Progress 12/15/14 to 12/14/17
Outputs
Target Audience:We've included everything in the Products/Outputs section. Changes/Problems:A key challenge we witness with the Farm Business Course is to cater to specific audience interests through a curriculum based training program that attempts to provide a common understand of what is involved in running an ag business. The audience has a diversity of experience, goals, and enterprise interests. While we offered the opportunity for follow up one-one consultation, not many of the students take advantage of this opportunity. It is really only the highly self motivated folks that already have a pretty good idea of what they want to do that contact us for assistance. One change might be to require a one-one meeting with instructors as part of the business training curriculum. This way we have a better idea of individual goals and can guide them on next steps. Many simply need more experience before launching fully into a farm business. This change might also further improve limited English proficient beginning farmers and students who are shy or reserved from asking questions in class. One major challenge during the grant period was adjusting to rapid changes in interest and experience of beginning farmers. In 2015, annual vegetable production workshops were popular (avg. 30 attendees per workshop) but by 2017, numbers had decreased, and participants were more interested in workshops related to perennial, livestock, and non-annual production. We learned that offering a wide range of topics and using surveys to gage participant interest will help us anticipate trends and market shifts, and better meet the needs of new farmers. Another challenge in this project year was a lack of access to adequate (English as a New Language) ENL materials and/or translation and interpretation to ensure that refugee and immigrant participants are receiving the same quality of education as English speakers. Through a recently funded award from USDA 2501 Program, we intend to convert several key curricula to be ENL appropriate to address this issue. Centered in the Groundswell mission is a commitment to building an equitable and sustainable food system. We offer our services in rural New York State where the population is 80% white. Since 2016, we have made very deliberate steps to increase the integration of equity & justice into all of our programs and services, rather than be an 'add-on- approach to them. We teach justice in all of our workshops and courses, we prioritize hiring consultants and mentors of color, we have rewritten our Incubator Farm policies to prioritize support for underrepresented individuals and we attempt to inspire beginning farmers to integrate equity when planning their businesses. We launched a compensated Equity & Accountability Committee of the board that is made up of community leaders of color we collaborate with often and who helped Groundswell develop and publish an organizational Equity Statement and contributes to Groundswell holding ourselves accountable to our mission. While we feel confident in this work and our approach (while learning all the time), this effort has been both received well by some, and less so by others. Beginning farmers, of course like many entrepreneurs, struggle to make a profit, so some are resistant to "equity" until they are making money. This is challenging as an organization and program leaders, because unless we shift our paradigm to develop business models that are equitable and profitable from their design, it seems like we will continue on the trajectory of having an unequal food system. Finally, a challenge with this work, and working with diverse audience, is collecting appropriate and enough data to measure impact well. We work with many farmers who don't speak English well or at all. Some of these people are not literate in their languages, so translation isn't an option. We rely on interpretation and one on one documentation of program impact for these participants. While we have program registration forms and evaluations forms that collect demographic data, some people don't feel comfortable providing this information, so we either have nothing to report, or make our best educated guess's. This challenge can be witnessed in the numbers - we engaged over 1000 program participants in 2017, however only about 250 of these people provided all the data we requested. We are discussing this with other BFSP and multi cultural non-profits who also rely on outcome based reporting to learn about their best practices to collect information but also be sensitive to people's privacy. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All Project Staff attended 2.5 Day Undoing Racism Training. Incubator Farm Manager attended NIFTI Annual Conference. Project staff member attended and presented at NESAWG. Project Director attended BFRDRP annual Project Director's Meeting. Project staff attended 3 BFLN online webinars. