Progress 08/01/08 to 07/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: We collaborated with over 40 partners to assist socially disadvantaged farmers in MA agriculture, resulting in 110 farmers enrolling in our Explore Farming classes to assess their farm business interest. We provided access to training events for disadvantaged farmers. We sponsored trainings as follows (total number of attendees is noted after each training): Hoophouse Production - 39; Quickbooks for Farmers - 20; "Schedule F" Taxes for Farmers (2 trainings) - 20. We delivered 7 Farm Business Planning Course sessions with 132 participants. We delivered 3 each of the following Hands-on field trainings: Hoophouse Propagation and Seedling Mgmt.- 51; Equipment Maint. and Repair - 41; Irrigation - 53; Field Prep and Making Raised Beds - 37; Nutrient Mgmt. and Field Recordkeeping - 24; Weed Mgmt. - 33; Disease Mgmt. - 29; Post Harvest Handling - 4; Organic Pesticide Safety - 42; Composting - 7. Also, one Cover Cropping Workshop with 6 students. We conducted livestock workshops as follows: MPPU (4 trainings) - 116; Sheep School (2 trainings) - 49; Poultry School (8 trainings) - 137; Swine School - 32; Beef Cattle School - 35; Livestock Farm Day (2 events) - 136; Forage and Grazing Workshop - 20; Regulations for Small Livestock Farmers - 6; Meat Rabbit Workshop - 8. We conducted an all-day Farmer-to-Farmer Conference with over 140 people from 11 states. 11 farmers spoke and shared best practices and challenges with the farmer attendees. 15 exhibitors displayed their products and services. We provided 893 one-on-one TA sessions which serve as a continuation of lessons learned from classroom and hands-on training. The Distance Learning curriculum is complete, and a pilot program was conducted with 4 students in 2011. Enrollment is for the official launch of the program began in October of 2011. Visit the links below to view some of the educational videos in our curriculum: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.phpgid=105352129232&ref=ts http://www.dogooder.tv/Orgs/NESFP/default.aspx. http://vimeo.com/videos/search:nesfp/238612bc/page:1/sort:relevant/fo rmat:thumbnail http://www.youtube.com/nesfp Our website continues to expand with added resources, including current employment opportunities for underserved constituents. The site contains a Google Map allowing job seekers to identify available positions and a link to an on-line survey allowing employers to post available jobs. We updated hard copies of the Employment Guides in 2009 through 2011, which were distributed to partners and career centers, meeting a need for farm employers to be matched with experienced farm labor. New Entry continues to update its online farmland resources. There are 15 parcels of land with over 620 acres listed in our farmland database. We posted a Livestock Training program and accompanying resources to our website. Our Technical Resource Guide to Farming in MA and the EQIP guide were assigned to interns to improve the graphic design. The guides are posted to our website. The Guide to Accessing FSA Loan Programs and the Guide to Organizing a Cooperative CSA are also posted online. We are currently working on Spanish versions of these guides. PARTICIPANTS: New Entry participants are from all over the world, and include socially disadvantaged, underserved, and limited resource producers. New Entry participants are farm laborers, prospective farmers, start-up farmers, and established farmers. Farm laborers are generally not ready to enter the New Entry training program, and wish to receive on-the-job training prior to beginning their own farm enterprises. New Entry prospective farmers have an interest in establishing their own farm enterprises and generally have prior farming experience. New Entry start-up farmers have 3-4 years of farm operation experience, and receive substantial assistance from New Entry and/or other service providers. New Entry established farmers have 4-10 years of farm operations experience, and are getting established as independent producers. They continue to receive training and other technical assistance from New Entry. Currently, New Entry participants are from Argentina, Bhutan, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Democratic Republic of Congo, Germany, Haiti, Iraq, Laos, Liberia, Malaysia, Poland, Puerto Rico, Zimbabwe, and the USA. TARGET AUDIENCES: The New Entry Project Audience includes immigrants and refugees as well as other small and beginning farmers in the region who wish to obtain farming training to establish farm businesses. Our project audience also includes the consumers - those who are interested in purchasing local produce by buying CSA shares from our marketing collaborative to support the economic viability of farmers in the program. In addition, we currently have over 5,000 individuals, including friends, community members and partners who stay connected to us through our New Entry newsletter, Facebook and Twitter accounts. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The objective of farmer "clusters" for peer-to-peer discussions and mentoring is being addressed differently than we originally outlined in our proposal. Due to the increase in attendance at our Farm Business Planning Courses, our Field Based Training Workshops, and our Livestock Field Schools, informal peer-to-peer discussion and problem-solving has taken place "organically" with farmers convening their own discussions, farm site meetings, and group problem solving and we have not yet had to schedule more formal "cluster" focus groups. This may occur in the winter months around specialized topics of interest to farmers. We hosted a regional Farmer-to-Farmer conference in December 2010 with over 140 farmers from 11 states who attended to offer additional opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and sharing.
