Source: THE FARM SCHOOL AT GIBBS ROAD INC submitted to
KC F.A.R.M.E.R.S: KANSAS CITY FARMERS AND RANCHERS FOR MENTORING, EDUCATION, AND RESOURCE SHARING COALITION
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1031308
Grant No.
2023-49400-40896
Cumulative Award Amt.
$748,348.00
Proposal No.
2023-04846
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 15, 2023
Project End Date
Sep 14, 2026
Grant Year
2023
Program Code
[BFRDA]- Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, Standard
Project Director
Ellingsworth, A.
Recipient Organization
THE FARM SCHOOL AT GIBBS ROAD INC
4223 GIBBS RD
KANSAS CITY,KS 66106
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
"KC F.A.R.M.E.R.S: Kansas City Farmers and Ranchers for Mentoring, Education, and Resource Sharing Coalition '' a project of KC Farm School at Gibbs Road and Kansas City Black Urban Growers Inc. (KC BUGs) was developed to provide farmer-led, hands-on education for new and beginning farmers and ranchers across the Kansas City metropolitan area, and to preserve farmland for the coming generations. One-third of our nation's farmers are 65 years old or older. Many farmers nearing retirement are without a successor to continue their work. At the same time, we are at an opportune moment with nearly one-quarter of all farmers being new and beginning farmers. Bringing these two groups together through farmer-led skills training, business education, and farm transitions facilitation, the KC F.A.R.M.E.R.S coalition will work to attract and support the next generation of farmers ensuring the continuity of farming and its vital contributions to society, and the preservation of farmland.?This coalition, consisting of new and beginning farmers and ranchers, business and training partners, and experienced farmers and ranchers will work together collaboratively utilizing the principles of collective impact to address community-identified needs. The coalition will develop business and leadership capacity by curating shared resources, creating mentorship opportunities, and hosting hands-on business training and community rebuilding activities. Supporting new and beginning farmers has multiple benefits as farming is the foundation of food security and economic development, fosters rural growth, and urban connection to the land. Sustainable farming practices play a crucial role in preserving biodiversity and mitigating climate change. Moreover, farming is deeply rooted in cultural heritage, maintaining traditional knowledge and community identity. By combining collective impact, extensive farmer/ rancher support through mentorship and financial support, and rooting all coalition activities in place and supportive community rebuilding practices, KC F.A.R.M.E.R.S coalition will support Kansas City area beginning farmers and ranchers to start farming and stay farming and to preserve the farmland that is crucial to food production.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
90360103020100%
Knowledge Area
903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
6010 - Individuals;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
The goal and associated objectives of KC F.A.R.M.E.R.S: Kansas City Farmers and Ranchers for Mentoring, Education, and Resource Sharing Coalition include:Goal: Support Kansas City area beginning farmers and ranchers to start farming and stay farming.Objective 1: Form a coalition of Kansas City area beginning farmers and ranchers and established farmers and ranchers to enhance place-based mentoring, education, and open source resource sharing about farm business development and best practices to support new and beginning farmers and ranchers.Output 1.1.: Formation of a coalition consisting of new and beginning farmers and ranchers, business and training partners and experienced farmers and ranchers.Output 1.2: Coalition leadership structure built using a collective impact model centering new and beginning farmers and ranchers.Output 1.3: Coalition leadership meets monthly to identify and plan for relevant training in partnership with business and community experts.Output 1.4: Support coalition members through mentorship, small group and one on one support, and support coalition action teams.Output 1.5: At least 80 people will be a member of the coalition per year.Output 1.6: Coalition members engage in action teams to further the work and future of the coalition.Output 1.7: Through continual surveying and feedback loops, coalition members will guide the training and opportunities the coalition engages in.Outcome 1.1: Beginning farmers and ranchers feel supported in their work and can get help when they need it through the creation of an intentional network of support and shared resources. This increased support and assistance can positively impact the success of farm operations by providing members with access to knowledge, expertise, and resources to overcome challenges and make informed decisions.Outcome 1.2: Farmers and ranchers became community leaders through coalition membership and collective power. This can result in increased recognition, support, and networking opportunities, which can benefit farm operations and food production in the long run.Outcome 1.3: Enhanced training opportunities are built using collective power for new and beginning farmers and ranchers in relevant areas. This can result in improved knowledge, skills, and capacities, which can positively impact farm operations, food production and business development long-term.Outcome 1.4: Internal professional capacities of