Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience:
Nothing Reported
Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Through the collaborative efforts of 129 partners during the four years of Project FORGE, we were able to provide a much needed service to Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in the 57-county service area. 4,193 producers attended the events. Participants were surveyedat most of the events on quality of service provided. 96% agreed with the overall educational puropose of the programs provided. 80% reported an increase in theirunderstanding and 77% anticipated changes in their operations. Although only 46% of the suveyed said they would adopt the recommended changes, 85% anticipated benefiting economically by making some changes. 100% of those surveyed said they would attend another event and would also recommend events to other farmers and ranchers.. This project also provided technical assistance to Hispanic farmers and ranchers in completing USDA and other loan applications. This effort has resulted in a 41% loan approval through the end of the project year for a total of $8.5 million. The assistance provided through this project continues to have a great impact on the Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in the 57-county service area. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Activities include surveys, assessments, collaborating, facilitating, and teaching. Total events include 68 workshops, field days, or major confeences. Service includeed providing technical assistance on NRCS conservation practices to 4,193 low-income Hispanic producers, 1,336 producers were assisted on a one-on-one basis with their conservation practice. Agricultural specialists also assisted farmers and ranchers on 383 separate occasions with USDA and other loan applicatins. Products include an extensive database covering the 57-county Texas/New Mexico service area. With a current count of 28,898, this database is continuously being updated to obtain a more accurate count of Hispoanic Farmers and Ranchers in the area. Products also availableto the Hispanic Farmer and Ranchers during training events include risk management training curricula at 61 events, livestock curricula at 43 events, and Finance curricula at 51 events of the total 68 events. Dissemination of information includes 23,585 mailings to farmers and ranchers notifying them of upcoming field days and training events. 50 public service announcements were also published in either newsletters or newspapers promoting and informing the public of the work provided through the FORGE Project. Power point presentations were used during training events for Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers to encourage their participation in USDA programs. USDA informationa brochures were also available at all workshops, field days, and training events.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: OUTPUTS: Activities include surveys, assessments, facilitating, and teaching. Events include 16 workshops, field days, or major conferences. Services include providing technical assistance on NRCS conservation practices to 794 low-income Hispanic producers. 392 producers were assisted on a 1-on-1 basis with their conservation practice. Agricultural specialists assisted farmers and ranchers on 132 separate occasions with USDA Loan Program applications. Products include an extensive database covering the 57-county Texas/New Mexico service area. With a current count of 28,898, this database is continuously updated to obtain a more accurate count of Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in the area. Products also available during training events include risk management training curricula at all 16 events, livestock curricula at 9 events and Finance curricula at 11 of the 16 events. Dissemination of information included 7,415 mailings to farmers and ranchers about upcoming field days and training events. 15 public service announcements were also published in either newsletters or newspapers promoting and informing the public of the work provided through the FORGE Project. Power Point presentations were used during training events for to encourage their participation in USDA programs. USDA informational brochures were also available at all workshops, field days and training events. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals: Omar Garza, Project Director, responsible for the overall performance and financial reporting of the project, George Bennack, Executive Director for Business and Rural Development, responsible for insuring that Project FORGE collaborated effectively with other UTPA rural programs and projects. Catalina Resto, olffice assistant who was responsible for administrative support for Project FORGE. Partner Organizations: Texas/Mexico Border Coalition CBO, AgriLIFE Extension, Texas Department of AG., Grazing Lands Conservation Initative, Praire View A&M, Bexas County Beef Council, USDA/NRCS, USDA/RD, USDA/FSA, Palo Alto College, Tip of Texas Ag. Producers, and Starr Co., SWCD #332. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target Audience: The targeted audiences served by this project were the low-income Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in the 57-county service area. Efforts used to deliver knowledge included 1) providing training events with Spanish translation as needed 2) providing technical assistance to ensure the completion of USDA loan applications by bi-lingual specialists. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
IMPACT: 2011/09 TO 2012/08 Through the collaborative efforts of 32 partners and other groups, Project FORGE was able to provide a much needed service to Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in the 57-county service area. 355 or 65% of the 1129 total participants in the 16 events or trainings were Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers who attended the events made available through this collaborative efforts. Participants at several of the training events were surveyed on the quality of the education provided. 322 evaluations were filled out at the 16 training events from total participants or approximately 90% of all participants turned in completed evaluation forms. 100% agreed with the overall educational purpose of the programs provided. 80% of those surveyed reported an increase in their level of understanding and 75% anticipated changes in their operations. Only 45% of the surveyed participans said they would adopt the recommended changes, 85% anticipated benefiting economically by making some changes necessary to run a more economically feasible operation. 