Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:381 Beginning Women Farmers were trained with 311 graduating (completed 70% or more of classes) Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As part of the capacity building for the program, nine trainer- trainees were accepted into the Beginning Women Whole Farm Planning Trainer Program that began in year two of the program and began assisting lead instructors at that time. They all completed the producer level training and had opportunity to develop teaching and facilitation skills and were given feedback by lead instructors. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Program Outreach Information about this program was sent to HMI's email list of over 13,000 emails. HMI's main Beginning Farmer page received 21,019 views since the beginning of this program in 2012. Each year approximately 3400 people viewed the annual enrollment page, and the BWF Conference Proceedings page had 1515 hits page views. Two program flyers were developed for state coordinators to distribute for recruiting. An additional 42 web pages were developed internally or posted by our collaborating organizations or through other media. Nine articles were published in print magazines and three of the collaborating organizations also created their own Facebook pages for the program. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Over the three-year period, 381 participants were accepted into the program and 311 graduated (82%) by participating in 70% or more of the trainings. Besides the 7 state coordinators that served Texas, New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts, there were 19 mentors and a pool of 15 instructors. In addition to the 210 day-long sessions that took place over the three-year period (63 of which were on-farm), there was a program-wide listserve and the ability for participants to take online classes of the courses they missed. Materials published/developed HMI developed online modules for each of our ten place-based sessions using our Online Platform (Canvas) so that participants who missed courses could make up work online. 88 participants utilized that training opportunity. Key Outcomes The program achieved an overall graduation rate of 82%. The average level of participant satisfaction of the program was 95% (88-100% spread). There was a total of 54,424 acres under management by participants and they were providing products to over 9,449 customers in their respective states. All participants had been farming less than ten years with a state average ranging from 3 to 8 years. 83% of participants are either farm owners or farm workers. Both program goals (getting 50% of participants to experience knowledge change and behavior change) were met as evidenced in data below. The last program goal was 25% of participants experiencing some outcome of improved management as a result of the training. Based on surveys, and depending on the state, an average of 59% of participants experienced improved satisfaction in their quality of life. 83% of participants are able to use resources more effectively. 80% experienced enhanced understanding of farm finances, 79% had new or improved record-keeping systems and 74% have an improved understanding of their farm or ranch eco-system function. Additional outcomes were also measured with top common outcomes noted in the report below. BWF 2012 - 2015 Behavior Change (% of participants completing draft or plan or taking action) Texas: Whole Farm Goal 97%, Financial Plan 92%, Business Plan 86%, Market Plan 81%, Land Plan 95%, Grazing Plan 90%, Bio-Monitoring 89%, Forged New Relationships 100% Maine: Whole Farm Goal 100%, Financial Plan 89%, Business Plan 62%, Market Plan 80%, Land Plan 58%, Grazing Plan 67%, Bio-Monitoring 74%, Forged New Relationships 95% New York: Whole Farm Goal 100%, Financial Plan 96%, Business Plan 74%, Market Plan 68%, Land Plan 77%, Grazing Plan 93%, Bio-Monitoring 65%, Forged New Relationships 96% Massachusetts: Whole Farm Goal 94%, Financial Plan 79%, Business Plan 61%, Market Plan 66%, Land Plan 49%, Grazing Plan 63%, Bio-Monitoring 46%, Forged New Relationships 80% New Hampshire: Whole Farm Goal 91%, Financial Plan 75%, Business Plan 81%, Market Plan 72%, Land Plan 64%, Grazing Plan 62%, Bio-Monitoring 28%, Forged New Relationships 89% Vermont: Whole Farm Goal 93%, Financial Plan 85%, Business Plan 81%, Market Plan 77%, Land Plan 59%, Grazing Plan 70%, Bio-Monitoring 50%, Forged New Relationships 87% Connecticut: Whole Farm Goal 89%, Financial Plan 78%, Business Plan 73%, Market Plan 71%, Land Plan 33%, Grazing Plan 80%, Bio-Monitoring 52%, Forged New Relationships 97% 2012 - 2015 Key Post-Session Impacts Experienced by Participants Massachusetts: Enhanced Understanding of Your Farm Finances 68%, New or Improved Record Keeping Systems 74%, Improved Understanding of Your Farm's Eco-System 81%, Improved Ability to Articulate Goals and Objectives of Business to Others 79%, More Effective Use