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

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for this project is beginning ranchers and farmers entering careers on large-acreage operations in the West, and beginning ranchers and farmers (BFRs) in the region who are in years 2-10 of their careers. In particular, the project aims to work with BFRs who seek to address climate change, improve land and watershed health, and improve the sustainability of their operations through the use of conservation practices and climate smart agriculture. BFRs entering Quivira's New Agrarian Apprenticeship Program (NAP) usually come from urban or suburban backgrounds and typically do not have family connections through which to gain agricultural skills or access to land. We surveyed applicants for the 2024 season and found that 59 percent identified as female or nonbinary, 28 percent identified as BIPOC, and 69 percent did not come from ranching or farming families or communities. NAP apprenticeships are paid, full-time, 8-month commitments, and allow apprentices to not only gain the skills needed to pursue a career in ranching or farming in the West, but also allow apprentices to develop professional relationships with a network of experienced ranchers and farmers and build a community of support. In order to serve this target audience and build supportive apprenticeship communities, Quivira Coalition has built regional cohorts of apprentices, mentors, and alumni in the Southwest (New Mexico, Colorado, southern Wyoming, and the Texas Panhandle) and Northern Plains (Montana, Wyoming, and eastern Idaho). Since its inception in 2009, over 160 individuals have graduated from the New Agrarian Program. Over 100 of those individuals have graduated within the last four years, with approximately 20 new ranchers and farmers graduating each year. As apprentices step out of the program and into management and ownership positions, years 2-10 of their careers are a critical time for support. As they are starting their own operations, they need access to entrepreneurship and business training, financial and risk management training, marketing strategies, and tools to help them sustainably manage their land and resource base amidst a changing climate. In order to build community and provide additional support for both apprentices and other beginning ranchers and farmers pursuing careers in regenerative agriculture on livestock or other large-landscape operations in the West, Quivira also offers several other training opportunities. These include the Regeneration Rising podcast, job board, training webinars, and workshops at Quivira's annual Regenerate conference. Changes/Problems:When we originally wrote our proposal, we included a number of standalone training and technical assistance opportunities for our alumni and other beginning ranchers and farmers who are in years 2-10 of their careers, and who are focused more on gaining financial and business management skills rather than production skills. These offerings included a set of marketing trainings, scholarship support to attend conferences and other business trainings, and a webinar series to better understand and access USDA programming. Because of the need that we have recently identified related to increasing a sense of community and peer support for beginning producers, we decided to package these offerings into a fellowship program. Called our Manager Fellowship Program, this program seeks to support beginning producers who are moving from ranch hand positions into entrepreneurship and ranch management positions. We expect that we will meet our anticipated outcomes and deliverables with this shift, and in addition will also be able to provide the beginning ranchers and farmers in this program with additional coaching, peer networking, and community building support. ? What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training and professional development for beginner rancher and farmer apprentices, as well as the experienced ranchers and farmers who mentored them, were two of the project's main areas of focus. For experienced ranchers and farmers, professional development centered on improving teaching and mentoring skills. For apprentices, intensive, hands-on, on-the-ground training focused on the acquisition of a comprehensive set of skills necessary to pursue a career in agriculture. All training and professional development activities are listed above in the Accomplishments section of this report. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of Quivira's programs are consistently reported on in the monthly NAP newsletter and via social media, reaching nearly 6,000 people. Apprentices self-reflect and self-report on the results they experienced as a part of the program, and these results are captured and disseminated in the New Agrarian Voices blog. Around 40 pieces were published on the New Agrarian Voices blog during the project. In total, the program's web pages, including the blog and all informational pages, were visited 42,548 times during this reporting period. Eleven episodes of the Regeneration Rising podcast were produced, with over 4,000 total downloads. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, we will graduate 18 apprentices from the 2024 season, and expect to onboard an additional 18 for the 2025 season. In addition to running the core aspects of our apprenticeship program (including apprentice orientation and supplemental education calls, mentor training calls, a midseason workshop for apprentices) and the ongoing training and communications projects (the Regeneration Rising podcast, NAP monthly newsletter, technical assistance webinars, NAP 101 calls), we are planning to focus our efforts to complete three additional projects. This includes continuing the new Regenerative Ag Fellowship, the (also new) Manager Fellowship, producing Regeneration Rising episodes, operating the job board, and conducting a webinar series for aspiring meat producers. In addition to our core apprenticeship program, we have also recently developed two new programs to support and train beginning ranchers and farmers. These new programs are aligned with our original goals and objectives of our project, and are simply providing a more cohesive way for early career ranchers and farmers to access our resources. Additionally, we offered several other resources that support the greater beginning rancher and farmer community in the western United States. For the first time in 2024, we began offering a Regenerative Ag Fellowship