Progress 08/15/11 to 08/14/14
Outputs
Target Audience: These programs educated and served aspiring and beginning farmers, and involved the expertise of experienced-farmer mentors and teachers in the Northeast United States, specifically Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? All programs in this project are focused on the training and development of skills to become a more capable and confident organic or sustainable farmer. Twice-yearly meetings among participating organizations (NOFA chapters and MOFGA) provided a total of 6 trainings that built organizational capacity to address the challenges faced by beginning farmers and their experienced-farmer hosts and mentors. Each organization built its capacity to field questions regarding on-farm labor laws in their state, through the assistance of an agricultural law firm, Law for Food. Core Competencies Tracking: A self-guided assessment tool of farming production and business skills is available to any farmer via each participating organization, as well as online at www.nofany.org/progress. Business Planning Capacity-Building: At least 150 beginning farmers created, improved and/or implemented a farm business plan through activities in these programs. Events: Winter conferences with beginning-farmer applicable workshop tracks or listings provided professional development along with networking and socializing activities. On-farm tours and provided additional topical training and networking opportunities. Apprenticeship Program: Our apprenticeship matching methods include online apprenticeship listings in 7 participating organizations; this is combined with word-of-mouth and introducing or facilitating matchmaking by skilled staff and volunteers at 7 of 7 participating organizations. Mentor Program: Mentorship programs in 6 northeast states (CT, MA, NH, NJ, NY and VT) match newly independent farmers with an experienced farmers who mentor and advise the beginners in their daily and seasonal production, marketing and whole-farm planning needs. Journeyperson Program: High-potential new farmers are provided a paid mentor and educational and business planning stipends to use at their discretion, over the course of two years. During these two years, NOFA and MOFGA staffs maintain a close relationship with these new farmers to guide and support their development as farmers and leaders in their farming communities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Each participant organization writes articles for publication in online and printed publications which are distributed to members of the organizations as well as the general public. Websites explaining the varied programs and services of each participant organization are maintained and visible to any aspiring or beginning farmer. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
From 2011-2014, seven Northeast organic farming organizations (Northeast Organic Farming Associations of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont; and Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association) collaborated to address training and support gaps that are holding back a new generation of farmers from successfully starting and maintaining organic or sustainable farm businesses in the Northeast. At least 3,702 aspiring, new, and advanced-beginner farmers and at least 544 experienced farmers participated in farming education and support programs, resulting in a strong and well-connected group of beginning farmers who can confidently continue on their path toward long-term farming success. The project generated best practices, new resources and documents, and processes for training and supporting beginning farmers. The Northeast is an even better region to learn to farm and to establish or take over farms that are healthy for the environment, enriching to the community, and viable for the farmer. Objective 1: Support Northeast prospective farmers at the recruit, explorer, and planner stages by providing a complete and supportive formal apprenticeship program. Each organization created or improved a match-making directory for potential on-farm apprentice-like employees and the farms who host on-farm worker-learners, for a total of 6 online databases or directories and 1 paper-based matchmaking process. Information about labor laws and how to provide high-quality education to on-farm worker-learners was provided through annual in-person trainings (15 workshops), one-on-one communication, and through published information available to the general public. 423 beginning farmers engaged in training through apprenticeship-like arrangements on 257 hosting farms. It is not possible to know the conversion rate from directory user to successful match, or from successful match to change in knowledge or condition among users of these directories. However, surveyed beginning farmers confirmed that on-farm training programs are the important first step for an organic farmer’s career. Experienced farmers confirmed that they rely on plain-language information and in-person education from our organizations in order to provide high-quality education to on-farm trainees. Aspiring farmers encounter more and improved opportunities to receive career-focused agricultural training while gaining hands-on experience in the field. Objective 2: Develop a pilot Journeyperson program in in each Northeast state for organic beginning farmers in the startup or re-strategizing phases. 