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Throughout the year, we regularly share success stories of program participants through a number of outlets. Example of Press covering the Project can be seen in the Products section of the report. We send a monthly newsletter highlights featured stories, and also post to our blog and Facebook pages regularly sharing information about our work. At this time, we are compiling the outcomes and impacts of our program at large in order to rerite our web site and printed promotional materials about Groundswell and the our services. We are just about to publish a 2017 Annual Report as well. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Total Engaged Directly & Indirectly: 1102 Total directly engaged in Activities/Events/Services/Products: 696. 406 indirectly engaged. Overall Demographics of those who reported (25%): We were able to collect demographic data on 402 of the directly engaged participants. African American/Black - 32, Hispanic/Latinx - 22, Asian - 40, Indigenous - 1, Other - 4, White - 292 1. In the third year of this Project, 7-8 Programs and dozens of one-one consultations directly supported more than 30 existing or new beginning farmers (BF) to directly improved technical farming and business/financial management skills as indicated in written evaluations from these engagements. Through hands on workshops on working farms, 34 gained advanced technical knowledge that is applicable to specific farm enterprises. One farm business owner who attended the branding and marketing workshop stated, "The Groundswell Marketing course helped me realize that our commitment to supporting regional businesses, sourcing local ingredients are valuable parts of their story and marketing approach. Communicating their values up front has helped them increase their catering bookings for the 2017 season." 11 graduates of the Farm & Food Business Course developed a new farm business plan and one updated the business plan of his family's farm business, which he is now managing. 4 BF's were supported to improve financial management strategies that led to applying for loans and NYS Farmer Funding Grant opportunity. 75 beginning famers in 2017 gained a basic understanding of and management requirements of various farm enterprises through panel presentations from farmers, farm tours and multiple field days. 65 beginning farmers engaged in discussions and workshops on equity and justice in the food system. 20 of these existing beginning farmers are actively working with Groundswell and together to integrate justice into their business plans and models. Two Incubator Farmers in particular are uniquely successful. One, a flower farmer, entering her 2nd year in production, grossed over $6,000 in first year in the Program, and projects to double this in 2018. She received 1-1 business support from Incubator Farm Manager and CCE Project Staff Matt LeRoux to identify market opportunities for her products. While in her business model she anticipated direct sales, she discovered selling wholesale takes much less time to deliver the product, and leads to a greater profit. She enrolled in our Farm Business Planning course a 2nd time in 2018, to continue refining her business plan. Also see Products section. Besides the Incubator Farm program participants, our Services contributed to the launching of 9 new farm businesses in 2017, indicated by the follow-up and outputs of 2016 & 2017 Farm Business Course graduates and one-one consultations. Project staff supported these new beginning farmers to file schedule F's for the first time in 2017 or will be filing in 2018. 2. The Groundswell Farm Business Program has supported the launching of 10 new farm businesses at the Incubator Site. All of these businesses are owned by socially disadvantaged farmers including refuges, people of color and women. One farmer graduated from the program continues his orchard and vegetable business on rented land in the region. We are continuing to work with him to find and purchase his own land. The regional Incubation needs continues to be high, especially for refugees and people of color, who have more difficulty navigating entrepreneur and land ownership opportunity. We are exploring alternative models to our existing Incubator Farm so to expand eventually into grazing and forestry Incubator Farm model, to support the growing demand in diverse farm enterprises. Additionally, we are working with partners at the Finger Lakes Land Trust and Northeast Farm Access 3. Through the farmer and buyer connection efforts of the Project we observed: Beginning farmers gain new marketing experience, including developing price sheets and materials and approaching wholesale buyers. 8-20 beginning farmers each year of the Project applied new marketing experience to their business, with guidance from CCE staff. 