLFR and USDA Service Centers to better connect USDA with Latino producers through local efforts. In collaboration with other participating organizations and programs, the Center will work diligently to reduce the cost burden or breaking through language and trust barriers by working closely and in association with other like-minded agricultural efforts.

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
602	6030	3100	100%

Knowledge Area
602 - Business Management, Finance, and Taxation;

Subject Of Investigation
6030 - The farm as an enterprise;

Field Of Science
3100 - Management;

Goals / Objectives
The primary goal of this Project is to empower the underserved Latino farmers and ranchers to have improved understanding of and equitable participation in the full range of USDA programs and services. NLFR aims to provide outreach, mediation, capacity building, training, technical assistance, and demonstrations on best practices of water and soil conservation; inclusive of issues concerning food, agriculture, and rural development to socially disadvantaged Latino farmers and ranchers, as a National Center for Latino Agricultural Production and Effectiveness (the Center).Goal 1.To better connect USDA with Latino producers through local efforts with USDA Service Centers. These endeavors are to benefit both groups by reducing current gaps in service delivery and ameliorating linguistic and cultural barriers. All efforts are in support of USDA goals to earn greater trust among producers and provide more effective services. Unquestionably, the agricultural industry in our nation needs diverse agricultural leaders that are well informed and protect our resources by using best practices in conservation of soil and water.Objectives of Training and Technical Assistance, TTA:This strand will provide training and technical assistance (TTA) services to underserved Latino farmers and ranchers to enhance their efficacy, increase productivity, and improve relations with USDA agencies and Service Centers.TTA will also focus on direct assistance to USDA agencies and service centers to improve and bolster outreach to Latino farmers. This means creating more effective alliances, better ways of working together, and more practical methods by which to provide information to the field.Goal 2.The Center will act as a hub that effectively connects community organizations and land grant colleges and universities, among other institutions, for leadership development and greater partnership among future Latino agricultural conservation leaders, farmers market development in communities, identify farmers and ranchers to enter into certification programs, special projects, and guided demonstration internships that will increase the diversity of agricultural workers nationwide.Objectives. Information Resources and Networking: This second strand addresses the practical warehousing and utilization of important and relevant resources for information sharing in both Spanish and English. These are to be restructured into simple and easily understandable language. Efforts must be about ensuring higher quality of practical, relevant, and understandable information together with more direct assistance. TTA will also include a series of practical, useful, and hands-on webinars, workshops, special events, and regional gatherings. These will aim to greatly foster opportunities for Latino farmers to assist one another and serve in guidance, working in community. It also will advance the level of partnering between farmers and USDA centers, with greater support for more adequate information provision and hands-on assistance.Goal 3.The Center will increase the flow of new workers, adding a new generation of Latinos into the field of agricultural production. The Center will support future agricultural conservation leaders, farmers market development in communities, identify farmers and ranchers to enter into certification programs, special projects, and guided demonstration internships that will increase the diversity of agricultural workers nationwide.Objectives. Agricultural Leadership: This strand aims to develop a vibrant cadre of Latino agricultural leaders via certification programs, guided internships, farmers market development (a critical component of our economy) and selective field placements with established producers. The initiative will be aided further by an agricultural certification program implemented by the University of DC (UDC) in its efforts toward agricultural leadership development in association with NLFRTA. In tandem with Latino farmers, these efforts aim to increase the flow of new workers, adding a new generation of Latinos into the field of agricultural production. In addition, the agricultural leadership initiative will count on efforts led by a network of land grant colleges and universities together with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), nonprofit organizations whose mission is to promote Hispanic student success, and with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The focus is about the continuous development of all students, especially disadvantaged Latinos to enter the agricultural field.ObjectivesThe following are the objectives for providing technical assistance, program development, curriculum development, deployment, and evaluation of impact in the following areas:1. Introduction to USDA programs2. Financial Literacy3. Market planning4. Technical Support1) Introduction to USDA programsa. Utilize call center questions to strategize with producers who are historicallyunderserved and economically distressed on how and where to find land, borrowmoney and sell their productsb. Increase awareness of and access to programs at USDA to benefit growth of the producers who are historically underserved and economically distressed in farming; including farm ownership and operation loans and microloan programsc. Provide information about loan opportunities in-person and online trainings and utilize presentations from FSA staff as availabled. Promote programs at NRCS, NIFA and other USDA agencies that are useful for farmers and ranchers2)Financial Literacya. Work with producers who are historically underserved and economically distressed in learning financial planning, business planning and tax planningb. Utilize national conference, state and regional gatherings in partnership with chapters and other partners, webinars and online trainings to assist members in understanding basic accounting and business plan developmentc. Work with USDA, Farm Credit, the Small Business Administration (SBA) and SCORE to provide critical technical servicesd. Assist applicants to develop bank-ready business plans for their farms and ranches prior to submitting applications for capital funding3) Market planninga. Assist NLFRTA members in marketing and introduce value-added items and producer cooperatives to larger marketsb. Make special attention to the NLFRTA members who come from limited resource, socially disadvantaged, and underserved communities to access NLFRTA services and programs4) Technical Supporta. Continue teaching critical production skills through farm tours, presentations at gatherings and instructional videos.b. Continue partnering and increase mentors through partnership with farm organization training programs, apprenticeship, and internship programsc. Make referrals and provide technical support with partners in the extension service and more experienced farmers and ranchers.

Project Methods
NLFR serves a diverse underserved Black, Indigenous, People of Color, BIPOC, Latino producers and utilizes a Culturally Competent Service Delivery Method. Across the varied culturally and linguistically diverse populations the NLFR serves, there is great variability within any given racial/ethnic group. Understanding the variability within and across racial/ethnic subgroups is an important step NLFR takes into account to ensure its services are culturally responsive to the needs of its targeted population.The NLFR Cultural Competence Model integrates three areas:• Critical awareness/knowledge--awareness of one's own knowledge and biases of culturally diverse producers;• Skills development--effective communication and skills that build relational trust with producers from diverse backgrounds; and• Organizational supports--organizational systems, processes, and policies that facilitate practices that are responsive to the varied needs of the diverse producers.The NLFR Cultural Competence Model values diversity. Cultural knowledge permeates every area of our organization. We recognize, respect and value all cultures and work with the end in mind; to meet the needs of our diverse producers. NLFR knows that learned cultural assumptions can lead us to wrong conclusions and biases. That's why NLFR respects the complexity of its internal staff and contractors, and producers on and off the field. Building trust is key in anticipating these needs and interacting with small underserved producers. Relational trust builds the necessary synergy and moves the organization forward to better serve and understand the producer deeply. As a result, synergy takes place via respect and effective clear communication. The NLFR continously assesses its protocols via internal discussions and surveys its stakeholders to help the organization become more aware of the way NLFR must pivot when needed.