126 newly-starting farms entered the Journeyperson Program in the state where they farm. Each participating new farm (sometimes represented by more than one beginning farmer) engaged in one-on-one mentorship with an experienced farmer of their selection; 125 mentors were involved in the program. All 126 farms in the program improved their business skills and engaged in education to increase their knowledge of production. Of the 80 farmers who have already completed or exited the program,* 68 (85%) continue to farm with changed in knowledge, condition and behavior, that they are more prepared in the areas of farm production, marketing and business skills. Each Northeast organization learned ways to best assist new farmers in this stage of their career. These new farmers rely on individual support from the sponsoring organization, plus a dedicated and proactive experienced farmer to answer technical questions. We observed that a mentor in their local community is best, because that mentor experiences the same climate challenges, the same marketing pressures, and can point out local resources of value to the new farmer. Advanced-beginner or highly specialized skills and business training are not always available or accessible to Journeyperson Program farmers, though they have the financial support to pay for and attend trainings. Thus, several organizations convened daylong trainings that provided education and peer-to-peer networking for the Journeyperson farmers. Journeyperson farmers attended conferences and field days open to the general community, but often struggled to find the time to fit in these activities. Consultations with experts, either at the farm of the expert or at the Journeyperson’s farm, emerged as a favorite way for Journeyperson farmers to receive needed education. A roster of organic farming experts and agriculturally-minded legal/business consultants would be of high value to beginning farmers, even those without the additional financial support of the Journeyperson Program. * The program supports farmers for two years, so while grant activities have ended, each organization continues to support the remaining 46 farmers who have yet to finish two years of training and mentorship. Objective 3: Support beginning farmers in the start-up and re-strategizer stages through farmer-to-farmer mentoring. Six organizations created a process by which beginning farmers could find an experienced farmer to be a technical advisor during the beginner’s first years of farming on their own. This process begins with each type of farmer posting their information to a directory, as with the apprenticeship program, but the mentorship program in each state has built-in feedback and data collection steps to ensure that service providers are aware of each partnership. Identifying information about potential mentors is hidden from the beginning farmers until they have decided to contact certain mentors. At that point, the service provider provides contact information to the beginning farmer, while notifying the experienced farmer of a potential match. 97% of 167 mentor farmers and 61% of 264 beginning farmers who enrolled in the program were paired up for a total of 162 matches. Mentors and beginning farmers are provided with best practices documentation and a template mentorship agreement to guide their conversations about creating a formalized mentorship relationship. Prior to this type of guidance, mentorship relationships had a tendency to fail due to a lack of communication. Beginners and experienced farmers are more satisfied with the mentorship experience when they have a clear understanding of frequency of communication, of the type of guidance to be given, and of the duration of the mentorship. There is a high demand among newly independent farmers for a reliable and constant guide, and the focused approach created in each state provides a process for more farmers to engage in mentorship, ensuring that new farms continue on a path toward success. Objective 4: Create shared learning opportunities for prospective and beginning farmers through annual winter conference workshops and on-farm skills workshops. Each Northeast state provided on-farm skills workshops each year, for a total of 214 events (40 in year 1, 86 in year 2, and 88 in year 3) with an attendance of 2097 farmers with 10 or fewer years’ experience (attendance reflects attendance in years 2 and 3 due to inconsistent data collection in year 1). Ninety percent (90% or 732 out of 815 evaluations) of on-farm workshop attendees increased their knowledge of farming production, marketing, or business practices due to these events. 21 annual organic farming conferences held in each state provided specific classroom learning opportunities identified for beginning farmers. 894 beginning farmers received scholarships to attend these conferences, gaining knowledge during 73% of the workshops attended. “Interactions with farmers of a different experience level,” “Interactions with farmers of the same experience level (peers),” Interactions with NOFA staff and service providers,” and “Visiting the trade show/vendor area” were top ways (aside from workshop attendance) that conferences impacted future successes.
