Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: In the final year, we provided training and technical support to 253 BFRs through our programs. Our target audience was limited-resource, socially disadvantated farmers including Latino, Southeast Asian (Hmong, Mien), Native and Urban farmers. 80% of the attendees were from these diverse ethnic groups with roughly 40% Latino, 20% Southeast Asian, 10% Native and 10% low-income urban. Changes/Problems: Major changes/challenges included information management on several different levels. Over 40 workshops were developed and given under this project, and maintaining the information related to planning, outreach, materials development, evaluation, and followup to each of these workshops, which averaged 20 participants, was a challenge met through the use of Cloud-based information technologies (Google docs and Drop Box) as well as frequent phone calls, emails and less frequent face-to-face meetings. We also found that having active local partners is critical to the success of workshops, especially with respect to getting the word out to target clients about the workshop. Most of the partners the project started with did a good job of outreach and supporting other collaborative activities of the project. However, we had a couple of partners that simply didn’t have the administrative capacity and/or ongoing contacts with farmers to support project activities on a level that would support successful information transfer to targeted farmers. We believe the grower-mentor model works reasonably well for most of the topics that we’re offering. In some cultures, individuals are less likely to embrace the idea of being a grower-leader, so we do not brand these individuals as “grower-leaders” but simply ask if they would be willing to host workshops on their farms. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? NCAT staff gained greater knowledge and proficiency in food safety, developing on-farm food safety programs, and cottage food laws. Particularly in the area of how food safety plans can influence and support increased market access, NCAT staff gained knowledge. NCAT staff also developed better presentation skills concerning Farm Business Planning. Questions from farmers as well as workshop activities at the soils and cover crops workshops required NCAT staff to increase their knowledge about planting cover crops, soil sampling and interpreting soil test results. UCB staff gained greater knowledge of ecological pest management, and has transferred that knowledge to the work at the Gill Tract Community Farm. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results have been disseminated in a wide variety of venues including at annual Small Farm and Ecofarm conferences, at Tribal council meetings, as well as in undergraduate classes and seminars at UC Berkeley. They have also been disseminated at non-profit farm meetings, community meetings, and at UCCE meetings and conferences. NCAT has included information about workshops, as well as materials developed to support the workshops, in our monthly Spanish language newsletter, Cosecha Mensual (Monthly Harvest), which has over 2,000 subscribers, as well as the ATTRA Weekly Harvest, which has over 11,000 subscribers. In addition, NCAT’s other offices outside of CA have benefitted from some of the evaluation forms developed under this project, and have used modified versions of these forms, to evaluate skills and knowledge change in participants in their workshops. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During this granting period, we conducted 17 workshops both in-class and in the field, reaching 253 participants, and provided 1:1 technical support to 50 farmers. Topics ranged from business planning and financing, to food safety, food preservation and value-added processing, orchard health and management, cover cropping and beneficial habitats. More specifically, for each objective, we achieved the following outcomes: Objective 1: Enhance capacity:A key accomplishment of this program was the initiation of the Foodsheds Program at the Mid Klamath Watershed Council, including their foodshed website and Facebook page that provides regionally appropriate technical information to Native communities in the Klamath.We built a strong network of non-profit partners, who we continue to collaborate with on the launch of our new BFRDP (2014). This grant increased the knowledge and capacity of 825 participants who attended workshops over 3 years, in achieving more ecologically and economically viable farm programs. We helped launch the UC Gill Tract Community Farm, an innovative urban educational and production farm which has provided hands-on instruction for over 180 participants, and produced over 2,000 pounds of fresh produce that has been distributed to the hungry. Objective 2: Identify and empower community ‘grower-leaders’ and mentors farmers:In each project area, key farmer leaders emerged and were provided in depth training. The most notable successes were In Stanislaus County, where we helped Latino farmers