Impacts
Farmers participating in New Entry since October 2008 increased their technical crop production skills, learned and utilized farm management skills, and utilized educational resources on New Entry's website. New Entry graduated a total of 82 people from its Farm Business Planning Course, representing 69 farm businesses. All graduates completed a comprehensive farm business plan. 75 graduates are currently implementing their business plans in Massachusetts or New Hampshire. New Entry farmers are experiencing an increase in production and sales over prior years. A total of 25 New Entry farmers joined our World PEAS Marketing Collaborative to sell their produce into the 2011 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. A total of 124 large shares, 301 small shares, and 111 extended shares were purchased. Combined CSA revenues for New Entry farmers are projected to be $105,000 for the 2011 season, which represents an 18% increase over prior year earnings. In addition, New Entry farmers are selling to 3 Elder Service agencies serving homebound senior with coupon programs, and providing fresh, healthy, locally produced foods to 5 other non-profit organizations assisting low-income populations. Due to our consumer education regarding food access needs in low-income communities, a total of $3,530 was collected from shareholders in 2011 to help fund low-income programs, $2,900 of which was matched by these organizations to provide additional impact. In 2011, 3 new part-time jobs were created by expanding the CSA program, providing an important source of income for low-income local residents. We share our program resources and strategies with local, regional, and national partners. As we develop these resources for on-line use, our impact continues to broaden. All resources, including our farmland matching program, employment guide, plain language resources, livestock resources and CSA brochures are available on our website: www.nesfp.org. In addition, copies of resource guides, marketing brochures, and farm employment directories are regularly distributed through local and regional partner organizations. Our bi-monthly newsletter is currently distributed to over 5,000 individuals. These online resources are being used regularly. Most of our 425+ CSA shareholders used our website to learn about our CSA program. Over 250 trainees have taken our livestock training courses, most of whom visited our website to learn about our livestock training resources. Currently, New Entry has 30 land seeking applicants in queue to receive farmland matching services, most of whom visited our site to learn about our land match resources. During the grant period, New Entry assisted 5 farmers with successful farmland matches. Since October, 7 employment seekers have been helped by staff to navigate through the on-line employment guide. New Entry's Advisory Board was established in 2008. This Board provides direction to help New Entry meet the challenges of an environment where agricultural regulations, farmer risk, market demand, and farmer populations are constantly evolving.
Publications
- Farm Employment Guide 2011
- Technical Resource Guide to Farming in MA 2010
- Guide to Applying for EQIP Funding 2008
- Plain Language Guide to Organizing a Multi-Producer CSA 2010
- (Spanish Version) Guide to Organizing a Multi-Producer CSA 2010
- Farm Employment Guide 2009
- Farm Employment Guide 2010
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Progress 08/01/09 to 07/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: We collaborated with over 40 partners to assist socially disadvantaged farmers in MA agriculture, resulting in 79 farmers enrolling in our Explore Farming classes to assess their farm business interest. We provided access to training events for disadvantaged farmers. We sponsored trainings as follows: Winter Hoophouse Production Workshop - 39 students; Quickbooks for Farmers training - 20 students; "Schedule F" Taxes for Farmers training - 3 students. We delivered 4 FBPC sessions with 80 participants. We delivered 2 each of the following Hands-on trainings (total number of attendees is noted after each training) : Hoophouse Propagation and Seedling Mgmt.