Publications
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Progress 08/15/12 to 08/14/13
Outputs
Target Audience: These programs educated and served 1435 aspiring and beginning farmers (0-10 years of farm ownership or management experience), and involved the expertise of several dozen experienced-farmer mentors and teachers to support these farmers. Changes/Problems: MOFGA will not run a farmer-to-farmer mentorship program through this project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? All programs in this project are focused on the training and development of skills to become a more capable and confident organic or sustainable farmer. Core Competencies Tracking: A self-guided assessment tool of farming production and business skills is available to any farmer via each participating organization, as well as online at www.nofany.org/progress. Events: Seven winter conferences with beginning-farmer applicable workshop tracks or listings and one regional summer conference occurred. Each event also provided networking and socializing activities. On-farm tours and gatherings (86 in total across seven states) provided additional topical training and networking opportunities. Apprenticeship Program: Our apprenticeship matching methods include online apprenticeship listings in 6 of 7 participating organizations (the seventh organization anticipates a live website in October 2013); this is combined with word-of-mouth and introducing or facilitating matchmaking by skilled staff and volunteers at 7 of 7 participating organizations. Mentor Program: Mentorship programs in 6 northeast states (CT, MA, NH, NJ, NY and VT) aim to facilitate the matching between a planning-to-start or newly independent farmer with an experienced farmer as a mentor and advisor. Journeyperson Program: High-potential new farmers are provided a paid mentor and educational and business planning stipends to use at their discretion, over the course of two years. During these two years, NOFA and MOFGA staff maintain a close relationship with these new farmers to guide and support their development as farmers and leaders in their farming communities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Each participant organization writes articles for publication in online and printed publications which are distributed to members of the organizations as well as the general public. The Winter 2012/2013 Issue of The Natural Farmer was a collaboration between six NOFA chapters and the editors and writers at The Natural Farmer. Websites explaining the varied programs and services of each participant organization are maintained and visible to any aspiring or beginning farmer. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Each organization will continue to maintain the programs that have been established in the past 2 years of the grant. Conference workshops and field days will be reflective of current technical training needs. Journeyperson programs will continue to develop, with slight changes to the timing of the application process and more understanding of how to best serve this specific group of beginners. Apprenticeship Program At the end of August 2013, several crucial needs within the farmer-host and apprentice/beginning farmer community have become foci for this region. Hosting farmers desire a thorough but understandable guide to the labor laws that impact their ability to hire and house workers in an educational relationship with the farm or farmer. Aspiring farmers need a method to find the right farm training or farm work environment, but moreover need the connection to a broader network, such as the NOFA organization in their state, to help facilitate the forward progression and development of monitoring of a farming skillset. NOFA organizations have taken initiative to provide better support to host farms in both these topic areas; labor laws are clearly high priority to the farmer, but more work can be done to train these educators about facilitating the learning journey of their on-farm employees. Work continues on a sustainable and scalable method to track and provide service to aspiring farmers as they enter into, experience and exit each farm apprenticeship, so as to maintain a forward progression towards independent farming. Once the Connecticut NOFA apprenticeship site is up and running, Connecticut's beginning farmer coordinator will be promoting it online through various social media outlets as well as promoting it with the help of our newly formed Farmer Education Committee. CT NOFA will also be promoting the program though CT NOFA newsletters and email blast via Constant Contact. CT NOFA will then provide guidance for applicants and host farms. In Massachusetts, a revised online farmer directory for this fall will make it easier to search for host farms based on keywords and certain criteria. Host farmers will be able to login and update their listing themselves, and listings will be taken down once they expire. In Maine, the online host farm database will continue to be the primary point of contact. New Jersey will create online farm profiles, so apprentices will do the searching and contacting (farmers were not interested in searching profiles when they could easily advertise). In New Hampshire, the apprenticeship matching tool will act more like of a list of farms accessible only to individuals who give NOFA-NY their contact info. That way, NOFA-NH can follow up with them regarding placement and experience. A low-maintenance system is the goal. In New York, an online system that allows for more regular interaction with host and apprentice farmers will be in place in 2014. NOFA-NY is looking forward to seeing how this changes the interaction between apprentices, farms and NOFA-NY. Vermont will make direct contact with apprentices on host farms through direct farm follow up (e.g. phone calls, farm visits, focus group) for evaluation and to introduce the core competencies tool. The on-line tool will continue to be our primary pairing mechanism and the main refinement will be to have more direct outreach and engagement with apprentices to find out if matches were achieved using the on-line tool and if the pairings were completed and successful. We also will be doing more comprehensive electronic evaluations pre and post usage of the apprenticeship matching tool. All states continue to work on providing high-quality labor law information. There