Progress 01/01/24 to 12/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences are beginning and new farmers in operation for less than 10 years in the Catskills-Hudson Valley Region. Changes/Problems:We are in the second year of programming and have really worked out the procedures and how the program should run. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?See "accomplishments under these goals" section above for specific information. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We create and distribute monthly reports on the Beginner Farmer Program. We also promote workshops and technical assistance opportunities through flyers, website and social media. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?As noted in the "accomplishments under these goals" section above, we are launching the 2nd Beginner Farmer Mentorship Program. We are also increasing our technical assistance through farm visits, our you tube channel and social media. As for workshops, as noted above, we are continuing tohostmonthly farmer mixers, workshops per month on land access, farm food safety, business and marketing and production. We also plan to launch the Veteran Mentorship Program later in the year.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During 2024 CCE Sullivan was able to accomplish the following: Total Meetings: 35 Total Meeting Participants: 709 Total Meeting Participant Hours: 1470.00 Total Webinars: 13 Total Webinar Participants: 184 Total Webinar Participant Hours: 296.50 Total Website Visits: 0 Total Online Course Participants: 0 Total One-to-one Meeting Entries: 7 Total One-to-one Meeting Participants: 200 Our 2024 Beginner Farmer Mentorship Program is coming to an end on January 31st. The mentees are working with their mentors to establish some whole farm planning, and considering what are the next steps for the farm businesses. The past 12-months the mentees have engaged in multiple educational workshops, farmer networking events, and worked closely with our CCESC staff to be involved in our other programs. A major success is the connections made between the mentees and mentors, and not just the immediate pairing, but the entire cohort. These connections will provide opportunities for collaboration, further informal learning, and a network of support as they continue to establish their farm businesses. In October and November we co-hosted a 4-part Farm Business Planning Series with the Hudson Valley Agribusiness Development Corporation (HVADC). Participants learned about about agricultural regulations, writing a business planning, creating a financial workbook, developing a marketing plan, and agricultural funding opportunities (FSA, NRCS, NYS, local, and private). Following the series, participants had 2 months to send a business plan and/or marketing plan, following review, we are connecting them with HVADC for free business, marketing, and legal consulting. Out of the 25 participants, 9 participants have submitted business plans and will be connected with HVADC. We will be kicking off our 2025 Beginner Farmer Mentorship Program on January 14th, mentees and mentors will have the opportunity to meet before matching pairs, and in late January/early February mentees and mentors will have their first mentorship meeting. For the 2025 Beginner Farmer Mentorship Program we have decided to create a little more structure of the mentees and mentors as they plan for the 12-months of interactions. all of the mentees will be creating a learning plan for the year. In this learning plan they will identify goals, action steps, and timelines to reach these goals. We hope these learning plans will help mentors better able to support the mentees, and will help guide the interactions of informal learning in the mentorship. As we enter into the winter of 2025 we will continue to host workshops, focusing on workshops either through webinar or at our office. For the winter our workshops will focus on business planning, CSA management, value-added products, marketing, strategies for climate resilient farming, and agricultural funding opportunities. We will continue our monthly farming networking events in February, hosting at local businesses, and then moving towards hosting on farms throughout the warmer months in New York. Outside of the Beginner Farmer Mentorship Program we have been hosting workshops this spring in person, virtually, and hybrid models. The topics including business planning, financial planning, marketing, orchard management, funding opportunities (federal, state, local, and private), how to start your farm, and crop planning. For the spring and summer we will continue to host our monthly farmer networking events, we will also host 1 farm tour each month, continue our Farm Beginnings: How to Start Your Own Farm Series, and 1 production based workshop each month.

