Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the last year (i.e., the third year) of this project was two distinct groups of beginning farmers in Kentucky. The first group represented socially-disadvantaged and limited-resource beginning farmers, which included African American and female beginning farmers. These beginning farmers were taught a variety of topics during the third year of this project, including hydroponics, aquaponics, "organic" hydroponics, local marketing, farm risk management, management of small ruminants, etc. The second group was refugee beginning and aspiring farmers that were recruited with the help of a community-based organization called International Center, located in Bowling Green, Kentucky. These refugee beginning and aspiring farmers represented nations such as Myanmar, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Congo, and other African nations. These participants lived in urban housing and were typically struggling in finding employment in the United States. They were taught about low-tech, low-investment urban farming methods via monthly workshops. They learned about income possibilities via small-scale horticulture and low-input hydroponics, in combination with local marketing. They were impressed to witness the effectiveness of non-recirculating hydroponics systems to grow leafy green vegetables, the corresponding low management requirements, and the quick returns, so that they can have monthly harvests and sales. These beginning farmers were provided a plot of land by the International Center with a greenhouse where they started to practice the farming methods that were discussed in the workshops. We trained a total of 30 refugee beginning and aspiring farmers during the last year of this project. Changes/Problems:No major changes from the original grant program were instituted. However, there were minor changes. At the end of Year 2, there was hope of teaching viticulture to beginning farmers by working with a local wine-grape producer. However, that farmer was unavailable during Year 3 and viticulture training during the third year was not provided. The Master Beekeeping Program was not available to beginning beekeepers during Year 3, as hoped for by the end of Year 2 of this project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities for training during the third year of this project: Beginning farmers were trained by professionals in the area of agricultural production, marketing, economics, risk, and management on a variety of topics during the third year of this project. The following is a list of the various training opportunities: 1) Beginning farmers who were women, and partners of male beginning farmers participated in a two-day, fast-paced Annie's project workshop series where they were taught agricultural risk management during October 2014. This program invited professionals from the government, industry, and universities to discuss farm risk management. Training topics included development of farm financial statements and business plans, completing Schedule F in federal income taxes, health insurance, how to have a diversified market using local marketing channels, etc. 2) Hydroponics and aquaponics production techniques were taught to 23 beginning farmers at a workshop during February 2015 by a noted expert in this field, Mr. Charles Schultz. 3) Beginning farmers were invited during March 2015 to learn about small ruminant management during the Kentucky State University Third Thursday Thing workshops focusing on needs of small and limited-resource farms. Participants received training on topics such as genetic selection of Boer goats and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's quality assurance program for goat and sheep producers. 4) In June 2015, beginning farmers participated in an organic hydroponics workshop where the learned about using organically-derived hydroponic fertilizers to grow a variety of vegetables using systems such as Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) and Bato buckets. Beginning farmers were also taught a lesson in botany where they learned about nutritional and pH needs of vegetables and how hydroponic fertilizers provide adequate nutrients to vegetables. This workshop was taught by an expert in horticulture, Dr. Barbara Liedl, West Virginia State University, which is a sister 1890 Land Grant University. 5) During June 2015, 20 refugee beginning farmers were taught about sub-acre, urban vegetable farming using the small-plot, intensive management system described above. They were also taught about local marketing through farmers' markets. 6) During July, 2015, low-input hydroponics was taught to 19 refugee beginning farmers at the International Center in Bowling Green, KY. 7) Refugee beginning farmers from Asia and Africa were taught how to use a rear-tine tiller to progressively break ground and mill the soil and prepare a fine seeding bed. 8) Refugee beginning farmers from Asia and Africa were taught about setting up a low-input hydroponics system by measuring hydroponic fertilizers that they can purchase from a variety of local distributors in order to prepare solutions with proper plant nutritional attributes and using rockwool cubes and net pots to start the hydroponics system for leafy greens. Opportunities for professional development during the third year of this project: 1) Beginning farmers participated in a grant writing workshop during March 2015, taught by the project director, where they were exposed to USDA AMS local food marketing initiatives. They learned about USDA priorities about local food marketing such as food hubs and how to develop competitive proposals. 2) Beginning farmers participated in learning how to write proposals for the Value Added Producer Grant program during May, 2015. This professional development opportunity allowed them to learn some basic skills in grant writing which could benefit their farm business immensely in future. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The following avenues of outreach were used to disseminate our results and news of our project during the third year: 1) We maintained our project blog (https://farmingforcash.wordpress.com/) with news about this project, including upcoming workshops and training opportunities that the project team members have designed and scheduled by the Kentucky State University 1890 Land Grant Program. 2) All email correspondence contained information about this project and our project blog. 3) On July 11th 2015, the project director met with beginning farmers and members of the community during the 2015 Kentucky Farm Fest, which was organized by the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. This forum afforded the opportunity to disseminate information about this project to the public. 4) This project resulted in 2 journal publications (in review) and 3 extension fact sheets that will help disseminate NIFA and Kentucky State University's role in beginning farmer training in the USA. 5) Several YouTube videos were prepared by the project team, based on materials discussed in the workshops and uploaded to our Farming for Cash YouTube channel. 6) Beginning farmers that registered to this project were contacted via telephone and email to advertise any upcoming workshops and/or other training events. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
These were the accomplishments for the last reporting year (i. e., the third year of this project): Objective 1 accomplishments: Thirty refugee beginning farmers were trained in limited land and water management and in the use of low-capital, low-input technologies. Through multiple workshops, these beginning farmers were trained in topics such as small-plot intensive farming, which consists of growing vegetables in two-foot wide beds, with varying walkway sizes depending upon the crop, using 1,000 square feet at a time. This type of farming (often termed sub-acre farming) uses land very efficiently and is also consistent with the needs of low-budget farmers because it requires very little initial investment in the form of hand tools, with a rototiller being the only powered equipment. This technology further adds to land-use efficiency via management systems such as relay cropping of quick-growing vegetables on the same piece of land. This has the potential of generating substantial yields from small urban farms, and income that can easily exceed $1/square foot/year through retail outlets for local foods such as farmers' markets, community-supported agriculture operations, and independent white table cloth restaurants that specialize in buying local foods. Efficient water management was taught via use of non-recirculating hydroponics systems to grow leafy greens. These systems are documented to use only a fraction of the water that would normally be needed if the same volume of vegetables were grown in the ground. Non-recirculating hydroponics can be done outdoors or under a translucent roof, and requires no artificial energy such as electricity to run pumps or propane to heat buildings. The results showed that inexpensive materials such as gallon milk jugs, 10 gallon to 30 gallon plastic totes could be converted to grow a variety of lettuces, collards, mustard greens, kale, etc., without the need of daily weeding, insecticides, or expensive equipment such as tractors and ground- working implements such as plows, harrows, tillers, bed makers, etc. This production system is highly suitable for urban farming, in a limited resource setting, utilizing brownfields and vacant lots that might have contaminated soils, unsuitable for traditional horticulture. This production system is also suitable for areas where water is a limiting resource because the production units can be designed to minimize evaporative losses, and the same space can be repeatedly used to produce the same crop, without fear of soilborne diseases (i. e., no crop rotation is required). Objective 2 accomplishments: Refugee beginning farmers were not taught to develop business plans because they did not have the necessary foundation to develop production, marketing, financial, and risk-management strategies. These refugee farmers will be taught business planning as part of a subsequent (already funded) BFRDP project, which is a continuation of this project. However, several female beginning farmers or partners of male beginning farmers were taught business planning as part of an Annie's Project workshop series during October, 2014. There were 18 attendees, who were trained in the five areas of farm risk management: production risk, marketing risk, financial risk, legal risk, and human risk. Annie's Project training also included business and financial planning and the participants were trained in completing Schedule F in their annual federal income taxes. All Annie's Project participants received a certificate of completion. On July 11th 2015, the project director taught beginning farmers how to develop a two-page business plan (following the guidance provided by two-page business plans by Farm Credit) in Oldham County, Kentucky. This event was part of the 2015 Kentucky Farm Fest that is organized by the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. Objective 3 accomplishments: Refugee beginning farmers received workshop-based training about local food marketing. They were taught about the functioning procedures of farmers' markets in the United States, the cost of vending at farmers' markets, and the potential income from sales at farmers' markets. They were also instructed to grow specialty vegetables that are typical to their national or ethnic