is a desire to work on creating a core curriculum that could be accredited to benefit beginning farmers as well as farms who already offer education. The curriculum would also serve as a guide to farms who wish to host apprentices but aren’t certain how to best do so. Mentorship Program CT-NOFA will thoroughly review each application and then accurately match committed beginning farmers with experienced mentors. CT NOFA will then provide guidance when needed and distribute and track the necessary, non-monetary benefits to mentors. NOFA/Mass will keep its current matching system. NOFA-NJ is doing outreach to mentors to increase the pool of interested farmers and will continue to provide the matching facilitation, since the community is small. NOFA-NH plans to have mentors submit profiles so mentees can select mentors. NOFA-NY will continue to grow the pool of mentors and to maintain the program in its current form, adding training and networking opportunities as are appropriate. NOFA-VT will continue to do targeted promotion to interested people as needed. The online mentorship program application now has a monitoring mechanism so that NOFA-VT can respond quicker to any requests that come in. All states will offer a winter conference workshop to increase the teaching and communication capacity of mentor farmers.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Overall Impact Statements: These programs educated and served 1435 aspiring and beginning farmers, and involved the expertise of several dozen experienced-farmer mentors and teachers to support these farmers. Our on-farm field day events; farmer-to-farmer apprenticeship, mentorship and journeyperson farmer programs; and conference workshop and networking activities educated beginning farmers in topics of sustainable and organic farming practices. These programs provided experience-level-appropriate farming education to farmers with less than 10 years of experience, taught by other farmers with an understanding of the agricultural conditions of the specific region. Certain programs supported beginners to the point that 98% (78 of 80 farmers known to be completing or exiting an apprenticeship, mentorship or the journeyperson program) of participants who responded to inquiries about their next plans indicated a continued interest in farming and a definite plan to keep farming. Across all programs where it was directly measured, 507 of 628 (81%) participating farmers increased their knowledge and skills about organic or sustainable farming. We are confident that at least 35 beginning farmers updated or created a business plan through NOFA and MOFGA programs, through direct reporting of this fact, or through the implied activities within the curriculum of the Journeyperson Program. Scholarships and Conferences: # scholarships awarded during this time period: 284 # workshops for Beginning Farmers (name or describe if applicable): 140 between winter and summer conferences in 2012-2013 Knowledge gains and impacts of scholarship on recipients:When beginning farmer scholarship recipients evaluated their knowledge gain at individual workshops at winter conferences, there were 548 attendee-workshop-influenced knowledge gain instances (out of a total 775 attendee-workshop combinations); 71% of the time, a beginning farmer attended a winter conference workshop and gained farming knowledge and skills. Journeyperson Programs (in all 7 participating states): # of new Journeyperson farmers added to program: 53 # of Journeyperson farmers exiting program during this time period: 29 # of these exiting Journeyperson farmers planning to continue farming: 27 Apprenticeship Programs: # of pairings made between listed apprentices and farms through our methods: 106 # of apprentices completing/exiting apprenticeships: 49 are known and in touch with a state NOFA chapter, and 49 of 49 (100%) plan to continue pursuing farming as a career. Our apprenticeship matching methods include online apprenticeship listings in 6 of 7 participating organizations (the seventh organization anticipates a live website in late fall of 2013); this is combined with word-of-mouth and introducing or facilitating matchmaking by skilled staff and volunteers at 7 of 7 participating organizations. Mentorship Programs: Mentorship programs in 5 northeast states (MA, NH, NJ, NY and VT) aim to facilitate the matching between a planning-to-start or newly independent farmer with an experienced farmer as a mentor and advisor. A program in Connecticut will commence in late 2013. The method of facilitated matching involves an application process for one or both categories of farmer (new and experienced) and either a self-guided connection is made from the information provided by the state organization, or the state organization recommends and facilitates contact between farmers. (both paper and online application forms are provided in each case). The process developed in each state allows for an ongoing communication that provides the participants with a network of peers (whether mentors or mentees) and a point of contact regarding best practices for mentorship and education plans. Fifty(50)mentorship pairings between a new farmer and experienced farmer were made in the past year, in five states. Aside from the mentors and beginning farmers who are currently matched through our mentorship programs, we count forty-four (44) beginning (newly independent) farmers in six states (MA, NH, NJ, NY, VT) who seek the guidance of an at-distance farming mentor and have signed up to use NOFA organization services in this capacity. Twenty-two (22) experienced farmers in five states (MA, NH, NJ, NY, VT) are willing to enter into an advisory-type relationship with a new farmer, providing guidance and education through visits and at-distance communication. This number reflects farmers not yet in a mentorship through a NOFA program, but prepared to do so. Farm tours, field days, events: Eighty-six (86) events applicable or specifically for beginning farmers occured in this period. Nine hundred fifteen (915) event participants identified as beginning farmers (0-10 years of farm ownership or management experience). 305/364(83%) evaluating participants cited a change in knowledge and skills due to these on-farm events. Two hundred forty-six (246) of 364 (67%) evaluating participants planned to implement their new knowledge and skills within one year.