- 47; Equipment Maint. and Repair - 35; Irrigation Training - 45; Field Prep and Making Raised Beds - 33; Nutrient Mgmt. and On-Field Recordkeeping - 29; Weed Mgmt. - 27; Disease Mgmt. - 17; Post Harvest Handling - 11; Organic Pesticide Safety Training - 30. We conducted livestock workshops as follows: MPPU (3 trainings) - 100 total attendees; Sheep School - 29 attendees; Poultry School - 32 attendees; Swine School - 32 attendees; Beef Cattle School - 35 attendees; Livestock Farm Day - 65 attendees; and a Forage and Grazing Workshop - 20 attendees. We provided 598 one-on-one TA sessions which serve as a continuum of lessons learned from classroom and hands-on training. The Distance Learning curriculum is nearing completion. The following videos are complete: Seedling Training, Equipt. Training, Irrigation Training, Pest Mgmt. Training, 5 Farmer-to-Farmer Moments (Farm Financials, Crop Planning and Production, Enterprise Selection, Marketing, and Intro to Small Business), Swine School Workshop, Beef Cattle School, Schedule F Training, MPPU Regulations Training, Hoophouse Workshop , CSA Customer Instructional, Building a Greenhouse, and "What is New Entry" Videos. Visit the links below to view the educational videos noted above: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.phpgid=105352129232&ref=ts http://www.dogooder.tv/Orgs/NESFP/default.aspx. http://vimeo.com/videos/search:nesfp/238612bc/page:1/sort:relevant/fo rmat:thumbnail http://www.youtube.com/nesfp Our website continues to expand with added resources, including current employment opportunities for underserved constituents. The site contains a Google Map allowing job seekers to identify available positions and a link to an on-line survey allowing employers to post available jobs. We compiled updated hard copy Employment Guides in 2010 and 2011, which were distributed to partners and career centers, meeting a need for farm employers to be matched with experienced farm labor. New Entry continues to update its online farmland resources. There are 12 parcels of land with over 840 acres listed in our farmland database. We posted a Livestock Training program and accompanying resources to our website. Our Technical Resource Guide to Farming in MA and the EQIP guide have been assigned to interns to improve the graphic design. Once complete, the guides will be posted to our website. The Guide to Accessing FSA Loan Programs and the Guide to Organizing a Cooperative CSA are also in development. We will provide Spanish versions of these guides. PARTICIPANTS: New Entry participants are from all over the world, and include socially disadvantaged, underserved, and limited resource producers. New Entry participants are farm laborers, prospective farmers, start-up farmers, and established farmers. Farm laborers are generally not ready to enter the New Entry training program, and wish to receive on-the-job training prior to beginning their own farm enterprises. New Entry prospective farmers have an interest in establishing their own farm enterprises and generally have prior farming experience. New Entry start-up farmers have 3-4 years of farm operation experience, and receive substantial assistance from New Entry and/or other service providers. New Entry established farmers have 4-10 years of farm operations experience, and are getting established as independent producers. They continue to receive training and other technical assistance from New Entry. Currently, New Entry participants are from Bhutan, Cambodia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Kenya, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, USA, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. TARGET AUDIENCES: The New Entry Project Audience includes immigrants and refugees as well as other small and beginning farmers in the region who wish to obtain farming training to establish farm businesses. Our project audience also includes the consumers - those who are interested in purchasing local produce by buying CSA shares from our farmer cooperative. In addition, we currently have over 3,000 individuals, including friends, community members and partners who stay connected to us through our New Entry newsletter, CSA Facebook and CSA Twitter accounts. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The objective of farmer "clusters" for peer-to-peer discussions and mentoring is being addressed differently than we originally outlined in our proposal. Due to the increase in attendance at our Farm Business Planning Courses, our Field Based Training Workshops, and our Livestock Field Schools, informal peer-to-peer discussion and problem-solving has taken place "organically" with farmers convening their own discussions, farm site meetings, and group problem solving and we have not yet had to schedule more formal "cluster" focus groups. This may occur in the winter months around specialized topics of interest to farmers. We are also planning to host a Farmer-to-Farmer conference this winter (with RMA funding) to offer additional opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and sharing.