identity. There are seed companies in the United States that supply specialty vegetables/ethnic vegetable seeds. They were instructed that this production strategy, in combination with marketing within their communities, could be a recipe for success in a small-scale produce business. They were also taught about the concept of Food Hubs, which is an USDA priority for development of local food markets. The International Center administrative staff were also willing to host a farmers' market on their campus, and advertise the market through the local media. Several beginning farmers were able to meet with a famous Kentucky chef (Chef Jeremy Ashby of Azur Restaurant, Lexington Kentucky) who purchases only locally-grown foods for his restaurant. This meeting occurred as part of Annie's Project during October 2014. The beginning farmers were able to have a question-answer session with the chef during which they gained insight into marketing of small quantities of very fresh produce and meats to local restaurants. Several beginning farmers participated in a workshop on April 6th, 2015 where the project director presented information about USDA AMS funding availability with respect to their Farmers' Market Promotional Program (FMPP) and Local Food Promotional Program (LFPP). Beginning farmers were taught how to design successful proposals for the USDA AMS programs. This workshop provided the opportunity to discuss the various forms of local food distribution such as farms' markets, community-supported agriculture, food hubs, etc., which is consistent with Objective 3 of this project.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Dasgupta, S., and R. C. Bryant. 2015. Costs of pastured broiler operations using data from small-scale farms. Journal of Extension.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Dasgupta, S., R. C. Bryant, and A. Velasquez. 2015. Local markets for whole catfish and fresh fillets in Kentucky. Journal of Extension.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Dasgupta, S. and R. C. Bryant. (2014) Selling fish to independent restaurants. Factsheet of the College of Agriculture, Food Science, and Sustainable Systems, Kentucky State University Experiment Station Number: KYSU-000045.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Dasgupta, S. and R. C. Bryant. (2014) Selling catfish in local markets. Factsheet of the College of Agriculture, Food Science, and Sustainable Systems, Kentucky State University Experiment Station Number: KYSU-000043.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Bryant, R. C. and S. Dasgupta. (2014) How can farmers accept debit, credit, and EBT cards in direct-to-consumer markets? Factsheet of the College of Agriculture, Food Science, and Sustainable Systems, Kentucky State University Experiment Station Number: KYSU-000044.
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Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience reached during this reporting period includes African-American beginning farmers, military veteran beginning farmers, socially-disadvantaged beginning farmers, Hispanic beginning farmers, and refugee beginning farmers.A total of 73 beginning farmers have been registered and trained during this reporting period; however, many additional un-registered beginning farmers received training through workshops sponsored by this project.Over half of the enrolled beginning farmers are socially-disadvantaged farmers, with 23% African-American beginning farmers. These beginning farmers were trained through multiple workshops and farming/marketing demonstration projects.For example, African-American military veteran beginning farmers participated in horticulture demonstrations using small-scale black plastic mulching equipment.These beginning farmers were provided additional support from vegetable marketing specialists in the project team in the area of local marketing through farmers' markets.As a consequence, they are selling fresh produce in a low-income food desert in the west side of Louisville, Kentucky. Another African-American military veteran beginning farmer was trained in a pastured poultry project.This beginning farmer was also certified as a commercial poultry processor at the Kentucky State University Mobile Processing Unit.He has currently entered into a contractual agreement with a major pastured poultry buyer in Kentucky, Marksbury Farm (http://marksburyfarm.com/). Several land-less Hispanic farmworkers were trained in apiculture (beekeeping) which is something they can do without needing to own/lease much farmland.This training involved hive management, feeding bees, and disease detection/diagnosis/treatment. Changes/Problems: One major change was that only a handful of beginning farmers received training as commercial poultry processors at the Kentucky State University Mobile Processing Unit (MPU).This is because most beginning farmers that were interested in poultry production found it convenient and economically expedient to have their birds custom processed and packaged for sales.The savings associated with farmers butchering and processing their own birds at the MPU was insufficient for them to seek this type of processing training. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Opportunities for training during the project period: Beginning farmers received hands-on training in small-scale agriculture. These opportunities included: 1) 15 horticulture production demonstrations around Kentucky out of which 12 demos using organic production methods, three demos used commercial-scale black plastic mulching methods to increase vegetable yields, and 5 demos investigated small fruit production to diversify offerings of horticulture producers at farmers' markets; 2) 16 apiculture demonstrations around Kentucky where beginning farmers learned how to install bees, manage hives, diagnose diseases and apply appropriate medications; 3) 10 pastured poultry demonstrations around Kentucky where beginning farmers learned poultry management and pasture management; 4) Hands-on training in starting and managing a mushroom kit for small-scale edible oyster mushroom production; 5) Development of a home-processing and microprocessing plan in collaboration with officers from the Kentucky department of Public Health, Food Safety Branch; 6) Poultry processing certification training at the Kentucky State University, Mobile Processing Unit; 7) Hands-on training in extraction and packaging of honey; 8) Practical demonstration of a small-scale aquaponics facility; 9) Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) training and certification; and 10) Training and certification for sampling raw and cooked foods at farmers' markets and registered roadside stands. Opportunities for professional development during the project period: Beginning farmers were given the following educational opportunities during this project period: 1) Small fruit production, management, disease, and economics (September 2013; Farming For Cash workshop); 2) Pawpaw production, processing and value-added products (September 2013; Third Thursday workshop); 3) Apiculture management in Spanish for Hispanic beginning farmers (September 2013; Kentucky State University and University of Kentucky Extension workshop); 4) Horticulture marketing at retail and wholesale level (October 2013; Farming For Cash workshop); 5) Production and marketing of meat and dairy goats (October 2013; Third Thursday workshop); 6) Good Agricultural Practices (November/December 2013; Farming For Cash workshop); 7) Starting a commercial vineyard (March 2014; Farming For Cash workshop); 8) Disease management of goats (March 2014; Third Thursday workshop); 9) Production and marketing of edible mushrooms (March 2014; Farming For Cash workshop); 10) Aquaponics (March 2014; Kentucky State University Aquaculture Research Center/Farming For Cash workshop); 11) Value added products, home-based food processing, and microprocessing (April 2014; Farming For Cash workshop); 12) Health and food safety (May 2014; Third Thursday workshop); 13) Extraction and processing of honey (June 2014; Farming For Cash workshop); 14) Pastured poultry and poultry processing (June 2014; Third Thursday workshop); 15) Aquaculture production and marketing (July 2014; Third Thursday workshop); and 16) How to accept debit, credit, and EBT cards for food sales using a smart cell phone (August 2014; Farming For Cash workshop). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The following activities were conducted for program result dissemination: 1) A project blog was created that was updated monthlywith project description, training/workshop information, downloadable fact sheets, and beginning farmer training videos; 2) All beginning farmers with email addresses were emailed monthly by project team members to keep them updated about upcoming workshops, other training opportunities including on-farm demonstrations; 3) All beginning farmers who were involved in an agricultural demonstration project were given telephone calls by project team members to provide mentoring and support; 4) All beginning farmers who have registered to this project were telephoned 2-3 days before a meeting was scheduled; 5) A smart cellphone app was created for dissemination of results; this app linked training videos, fact sheets, program calendar, and project team contact information for the user; this app could be downloaded through the project blog via a QRL link and in a printed brochure that advertised this project.The app is also available here: http://ibuildapp.com/projects.php?filter=featured&searchText=farming+for+cash&searchCat=-1&page=1; 6) YouTube videos were created along with a special Farming for Cash channel on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/farmingforcash); these videos had 176 views from people in the United States and from 26 other countries; these videos contain project results; and 7) Five fact sheets focusing on the project results were written and will be available for download from the project's blog and app. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? 1. Schedule on-farm visits for beginning farmers to teach about details of commercial horticulture technology such as black plastic mulch and appropriate fertigation methods, high tunnel systems, and vineyard management 2. Have hands-on demonstrations for making queens in beehives 3. Enrolling beginning farmers into Master Beekeeping school for certification, if this school is available in 2015 4. Providing marketing training by scheduling farmer-meet-buyer meetings with chefs and wholesale buyers in 2015
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Overall statistics of beginning farmer training during this project period were: 14 beginning farmers trained in Small Fruit production and management, 11 beginning farmers trained in local food marketing through registered farmers' markets in Kentucky, 14 beginning farmers trained in retail and wholesale marketing of vegetables, 28 beginning farmers were certified in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and received their diplomas, 9 beginning farmers were trained in starting a commercial vineyard, 12 beginning farmers received hands-on training on starting production of edible Oyster mushrooms, 13 beginning farmers were trained in installing a queen bee and a package of honey bees into a hive, 14 beginning farmers were trained in value-added food production/home-based processing/microprocessing of food for retail sales, 9 beginning farmers were trained in honey extraction/bottling for sales, and 7 beginning farmers were trained in using smart cell phones