Progress 09/15/24 to 09/14/25

Outputs
Target Audience:The primary audience for this project includes new and beginning farmers and ranchers across Oklahoma, with a particular focus on small to mid-scale specialty crop and livestock producers, and tribal members - particularly the Muscogee (Creek) Nationthrough partnership with our 1994 land-grant Extension partners at the College of the Muscogee Nation. The project seeks to establish the first statewide strategic efforts to engage beginning farmers and ranchers in Oklahoma through targeted Extension programs and services. Due to the relatively large geographic distances acrossOklahoma and the relatively small population (~4 Million), efforts have focused on strategic regional in-person events, along with the development of digital resources to effectively reach a variety ofbeginning farmer and rancher audiences. Changes/Problems:There were no major deviations from the proposal timeline. The mentorship and internship programs are still in the development stages but are progressing steadily. Pilot mentorship pairings have helped us to refine the mentorship model, and host farms are being onboarded for the internship programlaunch in 2026. Internal institutional obstacles including uncertainty with federal funding programs have led to delays in execution of some elements of the program (particularly those with defined budget expenses). However, all major elements of the project are seing forward progress. The BFR conference concept has expanded and will be piloted in Fall 2025 as a 1-day event just as outlined in the initial proposal. However, the opportunity to collaborate with other agencies has presented itself and so we will be expanding programming to include a full-day BFR conference track at the Oklahoma Local Ag Summit in 2026 and will also be assisting Oklahoma AgCredit with hosting the national Farm Credit Young, Beginning, Small borrowers conference in Oklahoma City in 2026. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?From October2024 - September of 2025 we have offered 18in-person and/or virtual educational events reaching at least950 individuals. This includes the Beginning Farmer Garlic Production Workshop, offered in November 2025 which was held as a kickoff-type event to meet producers and share resources about the program. 22 BFRs attended and participated in hands-on learning activities as well as learned about the economics of a garlic enterprise and the best varieties for Oklahoma. Other events (but not an exhaustive list of the events/programs) include the Beginning Market Farmer Workshop held in February 2025 in collaboration with the Beckham County FSA office, Farm Credit of Western Oklahoma, and Langston University. This event was attended by 25 BFRs and included information on establishing a market garden business with sessions on operating small-scale equipment, such as two-wheel tractors and more. The program also facilitated the Cow-Calf Bootcamp for beginning ranchers in April 2025, reaching 36 BFRs with economic and production information for managing a successful cow-calf operation in Oklahoma. The beginning farmer and rancher lunchtime learning webinar series was held each Wednesday March through May, 2025, and reached over 600 individuals across all sessions. All sessions are being catalogged on YouTube. Co-PI Tyler Mason has begun sending out a monthlypublication called Hort Tips,where he provides timely advice to County Extension professionals in all 77 Oklahoma Counties. These tips are used to support clientele and are often used in local newsletters, newspapers, or other media outlets.The topics of the publication have included: March: Snap bean (green bean) cultivar performance in OK. April: Asparagus cultivar performance in OK and suggested weed management practices for yield stability. May: Starting a triploid (seedless) watermelon crop in a greenhouse using a relatively new organic tool called FertilPots. In addition to the education event offerings listed above, the program has provided 1-on-1 consultations to numerous BFRs from across the state in business planning and enterprise planning, including individuals from 44 of Oklahoma's 77 counties. Our project team has also supported beginning producers in food safety education. Our programming from this project hashas directly supported 12 small produce farms to improve food safety readiness. Efforts addressed risks related to animal integration, developed farmer SOPs, and improved infrastructure such as fencing and wash/pack stations. A key partner, FreshRx, adopted new purchasing and handling SOPs, and participating farms quickly implemented safer practices (e.g., restricting dogs, improving hoop houses, and budgeting for upgrades). Additionally, an in-person trainingcovered water quality, pest prevention, and staff/volunteer training, providing farmers with practical tools to strengthen on-farm food safety. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?To this point, limited external sharing of project results has occurred, though some sharing with internal stakeholders and project collaborators has occurred. We have collected evaluation feedback from workshops and the webinar series. The webinar series included evaluations of each session and a 1-month follow-up evaluation. A brief summary of the webinar evaluations is as follows: We administered the surveys via Qualtrics. 