backbone farmers and coalition members are strengthened. By participating in the coalition, backbone and coalition members can enhance their own professional capacities, such as leadership skills, networking, and collaboration, which can further benefit their farm operations and contribute to the overall success of the project and their farm operations.Outcome 1.5: The sustainability of the coalition is further enhanced through the work of the action teams.Objective 2: Coalition backbone plans and implements place-based mentoring and experiential training and work sessions based on beginning farmer and rancher identified needs.Output 2.1: Bi-monthly work and learn training sessions hosted by the coalition based on identified business training needs.Output 2.2: Seasonal work and learn experiences hosted at coalition members farms.Output 2.3: Creation of a digital repository of curated and shared business development resources that are relevant and accessible to Kansas City area beginning farmers and ranchers.Outcome 2.1: Coalition members have increased knowledge and skills in identified areas through place-based, relevant and supportive technical assistance experiences. By improving their knowledge and skills in relevant areas, such as business planning, marketing, and financial management, beginning farmers and ranchers can make informed decisions and implement effective strategies in their farm operations.Outcome 2.3: Increased access to resources to help beginning farmers and ranchers overcome common barriers to entry and sustainability. By curating and sharing relevant business development resources, the coalition can provide valuable tools, information, and support to beginning farmers and ranchers, enabling them to better navigate challenges and improve their farm operations.Outcome 2.4: At least 9 new farm startups will result from this project over the project period.Outcome 2.5: At least 120 and beginning farmers and ranchers will make beneficial changes in their business as a result of this project over the project period.
Project Methods
The plan to document and evaluate the outcomes of KC F.A.R.M.E.R.S for new farmers and ranchers will include the following steps. We will engage a third-party evaluator who is independent and unbiased to conduct the evaluation of the outcomes. We will post a contract position for hire if the project is funded. At least biannually, participatory evaluation methods that involve the active participation of coalition members and other stakeholders will be used. This will include surveys, interviews, and feedback sessions to gather data on participants' experiences, perceptions, and feedback on the program outcomes. Measurement tools to assess the outcomes and impacts of the program will include surveys, attendance records, meeting notes and self-assessment surveys.Specific outcomes and reporting measures:Outcome 1.1: Measure the percentage of beginning farmers and ranchers who feel supported in their work and can get help when they need it through ongoing biannual participant surveys.Outcome 1.2: Measure the percentage of farmers and ranchers who become community leaders through ongoing biannual self-assessment surveys.Outcome 1.3: Measure the number of enhanced training opportunities built using collective power for new and beginning farmers and ranchers in relevant areas through attendance records and meeting notes.Outcome 1.4: Measure the improvement in participants' self-assessed competency levels as an indicator of strengthened internal professional capacities of backbone farmers and coalition members through biannual ongoing self-assessment surveys.Outcome 1.5: Measure the progress of action teams working toward coalition sustainability as measured by team meeting notes and action plans.Outcome 2.1: Measure the increase in knowledge and skills of coalition members in identified areas through biannual surveying.Outcome 2.2: Measure the usefulness of resources provided to help beginning farmers and ranchers overcome common barriers to entry and sustainability through participant surveys and the availability of shared resources.Outcome 2.3: Measure the number of new farm startups resulting from the project over the project period.Outcome 2.4: Measure the number of new and beginning farmers and ranchers who make beneficial changes in their business as a result of the project through biannual surveys.As the proposed project follows the collective impact model, the management and collaboration plan will incorporate the key principles of this approach, including shared vision, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, data-driven decision making, and backbone support. All partners, including Alicia Ellingsworth of KC Farm School, Dina Newman of KC BUGs, coalition co-coordinators, and backbone coalition members, will work collaboratively to establish a shared vision for the project. This shared vision will guide the overall direction, goals, and objectives of the project, ensuring that all partners are aligned towards a common goal. Each partner will contribute their unique expertise and resources towards mutually reinforcing activities. Alicia Ellingsworth and Dina Newman, as principal investigator and co-principal investigator respectively, will provide leadership and direction to the project, overseeing the activities of the coalition co-coordinators and coordinating with backbone coalition members. Coalition co-coordinators will work closely with Alicia, Dina, and backbone coalition members to ensure smooth coordination and