8 new market connections were made resulting in short term or long term sales. Farms that participated in our events and Facebook group established new wholesale accounts. Examples include Van Galder family farm getting into a Cornell Campus restaurant, among others outlined above. Through our networking events, beginning farmers gained new knowledge of HOW to sell to buyers by talking with them as well as to other more experienced farmers. 4. See 2015 and 2016 difficulties and reporting notes. 5. We made excellent headway in increasing the regional farmer to farmer mentor network. While it seems simple, the online F2F Facebook Group is frequently stated as one of the most useful outlets for farmer support in the region. 2-10 posts occur each day and range from "Who would like to go in on a bulk order of product crates to reduce shipping costs" to "what's this insect decimating my apple trees". Brand new farmers and experienced farmers use the group to share resources, help each other and generally, strengthen the relationship between farmers in the region. As mentioned above, we also increased the offering of mentor relationships for Incubator Farmers this year by facilitating introductions. We recognized that the language and cultural difference for many of our Incubator Farmers led to them not reaching out to other farmers on their own. 6. During the 2014-2017 BFRDP-funded Project, Groundswell engaged1,161beginning farmers in technical farming workshops, farm business courses, in-person networking sessions, and other educational experiences.By the conclusion of the Project, an additional713beginning farmers and existing farmers joined an active (averaging >10 threads per day) Farmer 2 Farmer Finger Lakes Group via social media and email. In 2015, the Project served 9% people of color (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, Other), in 2016 participant diversity increased to 18% people of color, and during the final Project year reached 24% people of color. Due to relationship building, recruiting diverse workshop leaders and collaborating with community leaders to build more inclusive and accessible programming,Groundswell approximately doubled the diversity of our programming for two years in a row. Throughout the Project period, Groundswell offered an annual average of 12 workshops, 2 large public events, 5 farm tours/field days, and the 9-session Farm Business Planning Class, which resulted in business skill development and improved business management for 64 beginning farmers. Multiple effective in-person and online networks were created because of this Project - including Farming for Justice Network, Finger Lakes CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance for FarmerTraining), Farmer to Buyer Event Series, Spring Mixer, Sunset Soiree, as well as enterprise-specific networks. Groundswell's Incubator Farm reached full capacity in 2017 with 24 socially disadvantaged farmers growing annual vegetables, culturally significant crops, cut flowers, and herbs. In response, the Farm Manager and volunteers cleared 3 new farmable acres adjacent to the existing site, constructed a second hoop house, and upgraded equipment. While we are still compiling data for the final Project Report DueMarch 15, 2018, highlights from this final year of the Project period include the 3-dayFarm to Plate Conference, that united more than 350 farmers, food activists and agroecology academics to educate for a just and sustainable food system and theSoil Management Workshopheld at the Incubator Farm for 40 beginning farmers and taught in 5 languages simultaneously (English, Samali, Spanish, Karen and Burmese). As for project periods Years one and two, 27graduates reported launching a business and 11 graduates started farming.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Guide to Farming in NYS - updates made to this document housed on the Cornell Small Farms website - http://smallfarms.cornell.edu/resources/guides/guide-to-farming-in-ny/ �- and referenced during Beginning Farmer Training, although not funded by NIFA
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
" Project Staff Kate Cardona and Elizabeth Gabriel hosted a Webinar for the Beginning Farmer Learning Network (NE BFLN) titled Integrating Equity & Justice into Rural Beginning Farmer Training Programs , October 2017, 55 attendees from the Northeast region participated.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
" Project Staff Kate Cardona presented at the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Workshop Group (NESAWG) Conference in Baltimore, MD in November 2017 a presentation called "Centering Racial Equity in a Small Agricultural Organization: Steps Taken and Lessons Learned". �45 beginning farmers, service providers and food system advocates/activists attended. Employees from Farm Fresh Rhode Island and NSAC followed up about the equity statement and equity strategies after the presentation. Kate also connected with Tracy from NESAWG and Reverend Heber Brown III from the Black Church Food Security Network on the grassroots food movement tour of Baltimore at the conference.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Groundswell Incubator Farm Press:
Tompkins Weekly Article on Incubator Farmer Paw Paw; http://groundswellcenter.org/one-of-us-putting-down-roots-tompkins-weekly/
GreenStar Coop GreenLeaf article on Incubator Farmer Allison Smith; https://greenstar.coop/uncategorized/wild-air-flower-farm-local-sustainable-fresh-beauty/
Farm to Plate Conference Press:
A re-cap of the Farm to Plate Conference in Sustainable Tompkins Signs of Sustainability Blog: https://sustainabletompkins.org/signs-of-sustainability/tompkins-weekly-column/uniting-for-a-just-and-sustainable-food-system/
Voices from the Farm to Plate Conference on Hot Potato Press:
http://hotpotatopress.org/2017/05/30/voices-from-ithacas-farm-to-plate-conference/
Video from the opening panel of Farm to Plate, Food Justice and Public Policy with Malik Yakini, Karen Washington, Rafael Aponte and Jamila Walida Simon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNqW_VBwTyc&t=1s
|
Progress 12/15/15 to 12/14/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Our audience is diverse beginning farmers in the Central NY/Finger Lakes region, especially: Organic or practicing organic standard producers, specialty crop producers, small farms, local food businesses, Immigrant producers, New American producers, African American producers, other marginalized groups including women. We engaged the following categories of beginning farmers: EXPLORERS. Thinking about farming, not yet sure if it's right for them. They may (or may not) own land, but have not yet taken any steps to develop an agricultural business. Many of these people are already gardeners. PLANNERS. Actively planning to start a farm business within 1-2 years. They have basic knowledge & experience, but seek more information about production, marketing and business management practices. Some of these people have gardening for a long time, working on regional farmers or homesteading on their own land. EARLY STAGE BEGINNING FARMER. Already farming, but still exploring and learning what is and isn't going to work for their particular operation management practices. ADVANCED BEGINNING FARMER. Farming up to 10 years, maturing their farming systems and possibly still diversifying. 2017 Groundswell Trainee Demographics Ethnicity/Race White/Caucasian 350 People of Color 76 Black/African American 48 Latino/Hispanic 8 Asian 8 New Americans 12 Total Identified Trainees 426 (~90% participants reporting) Changes/Problems:Overall project challenge: our follow-up methodology for program and course graduates yield only a small number of replies, relatively. In the past we have invited graduates to Farmer2Farmer Network events, conducted follow-up calls and surveys mid farming season and offered to do farm visit, and also conducted a 16 month survey to the first graduates of our 10-week Farm Business Course. Attendees of the networking events remin engaged, but many others simply don't return calls or answer surveys. It's hard to know what steps people are pursuing in their business plans and what they need from us. Incubator Program Challenge is that our existing and very strong farm business curricula and suite of course and workshops offerings are in English. We have had to adapt our workshops and offerings specifically for Incubator Farmers who do not speak English or English is not their first language. However, we have only been able to adapt some of the training and workshops we offer and we witness that their is a need for an Introduction to Business for ESL Learners course and then a second course that is Farm and Food Business Planning for ESL Learners. LandLink Challenges: Land seekers have an idea to start a farm but their ideas are not well developed and they tend to be unrealistic in their expectations of Landowners (as reported by landowners that have been contacted by landseekers). The project budget does not allow enough time to provide the kind of indepth consulting each of the landseekers really needs such as developing business models and market channel assessment, soil tests and site assessment to match enterprise need, infrastructure assessment and inventoty, lack of credit or capital. Landowners seem less challenged but similarly, many are unaware of their land's capability and for what enterprise, hence they don't know what their land is good for, how to structure a lease and price to charge. The Incubator Farm Manager, Devon Van Noble, who was part of founding members of the Farm Business Incubator Program decided to leave his position in November 2016 to pursue his personal farm business and expand the operation. This is a large change for Groundswell and the Incubator Farmers because it has all only existed under Devon's management. Devon and the Groundswell director, Elizabeth Gabriel, worked closely for 3 months to prepare a new job description and an Incubator Farm Orientation and Training Manual for the next manager. We have hired a new Program Manager for this role and are confident in the Programs ability and capacity to remain strong and to only grow and evolve with new leadership. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? 34 one-on-one Individual Consultations were provided to beginning farmers and experienced beginning farmers to assist with marketing channel development and selection, pricing 17 Regional Farm Visits were conducted of beginning farmers and small food businesses requesting business, technical or marketing support and/or graduates of Groundswell Farm Business Courses. 10-week Farm Business Planning Course, 24 participants in mostly the "Planner" phase of beginning farming, having obtained land or have a very strong business concept. Participant business models are a wide range from beekeeping and honey production, hop production and brewery, vegetable farming to animals production. 4 Farmer2Farmer Network events take place in winter, covering topics of Farm Insurance, Holistic Farm Planning, High Tunnel Production including and beyond Vegetables, and Prepping for Wholesale. These events are facilitated by this Project's staff and are organized so experienced farmers share their lessons learned with beginning farmers. This is both a social gathering with food as well as a learning and networking opportunity. 10-28 farmers per session. Demographics were recorded by oberservation only, as registration was not required. 70% women attendees, 1 African American. 2 Farming 101 Sessions for "Explorer" Beginning Farmers, 48 participants 1 Farmer Educator/Mentor training to support regional experienced farmers to support beginning and incubator farmers, 11 participants. Cooperative Farming Event, 48 participants, 8 people of color, 20 masters and undersgraduate students, 14 Explorers, 10 Planners, 3 Early Stage and 1 Advanced Beginner Farmer. 3 Finger Lakes CRAFT Farm Tours & Workshops, 17 total particpants, 3 people of color, 8 Early Stage Beginning Farmers, 9 Explorers/Planning 2 Homesteaders Tours and Gatherings, 12 total participants, 4 Asian, 100% women. Grazing & Pasture Management 10-week Technical Course. 12 participants 100%white, 100% Early or Advanced Beginning Farmer stage. Soil Management, 4-week Technical Course. 8 participants, 1 Asian, 7 white. 3 PressBay Holiday Farmers Markets, over 90% of vendors are beginning farmers. Customer attendance at all markets was over 300. 3 Farmer to Buyer Events, June 2016: 24 farms includes 15 beginning farms which includes 5 biz class alums. 14 buyers in attendance and Feb 2016: 34 people, 24 farms, 6 buyers, 19 male, 19 female, 2 Asian and GreenStar Cooprative Market, Sept. 2016: 16 males, 12 female, 13 farms includes 7 beginning farmers. 1 Asian, 1 Native American. Farm to Table to Justice, over 46 people attended this collaborative public event held in collaboration with the Conge Square Farmers Market (a market for businesses owned by people of color) and the Tompkins County Workers Center and the Cornell Farm Worker Program.. The focus of the event was to highlight challenges and successes with farm worker justice issues. Almost 50% of the attendees were people of color. Launched 'Lessons from the Land' column published quarterly in the Small Farms Quarterly and in collaboration with Cornell Small Farms Program. This idea grew from seeing participation numbers in courses and workshop drop in early 2016. The intention for Groundswell with this joint effort is to expand the awareness and reach of Groundswell's marketing and outreach efforts. The column asks farmers to write about a given topic in a 400 words or less. Chosen columns are published publicy in the paper and shared online. 6 Incubator Farmer Trainings, Workshops and Farm Tours, for 10 New American beginning farmers and 2-4 white beginning farmers. These workshops were specifically for Incubator Farmers enrolled in the program and any people who assist the Incubees. Topics covered were intense vegetable production, cover cropping and soil management, small equipment use (eg. BCS tractor), no-till vegetable productions, record keeping and managing pests. Scything and low-intensive Grass Management Workshop was the most popular workshop of the year, with 30 attendees. This workshop was very successful in reaching our entire targer audience from homesteaders and "planners" to very experience beginning farmers. 