plant cover crops and beneficial insect habitat. Latino farmers are now signing up for follow-up technical assistance and are planting cover crops and beneficial habitat, like never before. Objective 3: Foster sustainable production and land management:Our project is especially proud of the work we’ve done with a group of Latino growers who have learned about soil health and beneficial insect habitat in the context of almond orchards. We were able to providw access to information that minority farmers have not previously been exposed to. In response to serious drought conditions, the Mid-Klamath Watershed Council launched an educational program to teach local farmers about water conservation. With support of this project, MKWC launched an extraordinary website with pages of technical support and advice to regional farmers on climate zones, farm and garden calendars, ideal fruits, nuts, vegetables for growing in the region, pest and disease management and a calendar of events: http://www.mkwc.org/programs/foodsheds/ Objective 4: Establish Food Safety Programs:Food safety is a growing concern to small and beginning farmers, as they seek new markets for their products, but confront market-driven food safety compliance requirements. We provided hands-on, participatory training both in class-room and on the farm for Southeast Asian, urban and other small farmers. Our program resulted in 8 food safety plans being written. However many attendees were most interested in simply learning about food safety and GAPs and the effects of FSMA on their operations. We will continue to work on developing tailored food safety training for our urban food producers, as the risks can be different from their rural counterparts, in our new BFRDP (2014). Objective 5: Enhance Farmer Business Planning:The project has worked with Latino farmers in collaboration with ALBA in Monterey in a series of 3 workshops related to aspects of farm business planning. This effort included training on “how to tell your story,” food safety, and a product pricing/availability list. We worked with Latino farmers at Puentes in Stockton, CA on a 5-part series of farm business planning and this effort resulted in 10 business plans being developed by participants with critiques/feedback provided by other participants and project staff. Objective 6: Foster Market Development: Small farms were able to expand their product base, as well as perhaps use some cosmetically deficient product that would otherwise have been unsaleable through the value-added processing, and direct marketing training. We held 2 “speed dating” exercisea, in which potential buyers were introduced to farmers. These workshops proved very popular. Measuring Impact: We effectively captured people's changes in knowledge after each workshop, and attempted to measure change in behavior by conducting 6 month post-follow up calls. However, many of the participants had changed their phone numbers, and were difficult to reach. The Project was successful in increasing beginning farmers’ knowledge on a range of topics, from Pastured Poultry production to Cottage Food Laws and Food Safety. Below are some excerpts of our findings from our evaluations: Business Planning for Cottage Food Operators, and Cottage Food Operators. Two thirds (67%) of participants reported an increase in knowledge on a range of 5 key topics related to business planning for a cottage food operation, and over 70% had an increased knowledge of the new Cottage Food Law .Pastured Poultry: Over 90% of participants had increase in Flock Health, Cost of Production, Land Management and Production Regulations, with nearly two thirds of participants reporting a “significant change in knowledge” in these topics as a result of the workshop.Ecological Pest Management: Nearly three quarters (73%) of participants reported an increase in knowledge about topics such as Good Soil Management Practices, How to ID common good and bad bugs at different life stages, Organically approved pesticides, when to use them and consequences to beneficials and several other topics.Promotions and Marketing, and Marketing Linking workshops: Evaluations from two well-attended workshops showed that nearly two thirds of participants reported a “moderate” or “significant change in knowledge” on a range of 9 farm business planning topics.Farm Business Series: Participants of the 5-part farm business planning series reported “moderate” or “significant change in knowledge” on Farm Finance (over 92%), Marketing (100%), and Business Goals and Vision (63%). At the end of this series, the participants had developed an outline of a business plan for their farm.Legal Regulations, Ecological Pest Management and Orchard Floor Management workshops (3 workshops). Over two thirds (68%) of participants had increase in knowledge about legal regulations, Ecological Pest Management topics, and topics such as Organic matter & soil health, and Role of microorganisms. Testimonials:1. Karuk Tribal Members achieving food security and preparing to launch Hog business. Hawk and Jeannie White, Karuk Tribal members, have achieved greater household food security, and have begun selling hogs they raise, and are developing plans for launching a hog business for niche pork. They have a vibrant homestead farm, raising chickens, ducks and hogs for meat, and have canned over 50 cases of fruits and vegetables as well as traditional foods they gather such as salmon and mushrooms. Prior to this project, they had never canned or raised animals for meat. They participate as peer-trainers in our workshops. 