to accept debit/credit/EBT cards for payment during retail food sales. Objective 1 focuses on training beginning farmers on managing natural resources for profitable farming. The following activities were accomplished under this objective. Beginning farmers participated in: 1) a September 2013 Third Thursday workshop on the production of pawpaw, a fruit native to eastern and midwestern states, 2) a March 2014 Third Thursday workshop on managing vegetation to enhance goat production, 3) a July 2014 Third Thursday workshop on pond management for aquaculture, aquatic weed management, and disease management of aquatic animals, 4) a beekeeping field day in September 2013 for Hispanic farmworkers presented in Spanish, 5) three Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) training workshops around Kentucky in October 2013, 6) three small vineyard startup and management workshops around Kentucky in March 2014, 7) an edible mushroom production lecture, followed by hands-on mushroom kit management training in March 2014, 8) a workshop in beginning aquaponics in March 2014, 9) three value-added food production, home-based food processing, and microprocesing workshops around Kentucky during April 2014, 10) a honey extraction, processing, and packaging workshop in May 2014, 11) a tour of goat and sheep producers in June 2014, and 12) 41 agricultural production demonstrations in horticulture, apiculture, andpastured poultry around Kentucky; these demonstration projects educated beginning farmers in organic production methods,commercial-scale black plastic mulching methods, small fruit production, beehive management, and small poultry flock management in conjunction with pasture management for poultry Objective 2 seeks to train beginning farmers to develop practical business plans so their farms will be grounded on sound financial plans. Beginning farmers attending the March 2014 workshop on aquaponics were trained on how to develop financial statements. A Microsoft excel-based financial template was designed by the project team that allows farmers to enter transaction data for three years, which are automatically converted into three-year cash flow statements, income statements, and balance sheet. This template was made available for download on the project's blog http://farmingforcash.wordpress.com/ Objective 3 seeks to train beginning farmers in marketing methods and strategies amenable to local food markets and cash sales. The following activities were completed during this reporting period in support of Objective 3. 1) Beginning farmers received training on marketing of horticulture products in three workshops around Kentucky during October 2013; these workshops were taught by Mr. Tehran Jewell, a member of the project team and a commercial farmer who operates in a variety of farmers' markets, wholesale markets, and a CSA; 2) Beginning farmers learned about direct marketing of goats during the October 2013 Third Thursday workshop in Frankfort, Kentucky; 3) Beginning farmers learned about pastured poultry marketing during the June 2014 Third Thursday workshop in Frankfort, Kentucky; they were taught by a veteran farmer, Mr. Andre Barbour, a project collaborator; 4) Beginning farmers learned about local marketing of fish to restaurants during the July 2014 Third Thursday workshop in Frankfort, Kentucky; they were taught by Mr. Richard Bryant and Dr. Sid Dasgupta, a project team member and the project director, respectively; 5) Beginning farmers learned about accepting debit, credit, and EBT cards using smart cell phones during three August 2014 workshops scheduled around Kentucky; they were taught by Mr. Richard Bryant, a project team member; 6) Beginning farmers learned about horticulture marketing by selling produce from demonstration farms to Good Foods Coop in Lexington, Kentucky, and at farmers' markets; 7) Beginning farmers learned about pastured poultry marketing to a contract-buyer in Kentucky , Marksbury Farm; they learned from the experience of a beginning farmer that is currently contracting his birds with Marksbury Farm; 8) Beginning farmers learned about aquaculture marketing by observing sales of live fish by a beginning farmer to an Asian grocer in Louisville, Kentucky; and 9) The project team assisted one beginning farmer open a new farmers' market (Twin Cities Farmers' Market) in Franklin County, Kentucky, that will host several beginning farmers enrolled in this project.
Publications
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
http://farmingforcash.wordpress.com/page/3/
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Farming for cash smart cell phone App:
http://ibuildapp.com/projects.php?filter=featured&searchText=farming+for+cash&searchCat=-1&page=1
- Type:
Other
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Dasgupta, S. and Bryant, R. C. (2014). Selling fish to independent restaurants. Factsheet of the College of Agriculture, Food Science, and Sustainable Systems, Kentucky State University Experiment Station, In review.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Dasgupta, S. and Bryant, R. C. (2014). Selling catfish in local markets. Factsheet of the College of Agriculture, Food Science, and Sustainable Systems, Kentucky State University Experiment Station, In review.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Bryant, R. C. and Dasgupta, S. (2014). How to accept payment in form of debit, credit and EBT cards. Factsheet of the College of Agriculture, Food Science, and Sustainable Systems, Kentucky State University Experiment Station, In review.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Bryant, R. C., Dasgupta, S., Tiu, L. and Caporelli, A. (2014). Restaurant perceptions of locally grown freshwater seafood in Kentucky and Ohio. World Aquaculture Society meeting, Book of Abstracts, p. 55.
