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

Outputs
Target Audience:HDFFA's target audience includes Beginning Farmers and Ranchers (BFRs) in Categories II-IV (1-10 years of experience), with more experienced producers in Category V (10+ years) serving as cohort mentors and peer educators. These producers are based in Central Oregon, specifically Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook Counties, and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation. All produce food primarily for the local and regional food economy, with some serving markets across Oregon. HDFFA estimates that approximately 250 beginning farmers and ranchers are currently producing food within this region, contributing to Central Oregon's local food system. Of these, about 80 are significantly engaged in direct-to-consumer and wholesale markets, such as farmers markets, CSAs, restaurants, and retail outlets. In 2024-25, 60 producers are HDFFA Partners, paying a modest annual fee of $50 to participate in HDFFA's network. Partners receive inclusion in the HDFFA Food & Farm Directory, free access to workshops, peer-learning, and networking events, and opportunities for mentorship and technical assistance that support their business and production goals. The majority of HDFFA's farmer and rancher Partners operate small farms and ranches under 25 acres and identify as economically disadvantaged or socially underserved. Many are first-generation farmers, women, or Indigenous producers working to build new enterprises on limited acreage and with limited access to capital. These producers are deeply connected to place and community and are motivated by the belief that local food production contributes to the health and resilience of Central Oregon's people and ecosystems. Farmers and ranchers in this region face a unique combination of environmental and economic challenges. Central Oregon's high-desert climate - with short growing seasons, limited rainfall, and persistent drought - demands adaptability and technical skill. Meanwhile, the rapid pace of regional development has driven up land and water costs, further complicating the path to success for new and small-scale operations. In Jefferson County and on the Warm Springs Reservation, producers also face limited infrastructure, longer distances to markets, and reduced access to technical assistance and financial services. Despite these barriers, the farmers and ranchers we serve continue to grow an extraordinary diversity of crops and livestock for their communities: vegetables, fruits, grains, eggs, meats, flowers, and value-added goods that reach local households, restaurants, and institutions. Many of these producers are adopting regenerative practices, such as soil building, rotational grazing, and water conservation, to sustain their operations in a changing climate. Through capacity-building programs, cohort mentorship, and relationship-driven support, HDFFA works to ensure that these beginning producers not only survive but thrive - anchoring a more equitable, connected, and sustainable food system for the region and the state of Oregon. Changes/Problems:In this reporting period, the Agricultural Support team at HDFFA has gone from one employee to three, though has also simultaneously lost the longest tenured Agricultural Support team member. We have navigated this loss of institutional knowledge by working to become more agile and responsive to community needs. Our investment in the community of growers of Central Oregon has only increased in this time, and our work facilitating the Farmer/Rancher Needs Assessment and other difficult conversations with producers has kept our team oriented to the current state of being a producer in this region. Staff turnover always represents a transition, but the work HDFFA does is profoundly grounded in the individuals and relationships that form our food system. As such, our work this reporting period has included a substantial, and we think productive, confrontation with who we serve and how we want to serve them. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The HDFFA Agricultural Support Team provided training and professional development opportunities to our partners by organizing opportunities through key regional partners as well as providing curated resources that are self-paced and digitally-mediated. Additionally, to supplement the technical, on-farm training we do, we are mindful to strategically pair partners with community mentors for professional development that speaks to the all-encompassing nature of agricultural work. For many of our partners, work and home become integrated, and we view it as a necessary and difficult to access area of professional development to navigate the balance between the two. We provide ongoing access for BFRs to experienced local farmers and one local farm business coach to assess the boundaries and business planning considerations necessary for them to thrive. For instance, we organized a cohort of BFRs in our Thriving Entrepreneurs program to provide technical assistance and direct payments for produce. For crop planning technical assistance, we provided access to the Live Crop Production Course through the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project. This served our 6 member cohort for 9 weeks. To complement this course and the Thriving Entrepreneurs program more generally, we partnered with Farm Coach Katia to provide functional business planning coaching on topics like goal setting, boundaries, and work life balance in the agricultural context. We also administer the HDFFA On-Farm Efficiency Grant annually, awarding up to $3,000 to local producers for investments that make their operations more viable, safe, and sustainable. One of the categories the applicants can apply under is for Professional Development courses, in which on-farm consultants, business workshops, or technical assistance courses are acceptable uses of the funds. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?HDFFA maintains a farmer/rancher newsletter, reaching more than 130 Central Oregonians monthly. This features upcoming events, general resources for our readers, and updates on the results of our programming. Engagement with the newsletter is well above industry average, and we are building an archive of them in our upcoming website rebuild to document past outreach. Additionally, the Farmer/Rancher Needs Assessment is being developed for dissemination throughout the Central Oregon food system. The resource is designed to be meaningful to farmers and ranchers and so will be shared via the media and in person channels through which we normally interact; the resource will also be meaningful to the technical assistance, government, business partners, and more that comprise the rest of the local food system. As such, we aim for physical and digital distribution through direct outreach to key partners. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, HDFFA plans to implement programming across our suite of Agricultural Support goals. Comprising the Small Farm Coordinator's FTE is the execution of significant technical assistance and networking events. We will deliver and assess the 2025-26 Growing Together Cohort and turn our attention to refining and reinstating the 2026-27 Growing Together Cohort. HDFFA is committed to being responsive and diligent to the emergent issues facing the agricultural community here, and plans to implement relevant and timely content within the same cohort structure in response to participant feedback. HDFFA will also have the opportunity to deepen our accessibility work through Wheel the World and the High Desert Food Trail (released biennially), onboarding another set of interested farm partners and measuring impact through reported sales changes and website hits for ongoing partners. Our work in the environmental advocacy space among agricultural producers is set to increase, with ongoing work by water rights and irrigation partners becoming more involved in on-farm considerations in 2026. We continue to build relationships with partner organizations and partners concerned with environmental issues to establish a community of work within HDFFA's programs. Last, the next reporting period is set to include our implementation of a farm business plan with WSCAT on the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation. The plans for a major community greenhouse install continue to move forward, with HDF