2: Rural Homesteader Expands Poultry Operation. Jeff Reynolds attended our Poultry Class and now uses what he learned raising chickens for eggs. We visited his farm and couldn’t help but be impressed. He has a flock of over 40 hens, they produce 2 to 3 dozen eggs per day during the summer the eggs are sold in a local store. Jeff says he plans to try meat birds this next year.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Sowerwine, J. Getz., C, and N. Peluso. Forthcoming . The myth of the protected worker: Southeast Asian micro-farmers in California agriculture. In Agriculture and Human Values
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Support for the creation of the Berkeley Food Policy Council webpage: http://ecologycenter.org/berkeley-food-policy-council/
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Mid-Klamath Foodsheds Program Pages: http://www.mkwc.org/programs/foodsheds/
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Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience includes beginning, minority farmers including Native American, Latino, Southeast Asian and low-income aspiring urban farmers. Changes/Problems: - Fiscal uncertainty of non-profits has become worse with lack of farm bill and and absence of multi-year funding streams. - One of our community partners lost funding for staff impeding their ability to fulfil some of their commitments with our project. - Another community partner shifted their programmatic priorities away from serving minority communities. These have not caused significant deviations from our project goals, but they have had an impact. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? One of the goals of this grant is capacity building of local organizations to provide ongoing technical support to farmers beyond the duration of this grant. As such, to date, we have provided “train the trainer” to 26 organizations including Cooperative Extension Advisors, Government and Non-profits. We share our resources and training materials and demonstrate on farm assessment techniques and mentoring strategies to participating organizations. In addition, all our partners (15) have enhanced their capacity to measure and monitor the impact of their programs, by participating in our training and sharing our evaluation methodologies that measure changes in knowledge, action and condition. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results have been communicated via presentations at UC Berkeley, the California Small Farm Conference, and Ecofarm. An important venue for disseminating information among our Native American audience has been through the Mid-Klamath Foodshed Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/164617520311363/ Announcements and flyers about our foodshed workshops and events are posted, followed by photos and commentary from participants about the benefits. In year three, we will use the Facebook page to further measure impact. Additional outreach has been done through NCAT’s email networks, as well as tapping into regional farming networks. In year 3, Results from this project will be disseminated through conferences, on NCAT’s ATTRA website, and through NCAT’s ATTRAnews. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We plan to finalize implementation of our workshops as planned, continue with one-on-one follow up, and do post-assessments to measure enduring changes in knowledge, action and condition.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: CBO/Local Partner Capacity Building: Increased knowledge and capacity of 29 organizations including local and state nonprofits, community based organizations and UC Cooperative Extension in at least 8 California counties to assess minority farmer clientele needs, and provide outreach and technical support to beginning minority farmers. - 14 organizations learned two new strategies for conducting minority farmer needs assessments (minisurveys and focus groups). - 13 organizations have increased knowledge of strategies to measure impact. 