Impacts
Farmers participating in New Entry since October 2008 have increased their technical crop production skills, trained and shared practical farm skills with each other, and utilized educational resources on New Entry's website. New Entry graduated total of 50 people from its FBPC, representing 42 farm businesses. All graduates completed a comprehensive business plan. 28 graduates are currently implementing their business plans on farmland. New Entry farmers are experiencing an increase in production and sales over prior years. A total of 21 New Entry farmers have joined together into a cooperative to sell their produce into the 2010 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. A total of 195 large shares, 99 small shares, and 106 extended shares were purchased. Combined CSA revenues for New Entry farmers are projected to be about $86,000 for the 2010 season, which represents a 25% increase over New Entry farmer earnings for the 2009 CSA. In addition, New Entry farmers are selling into a new Senior and WIC coupon program, which provides fresh, healthy, locally produced foods to low-income populations. New Entry farmer earnings are projected to be $9,500 for these sales. We were successful in increasing the share numbers by encouraging customers to donate to a share subsidy program. CSA customers helped subsidize an additional 7 CSA shares for East Boston Neighborhood Health Center low-income clients. We share our resources and strategies with local, regional, and national partners. As we develop these resources for on-line use, our impact continues to broaden. All resources, including our farmland matching program, employment guide, plain language resources, livestock resources and CSA brochures are available on our website: www.nesfp.org. In addition, copies of resource guides, marketing brochures, and farm employment directories are regularly distributed through local and regional partner organizations. Our bi-monthly newsletter is currently distributed to over 3,000 individuals. These online resources are being used regularly. Most of our 300+ CSA shareholders used our website to learn about our CSA program. Over 200 trainees have taken our livestock training courses, most of whom visited our site to learn about our livestock training resources. Currently, New Entry has 26 land seeking applicants in queue to receive farmland matching services, most of whom visited our site to learn about our land match resources. Since October, New Entry has assisted five farmers with successful farmland matches. Since October, 7 employment seekers have been helped by staff to navigate through the on-line employment guide. We currently have 201 followers of our CSA Facebook account and 385 followers of our CSA Twitter Account. New Entry's first ever Advisory Board was established in 2008, with the initial meeting held in August. A second meeting was held in January 2009. This Board provides prospective, guidance and direction to help New Entry meet the challenges of an environment where agricultural regulations, farmer risk, market demand, and farmer populations are constantly evolving.
Publications
- Farm Employment Guide 2009
- Farm Employment Guide 2010
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Progress 08/01/08 to 07/31/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: We collaborated with over 40 partners to assist socially disadvantaged farmers in MA agriculture. Through our outreach efforts, we connected with 29 farmers who enrolled in our Explore Farming classes to assess their farm business interest. We provided access to training events for disadvantaged farmers. Ten New Entry trainees attended a marketing field trip. 16 trainees met a local restaurant owner and learned about small business ownership. 6 trainees attended the Alternative Greenhouse Crop workshop. 2 staff and 4 New Entry Farmers participated in a CRAFT workshop. We delivered 2 FBPC sessions with 45 participants. Courses were as follows: Intro to Farm Business Planning and Enterprise Selection; Crop Planning and Production; Equipment and Supplies Sourcing; Startup budgets; Marketing and Sales; Farm Financials; Writing the Business Plan; Business field trip. The 2009 Hands-on trainings were conducted as follows: Hoophouse propagation and Seedling Mgmt. - 20 attendees; Equipment Maintenance and Repair (Farm Safety I) - 11 attendees; Irrigation Training and Set-Up - 24 attendees; Field Prep and Making Raised Beds - 17 attendees; Soil Testing and Nutrient Mgmt. - 14 attendees; Weed Mgmt. - 9 attendees; Disease Mgmt. - 12 attendees; Post Harvest Handling - 2 attendees. We conducted our first ever livestock curriculum, with workshops as follows: MPPU training - 25 farmers and 25 regulatory attendees; Sheep School - 29 attendees; Poultry School - 32 attendees; Swine School - 32 attendees. A total of 319 one-on-one technical assistance sessions were provided which serve as a continuum of lessons learned from classroom and hands-on training. We are developing on-line workshops using distance learning technologies. In July, we hired a VISTA member who specializes in digital media to lead the initiative. On-line courses are expected to be available by 2010. Our website continues to expand with added resources, including current employment opportunities for underserved constituents. The site contains (i) a Google Map which allows job seekers to identify available positions and (b) a link to an on-line survey which allows employers to post information about available jobs. Since October, staff met with three job seekers and assisted them to navigate through the on-line employment guide and to make phone calls. We compiled an updated hard copy Employment Guide which was distributed to partners and career centers, meeting a need for farm employers to be matched with available and experienced farm labor. New Entry continues to update its online farmland resources. There are 20 parcels of land with over 2,000 acres listed in our farmland database. In addition, we posted a new Livestock Training program and accompanying resources to our