Publications
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Progress 08/15/11 to 08/14/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: In NY, MA, CT, NJ, NH and VT, staff recruited farmers with 0-5 years of experience to apply to Journeyperson Programs. 18 beginning farmers (15 farms) were paired to 17 paid mentors. Journeyperson farmers were reimbursed for educational and business planning activities. A Google Group was created to form an online community for these farmers who are geographically distant. Staff of each state organization provided technical resources as necessary. Scholarships were provided to 243 Beginning Farmers to attend winter conferences in Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey. CT awarded 3 scholarships to the Summer Conference and 6 scholarships to a Basic Tractor Maintenance workshop. All chapters used a standard application and evaluation form to collect demographic data, knowledge change and activity impact data. States each coordinated farm tours and technical trainings relevant to beginning farmers; a total of 52 such events were planned and 40 occurred in grant year 1. Farmers' knowledge change and intention to use acquired knowledge were measured at most events. Training and communication among state organizations facilitated the planning of online apprentice and host farmer listing directories in CT, NH, NJ and MA. Preliminary information is available to would-be apprentices in these 4 states. ME strategized ways to bring their paper-based apprenticeship matching service to a digital format. NY and VT took feedback from farmers using their existing programs and online matching directories. In NY, 36 farmers advertised 67 open positions; 196 individuals created profiles to seek NY apprenticeships during this grant year. In NJ, without a formal online matching system, 6 beginning farmers were matched to opportunities via communication with NJ staff. The number of matches made is unknown. NY developed a technical skills tracking tool to facilitate apprentice learning and guide the host farmer-apprentice relationship. Informal feedback was gathered about beginning and aspiring farmers' initial reactions to the paper-based tool. A total of 17 mentor-mentee farmer matches were made. MA enrolled 19 beginning farmers and 16 experienced farmers in mentorship programs; 15 pairings were made. NY signed up 12 beginning farmers and 6 experienced farmers; 2 pairings were made. 13 state organization staff members attended an in-person meeting in Old Chatham, NY to plan for Apprenticeship and Journeyperson activities. 10 chapter staff members attended an in-person retreat in Maine for Journeyperson and advanced-level beginning farmer support training. Monthly telephone meetings addressed concerns and celebrated progress for beginning farmer projects across all state organizations. Law for Food advised state organizational staff on labor and tax laws that apply to apprenticeship and on-farm training situations. All states used e-mail news, printed news and outreach materials, printed postcards, online social media and personal communication to advertise beginning farmer opportunities and events. 192 technical manuals were purchased for distribution at events. PARTICIPANTS: Rachel Schell-Lambert (NOFA-NY) supervised collaboration between the other primary and subcontracted organizations: MOFGA, NOFA-VT, NOFA-NJ, NOFA/Mass, CT-NOFA, NOFA-NH; Schell-Lambert organized monthly phone meetings for the interstate collaborative team, tracked activities among all partners, provided some logistical support for the billing process, led the scholarship and activity evaluation initiatives and carried out all other duties associated with the outputs and outcomes of the grant for NOFA-NY. Rachel Schell-Lambert, Kristiane Huber, Lynda Prim, Sam Fuller, Eve Minson created or improved existing Farm Apprenticeship Programs, planned on-farm workshops for beginning farmers, planned beginning farmer educational opportunities at NOFA conferences. Andrew Marshall (MOFGA), Enid Wonnacott (NOFA-VT) and Rachel Schell-Lambert planned the in-person training in December 2011 for the interstate collaborative team. Kate Mendenhall and Matthew Robinson supervised Rachel Schell-Lambert in all activities for NOFA-NY. Bill Duesing and Kristiane Huber carried out primary duties associated with the outputs and outcomes of the grant for CT NOFA. Michal Lumsden, Ben Grosscup, Laura Held and Julie Rawson carried out primary duties associated with the outputs and outcomes of the grant for NOFA/Mass. Ray Conner carried out primary duties associated with the outputs and outcomes of the grant for NOFA-NH. Enid Wonnacott, Lynda Prim and Sam Fuller carried out primary duties associated with the outputs and outcomes of the grant for NOFA-VT. Eve Minson, Justine Cook and Camille Miller carried out primary duties associated with the outputs and outcomes of the grant for NOFA-NJ. Andrew Marshall and Abby Sadauckis carried out primary duties associated with the outputs and outcomes of the grant