2 have independently developed and administered workshop assessment surveys to measure impact. - 10 organizations received training and educational resources/curricula in food safety and 4 have applied what they learned through creation of food safety plans and providing on farm follow up. - 3 organizations received training and educational resources/curricula in pastured poultry. - 9 organizations received training in, and educational resources/curricula on sustainable production practices including pastured poultry, ecological pest management, soil fertility, conservation planning. - 7 organizations received training and resource materials in business planning and marketing associated with the new California Cottage Food Law. So far one organization has led an additional workshop on the Cottage Food Law. Objective 2: Grower leader development: 14 grower leaders (10 of whom are in the “target audience”) in 6 counties have been identified and trained in food safety, business planning, marketing and sustainable production. At least 5 have taken on leadership roles, providing training at our workshops. We still have 20 workshops that will be conducted in year 3, where we will continue to recruit and train grower leaders. Learning circles will take place. Story 1 : Lo Saetern, a Mien strawberry farmer has pioneered cover cropping on his fallow strawberry fields as a result of our training in an effort to increase soil fertility and reduce pest infestation. He has hosted an annual learning circle at his farm, in which he shared his knowledge about cover cropping and the benefits of hedgerows to over 40 Mien strawberry farmers. Story 2: Jeannie and Hawk White, Karuk Tribal members have participated in all 8 workshops; Jeannie now raises chickens and ducks, has canned fruits and vegetables for the first time in her life, and Hawk shares his cultural butchering knowledge with both tribal and non-tribal community members alike. Jeannie and Hawk are poised to teach at the next worksop. Objective 3: Enhance Sustainable Production Practices: In year 2, we held a total of 10 workshops reaching 236 participants, 177 of whom were the “target audience” including Native American, Hmong, Mien, Latino, Lao, Thai, Black, and Caucasian. - 4 workshops in pastured poultry reaching 96 participants, with 76% reporting moderate or significant increase in knowledge. One farmer has purchased a flock of chickens and has begun selling the eggs to the local store, increasing availability of locally grown food among Native populations. - 3 workshops in Ecological pest management reaching 46 participants; 23% of whom indicated a moderate or significant increase in knowledge. To date, three farmers, (two Mien and one Latino) have planted hedgerows as a result of our workshops. - 3 workshops in soil health and management reaching 56 participants with 76% reporting a moderate or significant increase in knowledge. --Conducted soil tests for 7 farmers (3 Hmong, 1 Mien, 3 non-profit farm incubators) to provide a baseline for soil management decisions - Have developed 1 new training modules in the last year (pest management), and will be developing 1 more in the coming year (orchard floor management). Objective 4: Improve Food Safety: In year 2, we provided in-depth training to 94 participants through three workshops, on-farm assessments and follow up in how to assess food safety risks on their farm and implement a food safety program. All participants indicated an increase in knowledge, and 83% of the participants indicated a moderate to significant increase in knowledge. -To date, five farms have developed food safety plans. Further change in action will be measured in year 3. Objective 5: Business Planning: - we worked intensively with four non-profit urban/peri-urban farms, providing ongoing support to help them develop whole farm planning process and link them with NRCS resources. - Two business planning modules were developed and will be refined in year three for different regions and growers, and translated into Spanish for use in year 3. - Two other business planning modules are being developed in Year 3 on different topics. We are scheduled to deliver 7 workshops on business planning, which have also evolved into farm labor issues and regulations based on needs. - The Pastured Poultry production workshops all contain some business/financial planning & marketing information. Participants in the pastured poultry workshops are provided spreadsheets, which can be used to calculate costs of production and profits. - For the Value Added Cottage Food workshop we created and provided worksheets and templates on basic budgeting for value added businesses. Objective 6: Direct Marketing: - Our Native beginning farmers preferred to learn about production for subsistence (and barter) rather than direct marketing per se. As such, we held 4 subsistence food workshops in pruning, drip irrigation, canning and butchering reaching 80 participants, 60 of which are target audience. - Our beginning urban producers wanted to learn about value added processing to take advantage of the new Cottage Food Law in California. We held one workshop with 59 participants, 40 of whom are our target audience. 95% had an moderate to significant increase in knowledge. We plan to measure change in action in year 3. - Change in action for all objectives will be measured in year 3
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Sowerwine, J. and Getz, C. 2013. The Changing Face of California Agriculture: Identifying challenges and providing opportunities for Southeast Asian and other minority farmers. Rural Connections.