100% of the surveyed said that they would definitely attend another event and would also recommend events to other farmers and ranchers. This project also provided assistance with NRCS conservation practices and other USDA farm programs to 392 farmers and ranchers of which 55% were primarily Hispance producers. 116 received one-on-one technical assistance through this project. Through PORGE Project technical assistance was provided to Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in completing USDA Loan applications. This effort resulted in a 48% loan approval through the end of August for a total of $1.5 million. The assistance provided through this project continues to have a great impact on the Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in; the 57-county service area.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 09/01/10 to 08/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Activities include, collaborating, facilitating, and teaching. Events include 18 workshops, field days, or major conferences. Services included providing technical assistance on USDA conservation practices to 1,129 low income Hispanic producers. 109 producers were assisted one-on-one with their conservation practice. Agricultural specialists also assisted on 116 separate occasions with USDA Loan Program applications. Products include: extensive database covering the 57 -county Texas/New Mexico area. With a current count of 28,898, this database is continually updated to get a more accurate count of Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in the service area. Products available to the Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers during training events include risk management training curricula at all 18 events, livestock curricula at 8 events and Finance curricula at 13 of the 18 events. Dissemination of information includes 7,118 mailings to farmers and ranchers notifying them of upcoming field days and training events. 10 public service announcemtns were also published in newsletters or newspapers promoting and informing the public of the work provided through the FORGE Project. Power point presentations were used during training events for Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers to encourage their participation in USDA programs. USDA informational brochures were also available at all events. PARTICIPANTS: Project staff included: 1) Omar Garza, Project Director, 2) George Bennack, Executive Director for Business and Rural Development, 3) Catalina Resto, who provided administrative support. Primary partner organizations included: 1) Texas/Mexico Border Coalition CBO;, which provided two Co-Project Directors; Fidel del Barrio and Aisha Cruz; 2) Texas AgriLIFE Extension (TALE) Service, which assisted with training events; 3) Rural Conservationa & Development Areas (RC&Ds), especially Alamo RC&D; 4) Natural Resource and Conservation Services (NRCS) who assisted with training events and technical assistance; 5) Texas Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) especially Webb County SWCDS;, which assisted and facilitated with training events and technical assistence; 6) Heifer International and New Mexico State University assisting in the stratigic planning. Other collaboarators included: 1) Frontera Agricultual Risk Management (FARM) Project, a TMBC project that provided training to Hispanic farmers and ranchers; 2) Palo Alto College; 3) Tip of Texas Agriculture Producers; 4) Capital Farm Credit; 5) Prairie View A&M University; 6) San Antonio River Authority; 7) Texas Olive Oil Council 8) Bexas Co. Beef Council and several other entities who contributed to the training events. TARGET AUDIENCES: The targeted were the low-income Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in the 57-county area. Efforts to deliver knowledge included: 1) providing training events with Spanish translation available as needed; 2) providing technical assistance for NRCS conservation practices by bi-lingual specialists; 3) providing technical assistance to ensure the completion of USDA loan applications by bi-lingual specialists. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals: Omar Garza, Project Director, responsible for the overall performance and financial reporting of the project. George Bennack, Executive Director for Business and Rural Development, responsible for insuring that Project FORGE collaborated effectively with other UTPA rural programs and projects. Catalina Resto, office assistant who was responsible for administrative support for Project FORGE. Partner Organizations: Texas/Mexico Border Coalition CBO, Texas Olive Council, Middle Rio Grande RC&D, AgriLIFE Extension, Texas Department of Ag., Grazing Lands Conservation Initative, Praire View A&M, Bexar County Beef Council, USDA/ARS, Land Stewardship Project, Webb SWCD, USDA/RD, USDA/ASCR, USDA/FSA, San Antonio River Authority, Palo Alto College, Tip of Texas Ag. Producers TARGET AUDIENCES: Target Audiences: The targeted audiences served by this project were the low-income Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in the 57-county service area. Efforts used to deliver knowledge included 1) providing training events with Spanish translation available as needed 2) providing technical assistance for NRCS conservation practices by bi-lingual specialists 3) providing technical assistance to ensure the completion of USDA loan applications by bi-lingual specialists. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Through the collaborative efforts of 36 partners and other groups, Project FORGE was able to provide a much needed service to Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in the 57-county service area. 734 or 65% of the 1129 total participants in the 18 events or trainings were Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers who attended the events made available through this collaborative efforts. Participants at several of the training events were surveyed on the quality of the education provided. 342 evaluations were filled out at the 18 training events from total participants or approximately 1/3 of all participants turned in completed evaluation forms. 100% agreed with the overall educational purpose of the programs provided. 80% of those surveyed reported an increase in their level of understanding and 75% anticipated changes in their operations. Only 45% of the surveyed participans said they would adopt the recommended changes, 85% anticipated benefiting economically by making some changes necessary to run a more economically feasible operation. 100% of the surveyed said that they would definitely attend another event and would also recommend events to other farmers and ranchers. This project also provided assistance with NRCS conservation practices and other USDA farm programs to 1129 farmers and ranchers of which 734 (64%) were primarily Hispance producers. 