for MOFGA. Informal collaborations occurred with farmers and service providers. These farmers and service providers gave valuable technical presentations and provided consultation and referrals to the aforementioned collaborators, to the end that on-farm and conference technical workshops were taught by qualified and experienced individuals. Service providers shared information they had learned through their work, and aspiring, beginning, host and mentor farmers all expressed their needs, helping to focus collaborators' work. TARGET AUDIENCES: Farmers living in New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine and Connecticut with less than ten years of experience farming, including those still exploring farming as their career, were served by this grant. These farmers attended educational and networking events designed to increase their knowledge, skills and confidence in technical and farm business planning topics. These educational events provided the time and place for informal peer-to-peer mentoring, formation of professional connections and information exchange. Web-based outreach and resources on each state organization's web site connected beginning farmers to technical and scientific resources in a range of topics, as well as to information about events, programs and farmer networks. Staff at collaborating organizations made personal connections to disseminate and determine the best practices to reach the audience of beginning farmers with important efforts. Experienced farmers seeking to increase beginning farmers' knowledge, skills and experience were also a target audience. These farmers were given information on providing quality on-farm technical training for beginning farmers through web-based, phone-based and personal communication. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
7 Beginning Farmer Program coordinators (100%) increased their knowledge about apprenticeship labor laws, and ideas for beginning farmer programs. 100% implemented this knowledge to enhance and create beginning farmer programs. The collaboration improved the strength of individual state organizations' programs. CT, MA, ME, NJ and NH applied the experiences of NY and VT to start their apprenticeship programs to better match needs of the target audiences; NY and VT worked to re-organize their apprenticeship programs to account for low match numbers. 7 chapters applied the acquired knowledge that matches are made with service provider guidance and individual empowerment. Feedback indicated that the 33-page core competencies tracking tool overwhelmed exploring-phase farmers. Examples of the tool's use by different audiences and guidance from a mentor would help future users. At 40 field days, attendance ranged from 4 to over 50 attendees per event. Inadequate data collection methods for attendance and knowledge change provide a low sample size for outcomes reporting. Of 66 responses received for all events, 66 farmers (100%) indicated at a slight change in knowledge and 53 (80%) had the intention to apply new knowledge in the coming year. At state Winter Conferences, organizers received 218 responses to evaluations in MA, NJ, NH, CT and NY. There were 724 total instances of change in knowledge due to a workshop (74%), counting each workshop attended as a unique instance. Interactions with non-beginning farmers had moderate or large impact for 170 (79%) respondents; interactions with beginning farmers in their peer group had a moderate or large impact for 140 (86%) respondents; beginning farmer gatherings had a moderate to considerable impact for 50 (23%) respondents. 25 (12%) had not yet started farming or working on a farm, 61 (29%) had done some hands-on training but had not started their own farm, 40 (19%) had been farming 0 to 3 years, 16 (7%) had been farming 4 to 7 years, and 2 (1%) had been farming 8 to 10 years. Eleven (5%) respondents came from a farming background so did not match themselves to these categories; 116 (54%) used an alternate category. Fourteen (7%) respondents had participated in middle school or high school agriculture programs, 94 (44%) had gone through farm apprenticeships or internships, 31 (14%) had taken agricultural classes outside of a degree program, 33 (15%) considered their college degree as part of their farming education, 102 (48%) had participated in farm work, 102 (48%) had worked with a mentor, 91 (43%) had contacted agricultural service providers, 39 (18%) had attended NOFA workshops and field days and 87 (41%) had attended previous NOFA conferences. 16 (7%) had inherited land, 10 (5%) had a long-term lease, 39 (18%) owned land, 39 (18%) sought land to start their farm; 25 (12%) had a short-term lease. Optional responses counted 6 Hispanic or Latino participants, 7 Black or African-American participants and 10 Asian or Pacific Islanders. 132 (62% of respondents) scholarship recipients were female; 63 respondents (29% of respondents) were male.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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