50% attendees were men, 50% women, 1 person of color. Finger Lakes Land Link: 89 land seeker listings, mostly "Planners" looking for land in the Finger Lakes and at least half looking to locate within 30 miles of Ithaca. all folks who join the site are given information on how to get help getting strated and we promoted the Groundswell business classes to the. 34 landowner listings, consulted with 10 landowners about plans for their future (some retiring), some looking for partners for a farm business, some hoping for a stable rental situation, some want to hold onto family farmland. Additionally, Groundswell staff attended a handful of professional development conferences and trainings including: From Scarcity to Adundance, a training on increasing organizational diversity and inclusiveness NESAWG Conference attendance, workshops attended included diverifying organizational income streams, race and the food system, food hub viability, NE Beginnger Farming Learning Network attendance, excellent networking opportunity with other beginning farmer service providers. From Baskets to Pallets training on increasing market wholesale readiness Building a Diverse Board of Directors Training, offered at no charge for CTA project directors Attended multiple USDA and NIFTI webinars How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Groundswell Center and sub-awardee CCE-Tompkins maintain an extensive Communications and Marketing spreadsheet that is both local to the immediate 5-county area as well as Regional. Depending on the scope and scale of the promotional announcement we send/share in a variety of online and offline methods: Press Releases to a media list of over 50 contacts Announcements in the Groundswell newsletter which has 2500 subscribers Qualitative stories and summaries of our events and courses and activities thorugh our blog, with 250 subsribers Photo and intriguing informative announcements to our own Facebook page, with over 1200 followers Event and course happenings on other Facebook page of organizations we work closely with and partner with frequently to cross pomote activities including NOFA-NY, CADE, reigonal farmers, VINES, Cornell Small Farms Program, Regional CCE offices, Just Food, GrowNYC, Mass Ave Project, Soul Fire Farm, regional farmer and homesteader lists, and over 20 more. Though the Farmer2Farmer Discussion Group on Facebook we started at the beginning of this project, which continued to be used multiple times a day and provides an incredible resource and item sharing platform for all farmers. People ask questions from where to source a specific farm supply item, or what insurance to get for their business to asking for harvesting help. Over 410 members are now active. Maintenance of our Groundswell course alumni and membership network. We host alumni gathering events to develop the relationships with these groups and continue to communicate with them through specific listeserves for each cohort. Announcements of courses and events through a wide range of community calendars which are published in online and in print newspapers and event web sites. Lessons from the Land column in partnership with Cornell Small Farms Program Gave 2 community ESL Presentation at TST BOCES to assist with Incubator Farm Program Recruitment. Gave informational presentation to NOFA-NY staff, to share more about Groundswell and develop relationships of cross promotions of courses, events and programs. Tabling at regional agriculture or food justice related events to share and disseminate information about Groundswell's Beginning Farmer Training Program. We tabled at the NOFA-NY Kind Bird Farm Tour and Open House (50+ attendees), Regional Community Garden Open Houses, Cornell University Local Food Fair, Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute regional farm tours and Convergence(200+ attendees), Asparaganza (200+ attendees), State Fair (1000+ attendees), Corning Ag Days (300+ attendees), Alternative Gift Fair (150+ attendees), Food Resource Fair (150+ attendees), Agzravaganza (220+ attendees) Disseminate posters, postcards and brochures throughout the Finger Lakes region at least 4 times throughout the year. These include an overview of Groundswell Beginning Farmer Programs, as well as the entirety of 2016 program offerings, and posters specific for certain courses and workshops. Our biggest poster push is for the annual Farm Business Development Course, Technical Courses, and the Farmer2Farmer Networking events. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To further accomplish projects goals and address some challenges outlined in the next section of this report; in 2017 we: - Developing new methods for engaging past program participants and further stregnthen the Farmer2Farmer Network. We will continue to reach out individually and offer to conduct farm visits and invite these people to programs, courses and events, and we will also intend to broaded the scope of our events and course offerings. Based on 2015 and 2016 workshop and course successes, we realized our most popular courses were those that farmers asked if they could teach in collaboration with us. As such, for 2017, we developed our course offerings in part by asking regional farmers to submit workshops and class ideas that they would want to teach. We offered a training for these instructors on effective and engaging instruction both on farm and in the classroom and anticipate farmers wanting to learn from other farmers who are known for certain topics. So far, the first two progams of 2017 have been