86% of respondents rated the webinar series as "Very helpful," and 86% reported being "Much more confident" in their ability to start or improve their farm operation after the webinar series. Participants reported the intention to applylessons during webinar evaluations. Participants identified a range of takeaways they intended to apply, including business planning, financial strategies and enterprise budgeting, pursuingUSDA programs and loan applications, and recordkeeping practices. One respondent shared, "We are currently applying forgrants," while another noted the value of peer insight: "Knowing others had the same concerns and fears that I had."Inthe 1-Month follow-up survey, several reported having already applied the information, includinghaving developed business plans using the tools and resources shared, such as AG Plan. Barriers identified by respondents included a lack of startup capital and infrastructure, and challenges navigating USDA programs. These evaluation results have not yet been shared externally, but impacts from the program are being shared. In September 2025 we highlighted on our SUNUP YouTube channel and Oklahoma Pubilc Telivision a feature story on a beginning rancher who has been profoundly impacted by the support of the BFRDP program - Todd Thomas ofR&R Cattle Company in Jones, OK. The segement was calledCarrying on the Family Legacy Oklahoma Beginning Farmer Story. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the upcoming period, the project team plans to fully implement the mentorship program and launch the internship/apprenticeship program with a cohort of beginning producers. New webinar topics will be developed based on participant feedback and needs assessment data, and collaboration with tribal entities, FSA, and Ag Credit collaborationswill be expanded. A statewide BFR conference is being planned in collaboration with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry (ODAFF). This event is being planned for late february 2026 and will likely be held in NE Oklahoma in the Tulsa metro area in proximity to the Muskogee (Creek) Nation and others.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Accomplishments (September 2024 - September2025): Over the reporting period, the project team has implemented several core elements of the project in alignment with project goals/objectives. These include the following: Objective 1: Develop educational resources Oklahoma BFRs need for developing a new farm or ranch enterprises. Objective one has been addressed in the following ways: A dedicated OSU beginning farmer and rancher (BFR) program webpage was launched to serve as a central hub for information and participant engagement to capture the needs of begenning farmers and ranchers (BFRs) . A digital intake system/newsletter sign-up was developed and imbedded on the webpage to connect beginning producers with Extension educators in their region and collect needs assessment data from which to inform the development of our educational programming. When a BRF inputs their information they are contacted with relevant resources and local Extension contacts to support them. This tool has already supported direct 1-on-1 consultation with more than 140BFRs across 44 of Oklahoma's 77counties. In addition, it has served as an informal needs assessment instrument to collect information on the needs of the BFR clientele we are engaging.In November 2024, as part of the kickoff of the OSU BFRDP project we facilitated a Garlic Production Workshop that including economic enterprise budgets, variety trial information, and other pertanent resources for new/beginning farmers considering this crop. The event was attended by 22 people and included hands-on learning activities and free garlic seeds. In January 2025 we began showcasing the BFRDP program and various project effortsthrough our OSU Extension SUNUP YouTube channel. Segments thus far include an introduction to Whats New for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers?, a Can You Grow Garlic in Oklahoma?,and a segment showcasing a beginning rancher that has been supported by the program.In February 2025, the team launched a monthly e-newsletter, the OSU Extension BFR Digest, which has grown to 127subscribers and counting. The monthly digital newsletter provides timely information including upcoming educational opportunities, highlights news updates from federal partners such as FSA and NRCS, and showcases pertanent Extension fact sheets and YouTube video resources for BFRs.The flagship educational effort thusyear has been the 11-week webinar series launched in March 2025, focused on financial education. Topics included business planning, recordkeeping, taxes, enterprise budgeting, goal setting, acessing grants and loans, and more. This series attracted 623 live attendees and an additional 314 YouTube viewers (AT TIME OF THISREPORTING) through the public video archive - the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Webinar Series Video