Non Technical Summary
The small number of beginning farmers and their low level of income existing in the states of Tennessee and Delaware suggests a need to recruit new farmers and provide them with education and assistance on how to manage and successfully operate farm businesses. The goal of this project is to provide outreach, education, and technical assistance to socially disadvantaged beginning farmers and ranchers in counties with critical service gaps (inadequate health insurance and food desert) in Tennessee and Delaware. We will develop resource materials to recruit, educate farmers and to increase their participation in USDA programs. Aseries of virtual classes in poultry farming will be carried out to support start-up farmers. Educational workshops and technical assistance in areas of climate smart agriculture, financial literacy, business development, and planning will be conducted to help farmers and ranchers own, and operate successful farm businesses, and build resilience to climate change. This project will serve more than 300 producers and will significantly improve the livelihoods of farmers.

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
111	0330	1070	20%
601	1699	3010	20%
132	0430	2060	20%
125	1610	1070	20%
125	3299	3020	20%

Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management; 111 - Conservation and Efficient Use of Water; 132 - Weather and Climate; 125 - Agroforestry;

Subject Of Investigation
3299 - Poultry, general/other; 1699 - Pasture and forage crops, general/other; 0430 - Climate; 1610 - Pasture; 0330 - Wetland and riparian systems;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology; 3020 - Education; 3010 - Economics; 2060 - Geography;

Goals / Objectives
Project GoalThe project goal is to provide outreach, education, and technical assistance to beginning farmers and ranchers located in Tennessee and Delaware counties with critical service gaps i.e. counties having a significant amount of people with limited health insurance, and low-income areas with low access to grocery stores at 1 to 10 miles.Objectives1) To develop a holistic and collaborative education and outreach programming for beginning farmers and ranchers to increase their participation in agriculture, and USDA programs.2) To support farmers and ranchers to be successful in farming through a beginning small farmers' poultry prgram and to provide education and technical assistance on financial literacy, business development, and planning.3) To increase the knowledge base of climate smart agriculture for beginning farmers and ranchers in order to build resilience to climate chnage.

Project Methods
Objective 1: To develop a holistic and collaborative education, and outreach programming for beginning farmers and ranchers to increase their participation in agriculture, and USDA programs.Method:The project will develop culturally competent education and extension resource materials such as brochures, factsheets, flyers, questionnaires, videos, and webinars pertaining to topics such as climate change, USDA programs for beginning farmers, financial literacy, poultry farming and management. Outreach and recruitment events will also be conducted.Objective 2: To support farmers and ranchers to be successful in farming through a beginning small farmers' poultry program, and to provide education and technical assistance on financial literacy, business development, and planningMethod: The project will conduct a beginning small farmers' poultry program where farmers and ranchers will be trained inthe basics of poultry farming and management. The project will also provide beginning farmers with the capacity, technical knowledge,and assistance relating to financial literacy and business development via training workshops.Objective 3: To increase the knowledge base of climate smart agriculture for beginning farmers and ranchers in order to build resilience to climate change.Method:A series of well-designed educational workshops on climate smart agriculture will be conducted. The workshopswill address aseries of topics that will include but not limited to precision agriculture. Technical assistance on climate smart agriculture will also be provided to farmers and ranchers.