of Resources 78%, Improved Ability to Determine Appropriate Management to Address an Environmental Issue 64%, Improved Understanding of Market 70%, Reduced Farm Expenses 39%. Texas: Enhanced Understanding of Your Farm Finances 87%, New or Improved Record Keeping Systems 87%, Improved Understanding of Your Farm's Eco-System 93%, Improved Ability to Articulate Goals and Objectives of Business to Others 85%, More Effective Use of Resources 98%, Improved Ability to Determine Appropriate Management to Address an Environmental Issue 86%, Improved Understanding of Market 78%, Reduced Farm Expenses 61%. Connecticut: Enhanced Understanding of Your Farm Finances 69%, New or Improved Record Keeping Systems 72%, Improved Understanding of Your Farm's Eco-System 64%, Improved Ability to Articulate Goals and Objectives of Business to Others 84%, More Effective Use of Resources 84%, Improved Ability to Determine Appropriate Management to Address an Environmental Issue 67%, Improved Understanding of Market 54%, Reduced Farm Expenses 33%. New Hampshire: Enhanced Understanding of Your Farm Finances 68%, New or Improved Record Keeping Systems 74%, Improved Understanding of Your Farm's Eco-System 81%, Improved Ability to Articulate Goals and Objectives of Business to Others 79%, More Effective Use of Resources 78%, Improved Ability to Determine Appropriate Management to Address an Environmental Issue 64%, Improved Understanding of Market 70%, Reduced Farm Expenses 39%. New York: Enhanced Understanding of Your Farm Finances 82%, New or Improved Record Keeping Systems 86%, Improved Understanding of Your Farm's Eco-System 72%, Improved Ability to Articulate Goals and Objectives of Business to Others 68%, More Effective Use of Resources 89%, Improved Ability to Determine Appropriate Management to Address an Environmental Issue 75%, Improved Understanding of Market 68%, Reduced Farm Expenses 47%. Vermont: Enhanced Understanding of Your Farm Finances 82%, New or Improved Record Keeping Systems 89%, Improved Understanding of Your Farm's Eco-System 81%, Improved Ability to Articulate Goals and Objectives of Business to Others 83%, More Effective Use of Resources 80%, Improved Ability to Determine Appropriate Management to Address an Environmental Issue 73%, Improved Understanding of Market 69%, Reduced Farm Expenses 47%. Maine: Enhanced Understanding of Your Farm Finances 83%, New or Improved Record Keeping Systems 62%, Improved Understanding of Your Farm's Eco-System 72%, Improved Ability to Articulate Goals and Objectives of Business to Others 69%, More Effective Use of Resources 74%, Improved Ability to Determine Appropriate Management to Address an Environmental Issue 71%, Improved Understanding of Market 56%, Reduced Farm Expenses 37%.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: 127 Beginning Women Farmers were trained. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? 9 Train the trainers have been selected to participate in a 2-year training to teach this curriculum for our current pool of participants and mentors with 7 on track to graduate as whole farm planning trainers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? All blogs by HMI were also tweeted and posted on Facebook. 7 mass emails were sent out to over 11,000 email recipients during the year. 2 flyers were developed for state coordinators to distribute for recruiting. HMI’s main Beginning Farmer program page had 8320 hits since September 2013, while our enrollment page had 1845 hits and our BWF Conference Proceedings page had 334 hits. An additional 42 web pages were developed internally or posted by our collaborating organizations or through other media. 9 articles were published in print magazines. 3 of the collaborating organizations also created their own Facebook pages for the program including Connecticut, New York, and Texas. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Train and mentor the 7 Train the Trainers and engage them in training and mentoring of 2014-15 participants. Maintain and promote listserve Recruit and train an additional120 beginning women farmers in the 7 states we are currently training using same curriculum of 70 training sessions and 100 on-farm technical assistance sessions. Continue to build and support collaborations through monthly collaborator teleconferences.