Non Technical Summary
This 9-month, experiential beginning farmer training program is a cohort-based program structured to provide hands-on training and business planning across a suite of farm enterprises that are common entry points to farming in our region. Cohorts will be conducted annually, from March - November of each year. Shared, hands-on experiences with the class cohort are complemented by an individually tailored mentoring plan that provides an opportunity for developing more in-depth production knowledge in areas of interest to the participant, and an individually tailored plan for farm business planning, food safety, and market development.This program is structured based on the needs of existing beginning farmers, as articulated by technical assistance providers working with beginning farmers as clients in their work. We have engaged these partners in the project planning process and have incorporated their experiences into curriculum and technical assistance resources. Further, they will be engaged throughout the project through active roles on the project implementation team and/or advisory board. Project partners include local County Cooperative Extension agents, the Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (KCARD), the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Board, UK Extension faculty and staff in Animal Sciences, the UK Department of Horticulture and Organic Farming Unit, The Food Connection at UK, community-based organizations, and local farmers.The target audience for this intensive program are individuals who are eager and able to engage in a rigorous, customized accelerator program that guides them to their next step - actively farming. They must have the ability to participate in weekly, in-person activities for one full day per week (with a fixed schedule) and commit one additional day per week (independently scheduled according to availability and interests) to deepening their knowledge in areas tailored to their farming and business goals.The program will consist of these signature elements: A shared, cohort experience. Weekly, hands-on training activities with a participant cohort and structured common experiential learning activities, focused on organic vegetable, small herd beef cattle, small ruminant, and small poultry flock production. All hands-on activities are tailored for diversified start-up farm enterprises in Kentucky.An individual mentoring plan. This training and guided curriculum is individually-tailored to each participant's learning and business development goals and is commensurate with an additional 300 hours of effort (approximately one day per week) throughout the course of the program. Mentoring activities will include a customized curriculum consisting of online resources curated for this program, as well as in-person activities as their schedule allows, including participating in Extension and other technical assistance programming as well as on-farm mentoring when available and appropriate.One-to-one business planning support. In addition to robust in-person and online (video) business development resources, each participant will receive one-to-one technical assistance on business planning, farm financing, and market development from the Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development.One-to-one market match-making and technical assistance. All participants will receive in-person and online content on buyer-driven requirements (e.g. food safety certifications, post-harvest requirements, livestock processing options, etc.). In addition to this foundational knowledge, each participant will receive customized content and one-to-one technical assistance from staff at The Food Connection at UK, including creations of standard operating procedures, food safety plans, and market planning and match-making from our team of value chain coordinators who can help the participants explore direct-to-consumer and wholesale market channels, as well as navigate opportunities such as farm-to-school and other local food procurement programs.Customized post-program pathway planning to get started farming. The goal of this program is to develop beginning farmers that are ready to farm and market their products immediately upon graduation. However, the pathway to the land for each participant may be different based on their individual life circumstances and goals. As we meet each participant "where they are," we will also work with them on "where they will go next." For participants that do not already own land, this may require additional steps on their path to farm proprietorship. The program will offer graduates access to organic "incubator farms" in the Lexington area, with technical support for farmers to get started on their own with diversified organic vegetable production. Placement in farm management positions in the area will also be facilitated for participants who have financial and professional development goals that may be well suited to such positions. Finally, assistance with land lease agreements and business relationship support will also be offered.Specific target audiences include: Beginning farmers at a life stage transition that are able to commit to an in-depth program (e.g. younger farmers, as well as recent retirees); Out-of-state participants relocating to participate in this program and the local farming community; Military veterans able to utilize GI bill or other benefits to support program participation; Working professionals with flexible scheduling (e.g. ability to work a "four 10's" or other condensed work week options).

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
102	0199	3100	15%
111	0199	3100	10%
205	0199	3100	15%
307	3299	3100	10%
307	3399	3100	10%
307	3699	3100	10%
307	3820	3100	10%
604	6030	3100	20%

Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 111 - Conservation and Efficient Use of Water; 205 - Plant Management Systems; 604 - Marketing and Distribution Practices; 307 - Animal Management Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
3299 - Poultry, general/other; 3820 - Goats, meat, and mohair; 0199 - Soil and land, general; 3699 - Sheep and wool, general/other; 6030 - The farm as an enterprise; 3399 - Beef cattle, general/other;

Field Of Science
3100 - Management;

Goals / Objectives
The goal of this project is to develop a cohort-based, mixed modality beginning farmer training program that kick-starts the development of their small farm business and accelerates their pathway to the land. This will be accomplished by the following Project Objectives:Objective 1: Increase knowledge in production skills among program participants across the suite of enterprises most common to beginning farmers in Kentucky. Objective 2: Enable farmers with the business planning, financial goal setting and resources to develop their farm business in the first five years after graduating from the program, and the resources to serve them as their farm business grows. Objective 3: Create a pathway to the land for all program participants that is appropriate to their farming goals for their first 3-5 years of farming based on their goals, resources, and business plan. Objective 4: Embed program participants in technical assistance networks for ongoing production, business planning, food safety, and market development support.

Project Methods
The methods utilized in this training program are designed to accelerate beginning farmers successful launch of their farming operations and business through several main components. These include:In-Person, Hands-On Beginning Farmer Training Curriculum (Obj 1). We will develop a 9-month in-person training program, with cohorts conducted annually from March - November of Project Year 1 and 2.In-Person Curriculum will consist of a Common Curriculum shared by the full cohort, complemented by two specialized tracks: A Vegetable Production Track, focused on year-round production of diversified vegetable and small fruits using sustainable, organic production methods, and a Livestock Production Track.Business and Market Development Sessions will be integrated throughout the In-Person Common Curriculum.Individual Mentoring Plans (Obj 2).Individual Mentoring Plans are designed to be simple, consisting of resources matched to learning goals, and paced over the program timeline. They will be developed through short, group and individual coaching activities during initial Common Curriculum sessions following this general facilitation process:Development of Key Goals (with program track selection and business planning activities)Farming SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations and Results) AssessmentIdentification of the Mentoring Team (based on SOAR assessment)Meet Your Mentoring Team: Lunch with Experts and Mentors & Identifying Key ResourcesDrafting the Mentoring Plan: Activities, Timeline, and Assessment ToolDevelopment of a Farm Pathway Program for post-program planning (Obj 3).Utilizing the project team's existing resources and networks, the Farm Pathways Program will support participants in three post-program placement options: 1) An organic vegetable incubator farm program; 2) Connections to land lease options with local farmland owners, and 3) Farm management job search and placement assistance.Project evaluation.An external project evaluator has been retained for the project. KK&P is a nation-wide firm that specializes in food and agriculture-related programming.All project team members will work with KK&P to develop processes and evaluation tools to assess subject matter knowledge gains and delivery effectiveness from In-Person Curriculum. These will be assessed via short surveys at the end of each in-person session and holistically in written surveys at the end of a series of similarly-themed sessions. The KK&P team will facilitate and develop holistic evaluation methods to evaluate qualitative program outcomes such as: participant's increase in confidence, preparedness, overall program satisfaction, strengths, and areas of improvement. Methods will include formative and summative surveys, interviews with participants and team members.