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Year 1 of this grant marked a period of strong progress, strategic partnerships, and meaningful engagement across Central Oregon's agricultural community. With the support of this funding, HDFFA advanced each of the five core objectives designed to strengthen the region's farm viability, support beginning farmers and ranchers, improve accessibility in agritourism, uplift producer voices in policy discussions, and expand food sovereignty efforts in Warm Springs. The accomplishments outlined in this report reflect both early successes and the foundation we are building for continued impact over the next two years. Accomplishments in each objective area are as follows: Objective I: In February 2025, HDFFA hired its Small Farms Coordinator, filling the vacated role in the regional OSU Extension office and re-establishing a full-time agricultural technical assistant serving Central Oregon. Their role includes but is not limited to providing 1:1 technical assistance upon request, designing curricula for group educational and networking opportunities, facilitating the Farmer/Rancher Needs Assessment, and building programs around emergent regional topics in the agricultural and natural resources sectors. Objective II: HDFFA is actively convening a cohort of 14 BFRs from throughout Central Oregon to facilitate community building and mentor on the pressing challenges faced by regional growers. The 2025-26 season is underway and will last for 6 months, with convenings taking place both digitally and in person. Our topic areas include business planning, bioregional adaptations, crop and livestock management strategies, selection of business type and managing associated outlets, and digital marketing, finally culminating in a buyer-seller mixer in which the participants will apply learnings from the cohort to establish business relationships with local food buyers. Objective III: HDFFA has partnered with Wheel the World to ensure that experiences of the agricultural facets of Central Oregon are accessible to as many people as possible. While the realities of on-farm environments will not necessarily be accessible to all bodies, our partnership with Wheel the World aims to give visitors the information they need to make informed choices, while also helping businesses understand and improve their accessibility. 10 HDFFA partners have been onboarded with Wheel the World in 2025, representing a variety of farms, farmers markets, farmstands, and vineyards that have a demonstrated commitment to providing their services to as many visitors as possible. Objective IV: In March 2025, Representatives from HDFFA participated in Small Farms Mean Business Rally Day in Salem, OR. We joined over 100 Oregon farmers and agricultural advocates to speak with state representatives in the Capitol. HDFFA's Staff and Board brought the particular concerns of Central Oregonians to a conversation largely centered on issues in the Willamette Valley, namely water rights legislation and agritourism considerations that uniquely affect our region. We also participate in monthly meetings with the Deschutes Basin Water Collaborative, supporting local irrigators to advocate for their conservation interests to their respective Irrigation Districts. Finally, HDFFA supports the resiliency of Central Oregon farmers and ranchers to the material, personal, and emotional effects of extreme weather conditions such as wildfire or unseasonable frost through Climate Grief facilitations. Objective V: HDFFA works in close partnership with the Warm Springs Community Action Team (WSCAT) to continue supporting the food sovereignty of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Through funding and technical assistance, HDFFA is supporting the construction and implementation of a variety of greenhouse projects in Warm Springs. In addition to partnering with WSCAT, we have supported the Warm Springs Pharmacy and Warm Springs Community Center with their respective greenhouse projects.

Publications