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Outcomes 127 participants were accepted into the program and 98 graduated (77%) by participating in 70% or more of the trainings. Program Outreach All HMI blogs were also tweeted and posted on Facebook. Seven mass emails were sent out to over 11,000 email recipients during the year. Two program flyers were developed for state coordinators to distribute for recruiting. HMI’s main Beginning Farmer program page had 8,320 hits since September 2013, the enrollment page had 1,845 hits and the BWF Conference Proceedings page had 334 hits. An additional 42 web pages were developed internally or posted by our collaborating organizations or through other media. Nine articles were published in print magazines and three of the collaborating organizations also created their own Facebook pages for the program. Collaborations 70 partnering or collaborating organizations Includes organizations that organized events, provided outreach, or were used for instructing or mentoring participants. Key Collaborators as state coordinators for program were: University of Vermont New Hampshire Small and Beginning Farmers Central New York RC&D Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture Women in Agriculture Network--Maine Connecticut Northeast Organic Farming Association Program Outcomes As evidenced in the data below, the program achieved an overall graduation rate of 77%. The overall average level of satisfaction of the program by participants was 98%. There was a total of 7660 acres under management by participants and they were providing products to over 4307 customers in those 7 states. All participants had been farming less than 10 years with a state average of 3.7 years. 83% of participants are either farm owners or farm workers with 97% of all participants saying they intend to keep farming. Both program goals (getting 50% of participants to experience knowledge change and behavior change) were met. The weakest area for behavior change was the land planning with a 61% average. The last program goal was 25% of participants experiencing some outcome of improved management as a result of the training. Based on surveys, and depending on the state, an average of 68% of participants experienced improved satisfaction in their quality of life and 91% improved their ability to make complex decisions, 94% to determine needed profit, 87% to manage time, and 97% to communicate. Additional outcomes were also measured with top common outcomes noted below, all of which fell above the goal of 25% of participants experiencing outcome changes. BWF 2014 Graduation Rate Graduation based on 70% or more of classes completed Texas--31 trained, 90% graduated Vermont--15 trained, 87% graduated Maine--12 trained, 50% graduated Massachusetts--19 trained, 79% graduated New Hampshire--13 trained, 92% graduated Connecticut--18 trained, 56% graduated New York--19 trained, 74% graduate Total--127 trained, 98 graduated (77%) BWF 2013 Program Satisfaction Report Average % of satisfaction reported by participants in evaluations Texas--100% Vermont--100% New York--100% Maine--100% Connecticut--100% Massachusetts--100% New Hampshire--88% BWF 2013 Demographic Report Based on participant totals for acres managed and customers served and average number of years farming Texas--6336 acres influenced, 642 customers, and 4 years Vermont--448 acres, 935 customers, and average of 5 years Maine--45 acres, 72 customers, and average of 3 years Massachusetts--302 acres, 2174 customers, and 4 years New Hampshire--20 acres, 308 customers, and 5 years New York--499 acres, 100 customers, and 3 years Connecticut--10 acres, 76 customers, and 2 years Total--7660 acres, 4307 customers, and 3.7 years average BWF 2013 Behavior Change (Completing draft or revised plan or took action) On-Farm Goalsetting--97% Financial Planning--86% Market Planning--73% Business Planning--82% Land Planning-- 61% Grazing Planning--81% Biological Monitoring/Soil Fertility Plan--69% Forging New Relationships--94% BWF 2013 Knowledge Change Average % of participants experiencing knowledge change for each session On-Farm Goalsetting--96% Time Management and Decision Testing--88% Financial Planning Overview--97% Enterprise Analysis--98% Market Planning--96% Business Planning--92% Leadership and Communication--92% Land Planning-- 96% Grazing Planning--99% Biological Monitoring/Soil Fertility Plan--89% Top Post-Program Satisfaction with Outcome Changes Increased Satisfaction with Time Management--87% Increased Satisfaction with Ability to Determine Needed Profit--94% Increased Satisfaction with Ability to Make Complex Decisions--91% Increased Satisfaction with Quality of Life--68% Increased Satisfaction with Communication--97% Top Post-Session Impacts % of participants experiencing impact Enhanced Understanding of Your Farm Finances--86% New or Improved Record Keeping Systems--82% Improved Understanding of Farm's Ecosystem--82% Improved Ability to Articulate Goals and Objectives of Business to Others--81% More Effective Use of Resources--78% Improved Ability to Determine Appropriate Management to Address an Environmental Issue--65% Improved Understanding of Market--61% Reduced Farm Finances--33% Increased Net Income--30% Increased Farm Profit--20%
Publications