Playlist. Beyond webinars, the program developed a new OSU Extension factsheet on usingFood Hubs as a market access strategy for BFRs, launched amulit-part Market Gardening online course series.Between Novemberand September2025, the program reached 950 individuals through our 18 in-person and/or virtual educational events. Program visibility has also been supported through conference presentations, statewide news media, and direct outreach at regional farm trade shows including the OKC and Tulsa Farm Shows (as seen in the example here). Objective 2: Supporting and strengthening existing BFRs towards increased operational sustainability with emphasis ondisadvantaged BFRs. This objective has been addressed through close collaboration with the College of the Muskogee Nation (CMN). Sub-awarded funds from the project have been used to support the development of a new CMN Extension website being populated with Muskogee (Creek) Nation-specific educationalcontent to better support Native American BFRs. On May 30th 2025, a Farmer to Farmer event was facilitated in partnership with the CMN to engage BFRs from within the Muskogee (Creek) Nation. This event includes sessions on a variety of topics pertinent to BFRs, including success stories from established Creek producers. The event was attended by approximately 40 people. In addition to this, the CMN has established a monthly podcast called Chewing the Cudthat highlights CMN Extension activities and specific resources for BFRS and tribal members interested in agriculture. The September 3,2025 episode featuresthe OSU Extension BFRDP project director and higlights BFR resourcesand partnership with the CMN. On September 4th 2025, a Muskogee (Creek) NationAg Business/Beginning Farmer Summit was held. This event will broughttogether Creek tribal members (targeting prospective and new/beginning producers) with the CMN, Muscogee (Creek) NationAgricultural Department, and other resource agencies such as Tribal CDFI's and other Ag lenders, state level USDA agencies, and more. The event focused on business resources and accessing capital for tribal members getting started with an Ag venture. The eventreach over 100 people. Additionally, CMN Extension is utilizing some of the sub-awarded funds from the project to pilot a mentorship program that matches elders with younger producers to cultivate culturally significant crops. This program is currently in an early pilot phase and will continue in 2026 and beyond. Objective 3: Develop the partnerships, resources, and program infrastructure needed to launch new BFRs and to sustain early career BFRs. Wesoft-launched the Mentorship element of the project by piloting two successful farmer-mentor/mentee pairings. This has been very successful. We launched the mentorship program by pairing A+H Farm of Tuttle, OK (technically still a beginning farmer with only 6-7 years of operation, but has been extremely successful in their short time in operation) with Rancho El Rey of Mustang, OK. Due to their proximity and similar business model, it was a natural fit. The following is an example of participant feedback from this program: "The mentorship program has been such an amazing asset to our farm. To have H.R., from A + H Urban Farm, as my mentor has been so valuable. From the wisdom shared on how to set up my beds to work with the natural lay of the land, to how and when to start seeds, my time with him has been great.He even allowed me to use his BCS machine to build my first beds. Even now, being 3 months into the program, I can text him with questions and get quick answers to any questions I have. This program has saved me time, money, and kept me from making costly mistakes. I want to thank Josh Campbell and the OSU Extensionfor introducing me to this program and H.R.. I would highly encourage other beginning farmers to take advantage of the mentoring program." Beau Hague Ranchero El Rey / Cut Flower Farm and Studio, Mustang, OK Work is currently underway to formalize the mentorship program and match more mentors/mentees. We have partnered with the Oklahoma Local Ag Collaborative and other allied organizations to create a mentor/mentee database. This database currently has 50 potential mentors and over 100 people interested in mentorship. We are currently working on marketing the program and matching a cohort of individuals to participate in 2026. We have held two informational webinar meetings to address questions and market the program. Preliminary development has also begun on the BFR Apprenticeship Program, and several farms have committed to participate as farmhost sites if we can match them with apprentices. We are currently developing marketing and promotional materials, along with other elements of this portion of the project, with the anticipation of launching the apprenticeship program with a first cohort of 12 people in 2026.

Publications

• Type: Other Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Campbell, J., & Bir, C. (2024). Food hubs: Considerations for beginning farmers and ranchers. Oklahoma State University Extension. https://openresearch.okstate.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/8410f93c-3841-4a7e-953e-f8a1bb0dddb7/content