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Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience were beginning farmers from Kentucky. We have a total of 122 participants officially enrolled in our program. This includes women farmers (53%), Caucasian farmers (69%), African-American farmers (25%), and Asian farmers (3%). This audience includes Caucasian and African farmers that are consideredrefugees in the United States. In addition, we are training youth farmers at a school for troubled youth in southern Kentucky. These participants represent beginning farmers from 34 out of 120 counties in Kentucky. The majority of ouraudience are new to farming: 14% have never farmed before in their life, but are willing to consider farming as a future livelihood option; 24% have been farming for 1-3 years; and 23% have beenfarming for 3-5 years. Most of out participants (74%) own land suitable for farming activity; only 27% reported that, in the past, they have either borrowed or leased land for farming. Water access is just as vital to farming as land access; 64% of the audience reported that their only water access for farming was city water and 21% reported that they had pond, stream, or well water avaialble for farming. Our audience had a high variability of the amount of time that they are willing to devote to farming activities. These data are important to show the relative likelihood of full-time and part-time operators, among the beginning farmers enrolled in our program. The reported data show that 30% were willing to enter farming as a full-time profession (more than 40 hrs per week), and approximately half of them were willing to devote 11-40 hrs/week on farming; the remainder of participants were either investigating farming without commitments to entering the profession or were interested in micro-scale, hobby farming. Changes/Problems: Beginning farmers involved in poultry production for meat sales are discovering that live sales of birds is more profitable that sales of processed birds. This is particularly true when poultry flocks are very small in size. Other beginning poultry producers prefer to use custom processors with USDA certification in Kentucky. Consequently, there has been low interest in hand processing of poultry among beginning farmers. This has made training beginning farmers regarding how to processing poultry, of low priority in this project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Professional development activities were made available to participants through a number of workshops. These workshops were offered at three sites in Kentucky, that captured the general distribution of the target audience. The workshops were also opened for general attendance, and occasionally drew individuals not enrolled in our program. The following workshops afforded professional development. 1) Land acquisition for farming and NRCS programs suitable for beginning farmers. 2) Beginning apiculture (i.e., beekeeping). 3) Aquaculture marketing (workshop provided in collaboration with the Kentucky State University Third Thursday Thing program). 4) Beginning pastured poultry. 5) Organic horticulture basics for beginning farmers. 6) Selling food through Kentucky's farmers' markets and roadside stands. 7) Poultry diseases and their management. Training opportunities were provided to all participants. These included: 1) Design and construction of pastured poultry hoop houses 2) Installation of electric fencing 3) Installation of a simple, inexpensive, drip irrigation system that can operate under low water pressure 4) Installation of bees in bee hives 5) Pastured poultry management 6) Horticultulture management, which included soil testing, soil amending, direct seeding using an Earthway seeder, weed management, harvesting and proper holding/handling of vegetables 7) Beehive management, including checking for mites, finding the queen bee to ensure health of the hive, understanding "bearding" of hives 8) Horticulture marketing through roadside stands at a church and at a farmers' market 9) Farm record keeping and cash flow statement development How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results were disseminated using the following methods: 1) Evening workshops were scheduled every month at three locations across Kentucky, which allowed participants with day-jobs to attend for professional development. 2) Invitations were extended to each participant to attend the Kentucky State University Third Thursday Thing workshops and training sessions. These invitations included meeting agendas and directions to the meeting site. 3) On-farm agricultural demonstrations were conducted in multiple Kentucky counties that included community gardens in urban areas. 4) Regular emails were sent by project team members using MailChimp to keep participants aware of upcoming events and changes in the project implementation plan. 5) A project blog site was created and constantly updated and participants were encourgaed to visit the blog for finding uploaded answers to general questions about the program, and specific questions about management and disease issues. 6) Each participant was called via telephone 2-3 days prior to training sessions/workshops to encourgae their involvement in the prrogram. 7) Particpiants involved in demonstration projects were periodically interviewed via telephone to discuss problems that they were facing, and provide options and solutions with assistance of production and economics/marketing experts. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The following activities would be conducted: 1) More training on marketing by organizing trips to specialty markets, farmers' markets, Hispanic grocers, and stockyards. 2) New workshops will be offered where farmers with success in local marketing discuss their challenges and sales strategies with begining farmers. 3) Meeting with chefs that focus on local foods about sales opportunities to restaurants.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Major activities completed: A database has been developed that includes information from more than 120 beginning farmers enrolled in the program. This database contains detailed information of resources available to beginning farmers and farming plans/preferences of beginning farmers. Workshops were taught to beginning farmers in Central, Western, and Southern Kentucky at Franklin County, Jefferson County, and Russell County, respectively. The following accomplishments were made in the workshops: Ten beginning farmers were trained in developing enrterprise budgets and cash flow statements. Thirty-six beginning farmers were trained in land acquistion and NRCS programs suitable for beginning farmers. Twenty-five beginning farmers were trained in bee keeping for beginners. Six beginning farmers were trained in organic gardening. Eighteen beginning farmers were trained in pastured poultry for beginners. Eleven beginning farmers were trained in poultry health management. Twenty beginning farmers were trained in marketing food through Kentucky's farmers' markets. At the conclusion of each workshop, beginning farmers were surveyed to indicate the usefulness of the workshop and future workshop topics of interest. Beginning farmers were also trained at multiple Kentucky State University Third Thursday workshops; this included a marketing workshop on using MarketReady program to sell products through Kentucky's restaurants and grocery stores. Several on-farm production demonstrations were conducted: a total of 10 apiculture (beekeeping) demonstrations, 18 pastured poultry demonstrations, and 8 horticulture demonstrations across Kentucky. Production and price data were maintained at each demonstration. Two markeing demonstrations were organized: one at the Franklin county farmers' market and one at a Christian church in Franklin county. Specific objectives met: Objective 1 related to training beginning farmers to manage land, water, and capital resources. Objective 3 related to training beginning farmers to develop suitable marketing strategies was met: beginning farmers were trained in direct marketing through farmers markets, marketing of poultry through live markets, and marketing food through restaurants and grocers. Significant results achieved: Major findings: 1) It is feasible to make nearly $1,000 worth of sales or more from a 4,000 square foot horticulture plot within the first year of operation. 2) In a sub-acre horticulture enterprise, greens (lettuces, spinach, etc.) are more profitable per square foot than many other vegetables. 3) Processing chickens for sales is not always a good idea: live chickens can be sold for $10-$12/bird to Hispanic consumers and at stockyards, which can be more profitable than selling processed chickens at farmers' markets. 4) It is profitable for small-scale farmers to sell horticultural products and pastured eggs to specialty grocery stores in Kentucky. 5) Beehives are unlikely to produce any honey in the first year of operation, and lack of forage can make bees to abandon hives. 6) Hispanic consumers are interested to buy specialty vegetables such as tomatillos and chayote (pear-shaped squash). 7) There is significant interest among sub-acre beginning farmers in marketing ginseng through farmers' markets. 8) It is easy to establish new farmers' markets in Kentucky; two or more farmers need to post fixed meeting times and a meeting place to start a farmers' market. 9) Beauregard sweet potato is very successful cultivar in Kentucky: beginning farmers had substantial harvests with this type of sweet potato. 10) Seedless wartermelons are not very successful in Kentucky: many melons died on the vine, while correspnding seeded watermelons were very productive on the same land, using the same managment style. Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized: Beginning farmers engaged in poultry production for meat are realizing that it is more economically efficient for them to seek live markets to sell their birds than seek for processing opportunities. Processing is costly and time consuming; however, there is sufficient demand for live birds in ethnic markets in Kentucky to encourage small-scale pastured poultry farmers to sell their birds alive. This is noteworthy because small-scale flock owners have greater flexibility in choosing broiler types that are preferred by Hispanic consumers. Most of the broiler industry in Kentucky use Cornish Cross or "Freedom Ranger" broilers or similar broiler types. However, many Hispanics prefer Australorps, Barred Rocks, or Wyandottes, that are usually not farmed by medium-to-large scale producers.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Dasgupta, S. (2013) Acquiring farmland: help for beginning farmers. Factsheet of the College of Agriculture, Food Science, and Sustainable Systems, Kentucky State University.
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