program as a more flexible way for beginning ranchers and farmers to access our training resources and network of support. Rather than pairing people up with mentorship opportunities, this program serves beginning ranchers and farmers who are already working in agriculture but who are seeking additional education and opportunities to further their career. Eleven fellows participated in the program in 2024, attending all of the supplemental education calls offered to our apprentices as well as attending monthly small group discussion calls. These fellows will also attend the Regenerate conference in November 2024, and will be enrolled in an online grazing management education program as well. We began offering this program as a way of reaching additional beginning ranchers and farmers, and particularly those who are unable to participate in a full-time apprenticeship for family or financial reasons. During the 2024 season, we also began developing a new Manager Fellowship program, designed to support our alumni and other beginning ranchers who are moving from ranch hand positions into entrepreneurship and ranch management. This program is being developed based on direct feedback from our alumni, through evaluation efforts conducted in January 2023 and May 2024. We plan to launch the program with 12 fellows in November 2024, and provide fellows with training and technical assistance on business development, financial management, marketing, risk management, and other topics necessary to run a viable ranch business. Beyond these formal programs, we also supported beginning ranchers and farmers by producing the monthly Regeneration Rising podcast, which tells the stories of how beginning ranchers and farmers have found success; producing monthly newsletters that feature stories from the program, events, and opportunities for beginning ranchers and farmers; operating a regenerative ag job board; hosting an agricultural career fair at the annual regenerate conference; and offering a three-part webinar series to support entrepreneurs who are starting meat businesses.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the first project period, we graduated 20 apprentices from the 2023 season of the New Agrarian Program and enrolled 18 apprentices in the 2024 season who went on to graduate in November 2024. Apprenticeships run for approximately eight months, and during this time apprentices work full time on a working ranch, alongside a mentor who is experienced in regenerative agriculture. In addition to learning ranching skills through on-the-ground work with their mentor, Quivira Coalition also supports apprentices' education through the following activities: leading a three-day, in-person orientation to help prepare them for their season of apprenticeship; providing a series of seven supplemental education calls on topics including soil health, principles of regenerative agriculture, cattle health and husbandry, heritage livestock breeds, and holistic goal setting; conducting in-person site visits to all mentor ranches; leading a two-day in-person workshop on low-stress stockmanship; supporting apprentices in identifying their career path and next steps; providing apprentices with stipend support to allow them to attend additional educational events in their community; and providing apprentices with scholarships to attend the Regenerate conference in order to network with the regenerative agriculture community and celebrate the end of the season. Objective 1: Increase the number of beginning ranchers and farmers entering careers on large acreage ranches and farms in the West. 21 apprentices graduated from the program in November 2023, with 18 enrolled in the 2024 season. 11 beginning ranchers and farmers enrolled in Quivira's Regenerative Ag Fellowship, expected to graduate in November 2024. 48 beginning ranchers and farmers wrote a 5-10 year career trajectory plan for their goals in agriculture: 21 apprentices from the 2023 season, 11 fellows in our 2024 Regenerative Ag fellowship program, and 18 apprentices from the 2024 season. Objective 2: Improve the success of beginning ranchers and farmers on large-acreage operations in the West through entrepreneurship, business, financial, and risk management training and technical assistance. 40 beginning ranchers defined their current or future business' core values, increased their business management confidence, and learned alternative approaches to leadership (servant leadership, quadruple bottom line, traditional Lakota perspectives). Fiveof these beginning ranchers received 1:1 technical assistance on these topics. 40 beginning ranchers improved their understanding of mainstream and innovative meat processing channels and increased confidence in finding new meat marketing strategies 40 beginning ranchers utilized real farmer/rancher perspectives to inform enterprise or business plans, and increased their confidence to form a business plan. Five of these beginning ranchers participated in a more personalized, in-depth "office hours" session with the presenters to dig into difficult realities of farming/ranching including childcare considerations, feelings about debt, and time management. 2 beginning ranchers improved their business plan, financial tracking documents, and business management confidence through technical assistance from the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance. Objective 3: Increase this group's resilience against climate change through conservation practices and climate smart agriculture. Planning begun for a series of webinars in partnership with Montana's Beginning Farmer and Rancher state coordinator, expected to take place in October and November 2024. These webinars will cover USDA programming, including NRCS programs that can support beginning ranchers and farmers with climate smart agriculture practices. Objective 4: Ensure that beginning ranchers and farmers on large-acreage operations in the West are connected with resources, educational events, and career opportunities necessary to their success. Over 5,000 readers are reached through Quivira's monthly New Agrarian News newsletter, with resources, educational events, and career opportunities that support beginning ranchers and farmers in the west. Over 50 jobs were posted to Quivira's Regenerative Ag Job Board 11 Regeneration Rising podcasts episodes were produced, with over 300-400 monthly downloads. 27 jobs and opportunities were presented at Career Connections at the 2023 Regenerate Conference, reaching over 100 BFRs

Publications