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Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: 123 beginning women farmers in the Northeast and Texas were trained in whole farm planning in a total of 70 one-day workshops of which at least 21 were on-farm/ranch. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? 9 Train the trainers have been selected to participate in a 2-year training to teach this curriculum for our current pool of participants and mentors. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Outreach has been as follows: Web pages http://holisticmanagement.org/our-work/beginning-farmers-ranchers/ has had 6282 hits since September 2012. http://holisticmanagement.org/bwf2013enroll/ has had 2429 hits since September 2012. http://holisticmanagement.org/our-work/beginning-farmers-ranchers/conference-proceedings/ has had 962 hits since September 2012. http://holisticmanagement.org/news/holy-holistic-management-batman/ http://holisticmanagement.org/blog/2013-connecticut-beginning-women-farmer-report/ http://holisticmanagement.org/blog/2013-new-hampshire-beginning-women-farmers-results/ http://holisticmanagement.org/blog/2013-maine-beginning-women-farmer-report/ http://holisticmanagement.org/blog/2013-new-york-beginning-women-farmer-report/ http://holisticmanagement.org/blog/2013-massachusetts-beginning-women-farmer-program-report/ http://holisticmanagement.org/featured-blog-posts/2013-vermont-beginning-women-farmer-results/ http://holisticmanagement.org/blog/texas-class-of-beginning-women-farmers-retreats/ http://holisticmanagement.org/news/acres-usa-features-women-participants-of-hmis-beginning-farmers-ranchers-program/ http://holisticmanagement.org/blog/texas-farmers-learn-holistic-biological-monitoring-and-land-planning/ http://holisticmanagement.org/holistic-management/case-studies/case-studies-beginning-women-farmers-in-texas/ http://holisticmanagement.org/blog/welcome-to-hmis-newest-certified-educator/ http://holisticmanagement.org/blog/a-day-in-the-life-of-our-beginning-farmers-ranchers-program/ http://holisticmanagement.org/news/holistic-management-certified-educator-on-the-radio/ http://holisticmanagement.org/news/hmi-training-helps-women-farmers-thrive/ http://holisticmanagement.org/blog/hmi-presents-results-of-program-for-women-farmers/ http://thebarryfarm.com/2013/05/09/farm-tour-for-a-texas-a-and-m-professor-and-his-cochran-fellowship-guests/ http://smallfarms.cornell.edu/2012/10/01/holistic-training-helps-women-farmers-thrive/ http://www.beginningfarmers.org/training-program-for-women-beginning-farmers/ http://www.buylocalfood.org/resources-for-farmers/workshops-and-assistance/women-in-agriculture-network/ http://moonlady.com/program-for-women-who-want-to-be-farmers-ranchers-apply-soon/ https://clctrust.org/2012/10/beginning-women-farmers-whole-farm-planning/ http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/stories-from-the-field-bf/ http://www.bfnmass.org/resources/whole-farm-planning-women-course http://www.ofrf.org/education/beginning-transitioning-farmer http://www.ctnofa.org/Beginning_women_farmers.html http://www.tofga.org/TOFGA_events?eventId=521401&EventViewMode=EventDetails http://www.fullheartfarm.com/in-the-news http://sust.unm.edu/events/2013/03/women-ag.html http://lucky-lizard-ranch.blogspot.com/ http://farmbiztrainer.com/resources/all http://cnyrcd.org/ http://umaine.edu/new-farmers/2012/12/18/beginning-women-farmers-class-january-2013/ http://www.middletownpress.com/general-news/20121028/moodus-woman-accepted-into-farm-planning-course-2 Articles Angelini, A. “How Holistic Management Helped Me to Buy the Farm.” IN PRACTICE #151, September 2013, 4. Bahret, M. “The Business of Growing,” IN PRACTICE #148, March 2013, 1. Bahret, M. “This is Your Business—Incorporating Yearly Reviews,” IN PRACTICE #148, March 2013, 9. Bryant, E. “Alchemy Gardens—Fulfilling Work and Fulfilling Lives,” IN PRACTICE #149, May 2013, 6. Bryant, E. “Improving Pasture Forage—To Seed or Not to Seed,” IN PRACTICE #147, January 2013, 1. Frenay, E. “Farm Profit—Making a Life and Living from Your Farm,” IN PRACTICE #146, November 2012, 1. Maxwell, Tara, “Equal Share—Women’s Roles in Agriculture,” ACRES USA, Vol. 43, No.4, April 2013, 30-33 What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Train and mentorthe 9 Train the Trainers and engage them in training and mentoring of 2013-2014 participants. Maintain and promotelistserve Recruit and train an additional120 beginning women farmers in the 7 states we are currently training using same curriculum of 70 training sessions and 100 on-farm technical assistance sessions. Continue to build and support collaborations through monthly collaborator teleconferences.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Outcomes 123 participants were accepted into the program and 104 graduated (85%) by participating in 70% or more of the trainings. 100 women completed that survey for an 81% response rate. Evaluations of Texas program clearly show we have built a successful beginning women farmer program in that region and continue to build out capacity. Materials published Online modules offeredfor each place-based sessions so that participants who missed courses could make up work online. Program Outreach All blogs by HMI were also tweeted and posted on Facebook. 