implementation of activities, including participant recruitment, training sessions, data collection, and reporting. Backbone coalition members, as new and experienced farmers, will provide mentoring and training to coalition members, reinforcing the project's goals and objectives. Communication will be a key element of the management plan. Regular communication channels will be established among all partners to ensure ongoing information sharing, updates, and feedback. Coalition co-coordinators will serve as communication facilitators, ensuring that all partners are engaged and informed about project activities, progress, and challenges. This will foster collaboration and collective learning among all partners, and help in making informed decisions. All project files will be shared digitally and regular meetings will be scheduled and supported by notes. The project will prioritize data collection, analysis, and utilization for decision making. Coalition co-coordinators will be responsible for coordinating data collection efforts, managing data quality and integrity, and analyzing data in partnership with the PI, Co-PI and third party evaluators to assess the project's progress and outcomes. Data-driven decision making will guide the project's strategies, interventions, and adjustments as needed, ensuring that the project remains responsive and effective in achieving its goals. All non-sensitive data will be shared with all collaborators in a digital format. The PI, Co-PI, backbone farmers and organizations and coalition coordinator will provide backbone support, serving as the central coordinating body for the project. They will work closely to ensure that all partners are working towards the shared vision, and that activities are well-coordinated and aligned. They will also seek additional funding opportunities, manage partnerships, and support sustainability planning to ensure the project's long-term impact beyond the grant period.?

Progress 09/15/23 to 09/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience of our project isImmigrant producers, Limited resource producers, Small farms, Specialty crop producers and Urban producers. We have also reached youth and generally underserved producers including Women and Black farmers through tihs project. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Work & Learn #1: High Tunnel Installation 12/9/2023 This event occured at backbone coalition member, Mike Pearl's family farm, Pearl Family Farm." It was our fiirst ever public coalition event, - Learning Discussion: High Tunnel Parts & Installation Process - Work: Built trusses" Work & Learn # 2: Financial 1/22/2023 - Presenter, Gabe Muñoz, coalition backbone member - Topic: Overview of laws, permits, zoning associated with starting a farm - Overview of steps to start a business Work & Learn #3: Soil Health & Johnson-Su Bioreacter Build 2/24/2024 - Presentation by Don Lourie about history of Johnson Su, scientific concepts associated with soil health - Work: Participants build several Johnson-Su bioreactors for Kansas City Community Gardens Work & Learn #4High Tunnel Care & Repair + Fruit Tree Pruning 3/2/2024 - Led by Coalition backbone members - Campfire discussion about agroforestry - Campfire discussion about high tunnel maintenance needs, costs, projects, etc. - Work: replace sidewall of high tunnel - Agroforestry nature work - Work: Pruning blueberry bushes Work & Learn #5: High Tunnel Construction, Part 2 3/16/2024 - Led by Coalition backbone members - Discussion of high tunnel installtion or bows and perlins - Work: Install bows & perlins Midwest Growers Collaborative Workshop 4/11 - 4/12, 2024 - Presented in partnership withCommon Ground Growers, Producers & Mobile Market Day 1 - New Farmer Training & Resources - Sankara Farm Tour (Coalition backbone member's farm) Day 2 - Farmers Insurance - Marketing: Storytelling - Marketing: Value Proposition - Marketing: Canva Farm Raising Volunteer Event 5/30/2024 -A volunteer event to support the high-tunnel installation at Righteous Roots Community Garden, a coalition member's site. Farm Raising Volunteer Event - Part 2 6/16/2024 -A volunteer event to support the high-tunnel installation at Righteous Roots Community Garden, a coalition member's site. Virtual Marketing Training Series - #1 7/11/2024 - Online Canva, storytelling and marketing training hosted by coalition backbone and coordinator. Virtual Marketing Training Series (in Spanish) - #1 7/23/2024 - Online Canva, storytelling and marketing training hosted by coalition backbone and coordinator. Virtual Marketing Training Series - #2 8/8/2024 - Expanded online Canva, storytelling and marketing training hosted by coalition backbone and coordinator. Virtual Marketing Training Series (in Spanish) - #2 Tuesday, August 20, 2024 - Expanded online Canva, storytelling and marketing training hosted by coalition backbone and coordinator. Farm Transistions Support Group - Meeting#1 Tuesday, August 20, 2024 - Hosted by coalition backbone and Cultivate KC - Gathering to discuss the reality of farm transitions and brainstorm solutions. Small Farm Infrastructure Planning Workshop 8/25/2024 - Cohosted withMiami County Conservation District, Kansas Association of Conservation Districts and Wyandotte County Conservation District - Held at coalition backbone member farm, Grasshopper Urban Farm -Focus was on technical planning to start a small farm and the infrastructure and associated costs and processesneeded to do so. Fall Gathering & Membership Meeting 9/9/2024 - Full coalition membership meeting to review progress made in project year one and assemble into action teams to continue the progress into year two. Virtual Marketing Training Series - #3 9/12/2024 - Expanded online Canva, storytelling and marketing training hosted by coalition backbone and coordinator. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Coalition member recruitment has occured via numerous channels and is ongoing. Our coalition coordinator attends evets across the KC metro area for tabling about the coalition and is engaged in numerous listserves that reach regional audiences. Further, through the networks of our coalition backbone team, we are reaching underserved, Black, women and immigrant populations through word of mouth and ongoing engagement by our team. Our coalition coordinator sends out a monthly coalition newsletter with important events and resources which is then shared by all coalition backbone members within their networks to recruit and engage audiences across sectors and locales. Coalition resources are housed on a webpage athttps://www.kcfarmschool.org/kcfc-resource-hive (Password GrowCommunity 2024) that all members have access to. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our next program year will focus on increasing engagement with our current Coalition members while continuing to leverage opportunities for outreach, recruitment, and partnership. We have already scheduled a kick-off meeting with Coalition members to further developCoalition action teams to help increase our program's impact and progress toward our goals while providing members with leadership and development opportunities. Our backbone team has also reviewed feedback and ideas from our biannual member survey that will help determine the programming we are planning for this next year, including workshops and other community needs we can address this next year through technical assistance, mentorship and/or additional resources.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This project, a collaboration of KC Farm School and Kansas City Black Urban Growers (KC BUGs), is addressing the need to share mentoring, education and resources between established and emerging farmers and ranchers; it acknowledges the need to protect farmland for the future generations; and it recognizes we all have gifts to share and that when we share what we have, we can all have what we need. We seek to support each other through hands-on work-and-learn events, volunteer opportunities, TA, and electronic resources. We are seeing great results and reporting on them in this document. We are also seeing unexpected results, and we happily share those in this document as well. In the first year of this project, we focused on important areas of the KC F.A.R.M.E.R.S Coalition program: hosting work-and-learn and training events based on initial community feedback, recruiting Coalition members, developing and delivering meaningful benefits to Coalition members, and establishing systems and processes for the governance and management of the program. Over the course of the project year, we hosted numerous place-based, hands-on work-and-learn events and professional training events. Some of the work-and-learn topics included high tunnel construction and maintenance, farm infrastructure planning, and agroforestry, and some of the professional training events covered topics like farm transition and succession planning and developing marketing collateral using Canva. While all our events are open to the public, we provided information about the KC F.A.R.M.E.R.S. Coalition program and encouraged attendees to become members. We also created marketing collateral that we handed out to prospective members at outreach events we attended. Even though we didn't start accepting Coalition memberships until May 2024, we still surpassed our first-year membership goal of 80 members, ending the program year with 99 members. At the beginning of this project, we knew there were certain benefits we wanted to provide Coalition members, including an annual stipend for active members, financial assistance for business and start-up costs farmers and ranchers needed, and developing an online resource hub for learning and networking. However, we also heard through feedback that having a community directory for farming and ranching equipment/supplies vendors, tool sharing, and community building events like volunteering at each others' farms were meaningful benefits to folx as well. So, we began and continue to work on developing and incorporating these into the program collectively. With the numerous events, resources, and networking this project aims to provide, it has been essential for project staff, backbone partners, and Coalition members to have systems and processes to follow. Project staff worked with the Coalition Backbone team throughout the year to define member requirements and guiding principles all members agree to follow, establish a governance committee as well as policies and procedures that guide decision-making for Coalition member requests and feedback, utilize a system of forms, surveys, spreadsheets, and communication channels to track and manage hours, requests, event plans, and key metrics. In this first year, we have engaged 341 unique participants in project activities, recruited 100 members to the coalition itself and helped 5 individuals start farming and 1 member prepare to start farming. Our stated goals and objectives for Year One of this project are well underway, on track and hold promise to exceed them.

Publications