website. Both our Technical Resource Guide to Farming in MA and the EQIP guide have been assigned to interns to improve the graphic design. Once complete, the guides will be posted to our website. The Guide to Accessing FSA Loan Programs and the Guide to Organizing a Cooperative CSA are also in development. New Entry plans to provide Spanish versions of its Plain Language guides. PARTICIPANTS: New Entry participants are from all over the world, and include socially disadvantaged, underserved, and limited resource producers. New Entry participants are farm laborers, prospective farmers, start-up farmers, and established farmers. Farm laborers are generally not ready to enter the New Entry training program, and wish to receive on-the-job training prior to beginning their own farm enterprises. New Entry prospective farmers have an interest in establishing their own farm enterprises and generally have prior farming experience. New Entry start-up farmers have 3-4 years of farm operation experience, and receive substantial assistance from New Entry and/or other service providers. New Entry established farmers have 4-10 years of farm operations experience, and are getting established as independent producers. They continue to receive training and other technical assistance from New Entry. Currently, New Entry participants are from India, Iraq, Liberia, Vietnam, USA, Cambodia, Cameroon, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Malaysia, Korea, Ghana, Zambia, Puerto Rico, and Zimbabwe. TARGET AUDIENCES: The New entry Project Audience includes immigrants and refugees as well as other small and beginning farmers in the region who wish to obtain farming training to establish farm businesses. Our project audience also includes the consumers - those who are interested in purchasing local produce by buying CSA shares from our farmer cooperative. In addition, we currently have over 3,000 individuals, including friends, community members and partners who stay connected to us through our New Entry newsletter, CSA Facebook and CSA Twitter accounts. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The objective of farmer "clusters" for peer-to-peer discussions and mentoring is being addressed differently than we originally outlined in our proposal. Due to the increase in attendance at our Farm Business Planning Courses, our Field Based Training Workshops, and our Livestock Field Schools, informal peer-to-peer discussion and problem-solving has taken place "organically" with farmers convening their own discussions, farm site meetings, and group problem solving and we have not yet had to schedule more formal "cluster" focus groups. This may occur in the winter months around specialized topics of interest to farmers. We are also planning to host a Farmer-to-Farmer conference this winter (with RMA funding) to offer additional opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and sharing.
Impacts
Farmers participating in New Entry since October 2008 have increased their technical crop production skills, trained and shared practical farm skills with each other, and utilized educational resources on New Entry's website. Since October, a total of 29 potential farmers enrolled in our Explore Farming classes to assess their farming interest and a total of 45 people enrolled in the FBPC. New Entry graduated total of 23 people from its FBPC, representing 19 farm businesses. All graduates completed a comprehensive business plan. 12 new graduates are currently implementing their business plans on farmland, and another 9 New Entry farmers graduates began another season of business/production plan implementation. New Entry farmers are experiencing an increase in production and sales over prior years. A total of 20 New Entry farmers have joined together into a cooperative to sell their produce into the 2009 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. A total of 218 CSA shares were purchased by customers (double over 2008). Combined CSA revenues for New Entry farmers are projected to be about $67,000 for the 2009 season. We were successful in increasing the share numbers by encouraging customers to donate to a share subsidy program. CSA customers helped subsidize 8 CSA shares for East Boston Neighborhood Health Center low-income clients. We share our resources and strategies with local, regional, and national partners. As we develop these resources for on-line use, our impact continues to broaden. All resources, including our farmland matching program, employment guide, plain language resources, livestock resources and CSA brochures are available on our website: www.nesfp.org. In addition, copies of resource guides, marketing brochures, and farm employment directories are regularly distributed through local and regional partner organizations. Our bi-monthly newsletter is currently distributed to over 3,000 individuals. These online resources are being used regularly. Most of our 218 CSA shareholders used our website to learn about our CSA program. A total of 90 trainees have taken our new livestock training courses, most of whom visited our site to learn about our livestock training resources. Currently, New Entry has 26 land seeking applicants in queue to receive farmland matching services, most of whom visited our site to learn about our land match resources. Since October, New Entry has successfully matched three farmers with available land. Since October, 5 employment seekers have been helped by staff to navigate through the on-line employment guide. We currently have 49 followers of our CSA Facebook account and 35 followers of our CSA Twitter Account. New Entry's first ever Advisory Board was established in 2008, with the initial meeting held in August. A second meeting was held in January 2009. This new Board provides prospective, guidance and direction to help New Entry meet the challenges of an environment where agricultural regulations, farmer risk, market demand, and farmer populations are constantly evolving.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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