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Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The primary goal of this project is to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of beginning minority, immigrant, and tribal farmers and ranchers in 10 California counties. Our approach involves conducting farmer needs assessment, developing curricula and providing training through workshops and coaching, fostering farmer to farmer networking and learning, enhancing local institutional capacity to provide ongoing outreach, and measuring impact. Outputs completed during the first reporting period are the following: 1) Needs Assessments: Conducted needs assessments in 6 "county clusters", obtaining input from over 90 beginning minority farmers (urban, Latino, Southeast Asian and Native) through a mix of focus groups and administration of mini-surveys. Identified and recruited 15 "grower leaders" to be trained in all workshop modules and host learning circles. Results communicated to local partners. 2) Institutional Capacity Building: Enhanced capacity of county-based organizations to provide outreach and technical assistance to beginning minority farmers. Compiled farmer outreach lists from multiple sources and shared with local partners. Trained local partners in a) needs assessment methodology, and b) database creation and management for farmer data and participation. 3) Workshops: Based on feedback from farmers' needs, we held eleven workshops reaching more than 200 beginning farmers in six counties. Flyers were created and mailed to all farmers on outreach lists, posted at local stores and on partner websites/regional list-serves. Follow-up phone calls and farm visits to recruit additional participants. Workshops included: 1 Farm Planning Module with three beginning peri-urban multi-stakeholder production farms (will affect up to 15 beginning farmers including immigrants, ex-convicts); 2 Site visits to each farm location, assisting with farm plan and linking to NRCS programs. - 1 Pastured Poultry workshop reaching 21 participants. Follow up in year 2. At least 1 farmer has purchased a new flock of chickens; 1 Food safety workshop reaching 25 Mien participants. Follow up complete with 2 farmers; 1 Diversified Farming workshop - 6 Mien participants attended. Follow up provided to 2 farmers; 1 Market-linking workshop - 11 Mien farmer attendees and 9 fresh produce buyers (wholesale, retail, chef, and school districts). Follow up provided to 3 participants; 6 workshops in Humboldt county with native and beginning farmers: 1 canning (15 attendees), 1 butchering (15), 1 mushroom (20), 1 pruning (25), 1 grafting (15) and 1 drip irrigation (5) reaching total of 95 beginning farmers. 4) Farmer to Farmer Networking: Farmers shared knowledge and experience and contact information to explore collaborative purchasing and sales opportunities. Several co-taught workshops by sharing knowledge on cultural butchering practices, mushroom identification, fish filet and canning techniques, and standard operating procedures for food safety. 5) Curriculum Development: Updated Food Safety Training Materials for urban farmers developed. PowerPoint and Food Safety Train the Trainer materials developed. Impact assessment forms created, piloted and finalized. PARTICIPANTS: Christy Getz, PI, provided overall guidance on the project and coordination with Cooperative Extension Specialists. Jennifer Sowerwine, Project Coordinator, has coordinated all project activities including preparing for, providing training in and conducting needs assessments, creating information sharing platforms and providing ongoing updates to all project partners, and developing and providing training in evaluation tools. Jennifer has provided training to all partners in conducting facilitated needs assessments and farmer "mini-surveys" as a form of rapid farm appraisal. Jennifer has provided training to all partners in the workshop-coach connection approach to training to enhance farmer adoption of skills. Jennifer also has developed Food Safety training materials and provided training in food safety and market-linking. Rex Dufour and Marisa Alcorta project co-leads from NCAT, have worked closely with Jennifer Sowerwine in developing collaborative communication tools, implementing needs assessments and implementing training. Rex provided training in diversified farming, whole farm planning and pastured poultry. Marisa Alcorta provided training to Lao Family Stockton in database management for farmer outreach and translation in Spanish language. Marisa has been developing Spanish-language curricula in response to farmer needs assessment related to legal and business planning advice, and pollination. Partner organizations have assisted in recruiting farmers to attend meetings, and have provided in-kind use of facilities for meetings and workshops. Staff from Soil Born Farms, Mid-Klamath Watershed Council and UC Cooperative Extension