11 mass emails were sent out to up to 9700 email recipients during the year. 2 flyers were developed for state coordinators to distribute for recruiting. Collaborations 68 partnering or collaborating organizations Includes organizations that organized events, provided outreach, or were used for instructing or mentoring participants. Key Collaborators as state coordinators for program were: University of Vermont New Hampshire Small and Beginning Farmers Central New York RC&D Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture Women in Agriculture Network--Maine Connecticut Northeast Organic Farming Association Program Outcomes The overall average level of satisfaction of the program by participants was 91% (97-84% spread). There was a total of 43,403 acres under management by participants and they were providing products to over 3,085 customers in those 7 states. All participants had been farming less than 10 years with a state average ranging from 2-5 years. 91% of participants are either farm owners or farm workers. Mentoring satisfaction was good in all states with a 70% satisfaction or higher. Both the program goals of getting 50% of participants to experience knowledge change and behavior change were met (see results below). Likewise, the program goal of25% of participants experiencing some outcome of improved management as a result of the training was also exceeded. Based on surveys, an average of 73-96% of participants experienced improved satisfaction in their quality of life and their ability to make complex decisions, to determine needed profit, to manage time, and to communicate. Additional outcomes were also measured with top common outcomes noted below, all of which fell above the goal of 25% of participants experiencing outcome changes. BWF 2013 Graduation Rate Graduation based on 70% or more of classes completed Texas--30 trained, 28 graduated (93%) Vermont--17 trained, 16 graduated (94%) Maine--19 trained, 15 graduated (79%) Massachusetts--15 trained, 13 graduated (87%) New Hampshire--11 trained, 11 graduated (100%) Connecticut--15 trained, 11 graduated (75%) New York--16 trained, 10 graduated (63%) Total--123 trained, 104 graduated (85%) BWF 2013 Program Satisfaction Report Average % of satisfaction reported by participants in evaluations Texas--97% Vermont--96% New York--96% Maine--92% Connecticut--88% Massachusetts--86% New Hampshire--84% BWF 2013 Demographic Report Based onparticipant totals for acres managed and customers served and average number of years farming Texas--42,734 acres influenced, 1,135 customers, and 5 years Vermont--206 acres, 474 customers, and average of 3 years Maine--307 acres, 295 customers, and average of 2 years Massachusetts--41 acres, 456 customers, and 4 years New Hampshire--43 acres, 138 customers, and 4 years New York--58 acres, 336 customers, and 4 years Connecticut--14 acres, 251 customers, and 2 years Total--43,403, 3,085 customers, and 3.4 years BWF 2013 Farming Prospects 26 participants planning to start farming 91 participants planning to continue to farm Total 117 BWF 2013 Behavior Change (Completing draft or revised plan or took action) Whole Farm Goal--91 participants (89%) Financial Plan--84 participants (82%) Business Plan--76 participants (72%) Market Plan--63 participants (60%) Land Plan--67 participants (61%) Grazing Plan--73 participants (70%) Biological Monitoring--52 participants (47%) Forged New Relationships--93 participants (80%) BWF 2013 Knowledge Change Average % of participants experiencing knowledge change for each session On-Farm Goalsetting--98% Time Management and Decision Testing--98% Financial Planning Overview--94% Enterprise Analysis--100% Market Planning--94% Business Planning--97% Leadership and Communication--97% Land Planning-- 97% Grazing Planning--100% Biological Monitoring/Soil Fertility Plan--97% Top Post-Program Satisfaction with Outcome Changes Increased Satisfaction with Time Management--87% Increased Satisfaction with Ability to Determine Needed Profit--97% Increased Satisfaction with Ability to Make Complex Decisions--99% Increased Satisfaction with Quality of Life--76% Increased Satisfaction with Communication--87% Top Post-Session Impacts % of participants experiencing impact Human Resources Clearer sense of what your farm is managing towards--94% Better Ability to Determine Resources Available to You--90% Improved Decision Making--87% New Policies and Systems Implemented--66% Financial Resources Improved Ability to Articulate Goals and Objectives of Business to Others--84% New or Improved Record Keeping Systems--77% Enhanced Understanding of Your Farm Finances--74% Improved Ability to Incorporate Social, Environmental, and Financial Needsinto Your Land Plan--73% Changes in How Your Prioritize Expenses--72% Improved Ability to Prioritize Investments--63% Natural Resources Improved Understanding of Your Farm’s Eco-System--69% Improved Ability to Determine Appropriate Management to Address an Environmental Issue--52%
Publications
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