Publications

Progress 01/01/23 to 12/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences are beginning and new farmers in operation for less than 10 years in the Catskills-Hudson Valley Region, that consist of small farms, organic farms, women owned or operated farmers, low to moderate income farmers, minority owned or operated farmers and farmworkers. Changes/Problems:Our plans shifted this fall, reviewing previous progress notes, we had been planning a Veteran Farm Business Planning Series with a veteran farmer cohort. With all of our programs and staff support needed, it seemed like too big of a project to do this fall and didn't seem cohesive to our planning. Instead we adjusted our Beginner Farmer Mentorship Program to have 5 spots specifically for veterans. Another challenge has been getting in contact with our local USDA service providersand maintaining that communication. For the fall and winter of 2023, we tried to plan an Agricultural Funding Webinar Series, with 2 webinars focused on USDA programs, but those programs were pushed back to 2024 due to delayed responses or no responses from local USDA service providers. Specifically for NRCS, it was difficult to even get a main point of contact for the local NRCS office, and for some time the information on the USDA's website was no up to date. Another challenge, is our local NRCS & FSA office is in a neighboring county so producers rely on email and phone communication with local USDA service producers because of distance to offices, so with unreliable responses rates it can be difficult for producers to connect with local service providers and USDA programs, grants, and services. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?See "accomplishments under these goals" section above for specific information. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We create and distribute monthly reports on the Beginner Farmer Program. We also promote workshops and technical assistance opportunities through flyers, website and social media. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?As noted in the "accomplishments under these goals" section above, we are launching the Beginner Farmer Mentorship Program. We are also increasing our technical assistance through farm visits, our you tube channel and social media. As for workshops, as noted above, we are hosting monthly farmer mixres, 2-5 workshops per month on land access, farm food safety, business and marketing and production.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the first and second quarters of the year, CCESC began developing and planning for the Beginner Farmer Program. A new full-time staff member was hired as the Beginner Farmer Program Manager for overall project coordination including, field and screening initial inquires from new and beginning farmers, the farm mentorship component, production, and USDA programs expertise and reporting. During these quarters we began to organize the Advisory Committee for the program, consisting of farmers and farm business owners in the region. The first Advisory Committee meeting was held in May. At the meeting, the Advisory Committee will provide feedback and guidance for the entire program and for the upcoming technical assistance workshops in June, July, August, and September. In the first 2 quarters, the majority of interactions with new and beginning farmers have been one-on-one conversations. however we did host a farm and business management training series during the first 2 quarters. The training series provided awide range of knowledge about business planning, land access planning, marketing, and funding opportunities with the USDA, NYS, and local assistance/programs. During the 3rd quarter, we begun hosting monthly Farmer Mixers, which are networking eventsfor aspiring, beginner, and seasoned farmers. We hope this creates a stronger farming network, but also feels like a welcoming entry for aspiring and beginner farmers into theagricultural community. We hosted 2 on farm workshops, covering the topics of growing cover crops to improvingsoil health and high tunnel construction and sharing information about the NRCS grant programs that can support those practices. We also offered farmer mentorship opportunities to individuals that participated in our spring Farm Business Training Series. From this group, 2 farms have started a mini mentorship, for 6 months, with farmer mentors. At the end of the 6 months they will have the opportunity to extend their mentorship, based on meeting the goals they outlined for their mentorship. We have also been organizing for our 2024 Mentorship Cohort.There will be 15 mentee spots open, and 5 spots will be saved for veteran farmers. Our application window will be November 1 - December 22, and selection will occur in January. The mentorships will officially begin February 5, 2024. We will work with a variety of partners to provide educational opportunities for the cohort, especially with the Hudson Valley Agribusiness Development Corporation, who has consultants for business planning, marketing planning, and risk management. For the 4th quarter, we created a plan for numerous workshops and events that will address multiple topics in technical assistance for farmers. We ended 2023 with opening our mentee application for the 2024 Beginner Farmer Mentorship Cohort. Wereceived 27 applications and accepted 11 farms for mentee spots in the 2024 Beginner Farmer Mentorship Cohort. We offered 2 mini mentorships to 2 veteran farmers, and hope to connect them with specific veteran farmer resources with Farm Ops at Cornell Small Farms. Out of our 13 mentee farms, 9 are owned and operated by individuals who identify as historically underserved. The Beginner Farmer Mentorship Cohort is a farmer-to-farmer mentorship, that focuses on individual learning opportunities through mentor-mentee interactions on the phone, via zoom, and in person on the farm. The mentee's farm business goals are the foundation for the mentorship, and the mentee and mentor will work together to determine where the mentor's knowledge and skills will be most helpful for the mentee's learning process. Outside of the mentor-mentee interactions, mentees will be expected to participate in a certain number of workshops and farmer networking events hosted by Cornell Cooperative Extension Sullivan County. Mentees will work alongside other participants in the Mentorship Cohort and learn as a community with the other mentees. Mentees and mentors will be matched with the help of CCESC staff. Mentees receive a $10,000 stipend in quarterly installments throughout the 12- month period, to support them working towards their farm business goals. At the end of 2023 we alsobegan planning all of our workshops for the 2024 year, for the general public and the Beginner Farmer Mentorship Cohort. We are connecting local experts to provide meaningful technical assistance covering agricultural funding opportunities, marketing, tax preparation, financial planning, and farm production such as orchard management, small ruminant production, and vegetable production techniques. Technical Assistance Efforts for USDA Programs, Services, and Grants: In 2023, we utilized our outreach tools to connect producers to USDA programs, grants, and services. We shared a guide from RAFI-USA in our monthly newsletterabout the NRCS programsand how to apply for NRCS grants. There are 225 people who receive our newsletter. We hosted a a High Tunnel workshop in September which focused on high tunnel construction and funding, 11 producers participated in the workshop. The Windsor Group had a regional office in our building, and the Windsor Group employees would attend our workshops and networking events to share information about the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (1007). They attended 3 networking events, with an average of 20 participants at each event, leading to their resources reaching 60 producers. We also utilized our social media pages, Instagram and Facebook, to share information about the USDA's 1007 program, we have 1,551 followers on those outreach sites. Through our outreach materials we potentially connected 1,776 individuals to USDA programs, grants, and services. We had 15 people directly receive outreach materials and contact information for USDA programs, grants, and services, of those 15 people they have began pursuing establishing a farm ID number with the FSA so they are able to apply for NRCS grants in 2024.

Publications