Humboldt have provided one-on-one follow up for farmers. We have added two collaborators on the project including Graciela Gomez with the Modesto NRCS, providing outreach to beginning Latino farmers and the Mid-Klamath Watershed Council, who have established a Food-shed program to further the grant's initiatives. Training has been provided to all project partners and collaborators in impact assessments--developing methodologies to measure changes in knowledge, skills, action and condition--a challenge that many organizations face. TARGET AUDIENCES: Our project focuses explicitly on addressing the needs of beginning and limited resource Southeast Asian (Hmong, Mien, Lao, Vietnamese), Latino/Hispanic, Native (Karuk, Hupa, Yurok), Urban and other socially disadvantaged, minority or immigrant farmers and ranchers. While we do not exclude other beginning farmers from any of our training opportunities, our outreach efforts emphasize the above target audiences. Our efforts include an innovative approach to farmer training that moves beyond conventional workshop/field day models to include strategies that encourage adoption of practices learned including the following: First, conducting a needs assessment to determine what training the farmers need. Second, developing culturally and context relevant curricula to address those needs (eg. urban needs are different than rural; highly graphic/pictorial materials more relevant for limited English speakers/readers). Third, identifying key "grower-leaders" who can facilitate farmer-to-farmer training beyond the life of the grant and provide mentoring opportunities for those farmers. Fourth, providing hands-on engaged workshops with on-farm or one-on-one coaching/follow up to support adoption of practices learned. Fifth, providing training to local organizations to support them in providing ongoing outreach and technical support to the farmers beyond the life of the grant and sixth, providing referrals to partners and other organizations as needed, providing loans, NRCS opportunities, marketing or land opportunities. We are currently in the midst of providing mentoring, and coaching. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
Activities in year one emphasized assessing farmer needs, enhancing local partner capacity for outreach, and beginning to implement farmer training program. Baseline information on farmers' current knowledge and practices were gathered and will be evaluated upon completion of the training in years 2-3. Further training and follow up is ongoing. Preliminary impact/outcomes are as follows: Increased knowledge by local partners (non-profits, Cooperative Extension agents) of farmer needs and increased capacity for conducting focus group assessments and farmer surveys; increased capacity of local partners for outreach with larger contact lists provided by our project; increased understanding of Native farmer needs by non-native local partner organization in Humboldt; greater cooperation among native and non-native farmers to exchange knowledge on food production and food preservation methods; increase in two local partner's capacity to manage farmer outreach lists and participation through training in database creation and management; increased knowledge among 25 farmers about on-farm food safety protocols and industry requirements for 3rd party audits. 1 Mien farmer (new grower leader) fully implemented food safety plan on farm. Post-assessments not yet conducted. 2 local partners have capacity to provide one-on-one follow up re: on-farm food safety; increased capacity of three non-profit production farms with regards to identifying gaps in their farm plans and taking steps to obtain soil samples and connecting with NRCS cost share programs; increased knowledge of Humboldt beginning farmers how to raise poultry, and costs associated, 1 farmer invested in a new flock of chickens. Local partner providing follow up; increased cooperation among Humboldt farmers to source feed together, and increased cross-cultural collaboration and sharing of knowledge among tribal and non-tribal beginning farmers at workshops (affecting at least 30 individuals); increased skill level among 95 native and beginning farmers in one or more of the following food production/basic life-skill/self-sustenance activities (pastured poultry, pruning, grafting, butchering, canning, drip irrigation); increased awareness of 9 fresh produce buyers about the seasonal availability of produce grown by Southeast Asian farmers in their area; at least 3 farmers linked with buyers (2 through the food processor, and 1 to a Hospital farm stand.) Major constraint is lack of 3rd party audit; increased knowledge of UCB/NCAT about strict food safety requirements by the majority of fresh produce buyers; 1 drip irrigation system installed at Tribal housing community garden.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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