116 received one-on-one technical assistance through this project. Through PORGE Project technical assistance was provided to Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in completing USDA Loan applications. This effort resulted in a 48% loan approval through the end of August for a total of $2.1 million. The assistance provided through this project continues to have a great impact on the Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in; the 57-county service area.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Activities include surveys, assessments, collaborating, facilitating, and teaching. Events include 15 workshops, field days, or major conferences. Services included providing technical assistance on NRCS conservation practices to 1,539 low-income Hispanic producers. 553 producers were assisted on a one-on-one basis with their conservation practice. Agricultural specialists also assisted farmers and ranchers on 77 separate occasions with USDA Loan Program applications. Products include an extensive database covering the 57-county Texas/New Mexico service area. With a current count of 28,898, this database is continuously being updated to obtain a more accurate count of Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in the service area. Products also available to the Hispanic Farmer and Ranchers during training events include risk management training curricula at all 15 events, livestock curricula at 11 events and Finance curricula at 6 of the 15 events. Dissemination of information includes 3,037 mailings to farmers and ranchers notifying them of upcoming field days and training events. 20 public service announcements were also published in either newsletters or newspapers promoting and informing the public of the work provided through the FORGE Project. Power Point presentations were used during training events for Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers to encourage their participation in USDA programs. USDA informational brochures were also available at all workshops, field days and training events. PARTICIPANTS: Project staff included: 1) Omar Garza, Project Director, who was responsible for the overall performance and financial reporting of the project; 2) George Bennack, Executive Director for Business and Rural Development, who was responsible for insuring that Project FORGE collaborated effectively with other UTPA rural programs and projects (5% time and effort), and; 3) Catalina Resto, who was responsible for administrative support for Project FORGE (10% time and effort). Primary partner organizations included: 1) Texas/Mexico Border Coalition, CBO, which provided the project with two Co-Project Directors Fidel del Barrio and Aisha Cruz who assisted with training events and technical assistance for the project participants; 2) Texas AgriLIFE Extension (TALE) Service, which assisted with training events for the project participants; 3) Rural Conservation and Development Areas (RC & Ds), specifically Alamo RC & D, which assisted and facilitated with training events for the project participants; 4) Natural Resource and Conservation Services (NRCS) which assisted with training events and technical assistance; 5) Texas Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) specifically Hidalgo and Starr County SWCDs, which assisted and facilitated with training events and technical assistance; 6) Heifer International and New Mexico State University assisting in the strategic planning of the project. Other collaborators included: 1) Frontera Agricultural Risk Management (FARM) Project, a TMBC project that provided training to Hispanic farmers and ranchers; 2) Palo Alto College, which provided assistance for training events; 3) Holistic Management International, which assisted and facilitated with training events; 4) Tip of Texas Agriculture Producers, a Farmers Cooperative Society; 5) Capital Farm Credit, a lending company; 6) Prairie View A&M University; 7) San Antonio River Authority and several other entities who contributed to the training events. TARGET AUDIENCES: The targeted audiences served by this project were the low-income Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in the 57-county service area. Efforts used to deliver knowledge included 1) the provision of training events with Spanish translation available as needed 2) the provision of technical assistance for NRCS conservation practices by bi-lingual specialists 3) the provision of technical assistance to ensure the completion of USDA loan applications by bi-lingual specialists. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Through the collaborative efforts of 25 partners and other groups, Project FORGE was able to provide a much needed service to Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in the 57-county service area. 583 primarily Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers attended the 15 events made available through these collaborative efforts. Participants at several of the training events were surveyed on the quality of the education provided. 96% agreed with the overall educational purpose of the programs provided. 80% of those surveyed reported an increase in their level of understanding and 77% anticipated changes in their operations. Although only 46% of the surveyed participants said they would adopt the recommended changes, 84% anticipated benefiting economically by making some changes necessary to run a more economically feasible operation. 100% of those surveyed said that they would definitely attend another event and would also recommend events to other farmers and ranchers. This project also provided assistance with NRCS conservation practices to 1,539 Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers. 986 primarily Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers received payments for NRCS conservation practices available through USDA. 553 or 56% of these farmers and ranchers also received one-on-one technical assistance through this project. Through the FORGE project technical assistance was also provided to Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in completing USDA Loan applications. This effort has resulted in a 35% loan approval through the end of August for a total of $1.1 million. Of the $2.0 million pending, $815,000 was submitted in August. The assistance provided through this project continues to have a great impact on the Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers in the 57-county service area.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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