Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Immigrant and refugee beginning farmers in Arizona face critical barriers to success, including lack of productive resources, low financial literacy, inaccessible and inadequate training options, and unfamiliarity with markets and USDA service providers. Through the "New Roots in Arizona" project, The International Rescue Committee will support 100 socially disadvantaged beginning farmers to gain the skills, resources, and opportunities to start or grow their farm businesses. Objectives include (1) improving climate-smart production, (2) improving food safety practices, and (3) improving business skills of 100 beginner farmers, and (4) assisting 70 beginning farmers to enter or expand their markets. Activities include providing, training, land, and productive resources; tours; market brokering; and 1:1 technical assistance during production, harvest, and market activities. This will result in 23 new farm startups, 43 growers who are prepared to start farming, 80 farmers who make beneficial changes in food safety and climate-smart agricultural practices, 70 farmers who improve their marketing and business skills, 55 farmers who gain a new market, and 60 farmers who increase their income. Collaborators include New Roots Farmers in Tucson and Phoenix, AZ, Pivot Produce, Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, Literacy Connects, Tucson Community Supported Agriculture, Spaces of Opportunity, Maricopa County Department of Public Health, and Pinnacle Prevention. 100% of federal funds are allocated to nongovernmental organizations and 100% serves socially disadvantaged, limited resource beginning farmers in Arizona.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The goal of New Roots in Arizonais to support 100 underserved new American farmers in Arizona to gain the skills, resources, and market opportunities to start and expand their farm businesses.Objective 1: Improve climate-smart production practices of 100 socially disadvantagedbeginning farmers in Arizona from enrollment to project completion through providing access to improved production resources and delivering on-farm training and one-on-one technical assistance.Objective 2: Improve the food safety practices of 100 socially disadvantagedbeginning farmers in Arizona from enrollment to project completion through providing training and one-on-one food safety technical assistance.Objective 3: Assist 100 socially disadvantagedbeginning farmers in Arizona to improve their business management and marketing skills from enrollment to project completion through providing targeted support in business planning, recordkeeping, and marketing practices.Objective 4: Assist 70 socially disadvantagedbeginning farmers in Arizona to enter or expand their markets from enrollment to project completion through developing and brokering new market opportunities.
Project Methods
Efforts:Provide training and technical assistance in specialty crop production with a focus on specific water and soil management practices for brittle, arid environments.Develop, test,and distribute a Training Toolkit in Small-Scale, Desert-Climate Agriculture for English Language Learning (ELL)/Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) AudiencesOn-farm classes in food safety SOPs and 1:1 technical assistance in food safety recordkeeping for market complianceGroup training and one-on-one support in farm business planning,business management, andcredit counseling.Manage 8.55 acres of farm incubation land across the 2 project sites (1.25 acres in Tucson and 7.3 acres in the Phoenix area) to asssit farmers with farmland access and productive resources.Organize 6 tours to other farms that are implementing relevant conservation and climate-smart practices or invite these producers for on-farm "guest speaker" workshops.Organize 12 tours to potential market venues for farmers to learn about various options for marketing their crops.Work with existingmarket partners to broker relationships and explore new marketing opportunities, including co-creating market venues in the low-income/low-access neighborhoods where many farmers live.Provide technical assistance in marketing activities.Evaluation Activities:Record baseline and annual endline scores for crop management, food safety, marketing, and business managementin IRC's Farming Skills Benchmarking Tool in ETO database, and use this for monitoring and impact evaluationConduct 1:1 TA meetings with each farmer at least once per year:Record case notes in ETO database. Annual qualitative review used to monitor project and adjust implementation plan, and also used in combination with Benchmarking Tool scores to evaluateoverall impactRecord farmer participation in markets,sales records, and review business plan in ETO database. Baseline and endline values will be used to evaluate project impact.Engage an external evaluator:Use data collected via the tools listed aboveDesign qualitative data collection tools, collect dataConduct analysis to assess farmer outcomes, analyze project methods and tools for efficacy, and identify keys to success