very well attended and are reaching a much larger and broader audience and already we are seeing some past participants return. Additionally, we are developing a new Communications and marketing strategy that includes a redesigns and easier to navigate website, increased photo and video content about our programs and program successes and stories, and a "drip communication" strategy which we hope will build audience engagement and knowledge. - We are beginning to develop more teaching materials for ESL Learners to further support our Incubator Farmers and engage other refugees to learn about business, and possibly help us recruit additional refugees to our programs. We are expanding our collaboration with TST BOCES and Catholic Charities to help accomplish this goal. - To engage more people of color and increase our committment to engaging and supporting low income and marginalized people, we have realized there were a few needs: We have done a prelimary review and assessment of our course offerings and recognize that food justice and issues leading to food insecruity are not mentioned at the forefront of our educational offerings and web site. We have begin to integrate a food justice curricula into every program and course we offer. We kicked this off in 2017 in our Farm Business Planning course, and of the 24 participants, 22 stated they were very pleased with this curricula addtion. We are continuing this curricula integration in the rest of our courses in 2017 and have also partnered with multiple other community groups to hold a 2.5 day conference called Farm to Plate, in May, to highlight the regions agricultural abundance and identify ways this abundance can help alleviate community food needs. We have formed an Equity and Accountability Committee of the Board of Directors, comprised of people of color in the community who believe in Groundswell's mission and work and will help guide our organizational practices, from hiring to program offerings. - We need to secure funding for after 2017, to ensure Groundswell Project's can continue. We have made a development strategy to diversify our funding sources and are just beginning to implement this strategy in April.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1. Increase the technical and business management skills of beginning farmers: One-on-one consultants, Technical Courses, Farm Visits, 10-week Farm Business Course, Incubator Farm, Conducted annual survey of Farm Business Course graduates. IMPACT: Over 190 Beginning Farmers engaged directly with Groundswell program staff to increase their technical and business skills. Impacts varied including 16 explorer farmers developing business plans, 8 filing necessary paperwork to file a Schedule F for the first time in 2017, 9 stating they improved their pasture management strategy and were better prepared for 2016 drought conditions, 36 past graduated requesting the development of an Advanced Farm Business Course in coming years. 2. Connect beginning farmers to existing wholesale markets, and develop new marketing channels: Farmer to Buyer Networking Events, Strategic Marketing Winter Series and Farmers Markets for Beginning Farmers. IMPACT: Multiple farms reporting never had contact with possible wholesale buyers in the past. One farm reports having made a sale of $6,000 as a result of the event. Another farm reports to receive orders of $600/month as a result. Network events gave beginning marketers experience and confidence to enroll in other marketing and selling opportunities including the annual Press Bay Markets which prioritze Beginning Farmers. Desire to vend by beginning farmers was higher than ever in the past, in large part because of our programs offering to farmers and their increased confidence in selling to the public. Customer atendance at these markets was excellent; beginning farmer vendors report that they were very happy with daily gross sales. About 70% of the farms report that the markets also helped hone their marketing skills, since many of them do not have a presence at a large market such as Ithaca. 3. Provide intensive business incubation support to selected farmers while increasing regional incubation capacity. IMPACT: In year 4 of the Farm Business Incubator, we graduated our first farmer, Surik, a New American man from Armenia who has moved off the Incubator Farm, found land via Finer Lakes LandLink ans support from Groundswell staff and is continuing to manage his farm business. We Iistalled a refrigerator Cool Bot for Incubator Farmer Product storage (not funded by USDA), but very much supporting the Incubator Farmers to increase product viability for markets. We provided 6 workshops specifically for the New American refugee farmers, in plain English and expanded the farmer mentor relationship for each one. The Farm is now full as we enter 2017, and we have assessed the feasibility of 4 possible second Incubator Farm sites and have applied for funding from various sources to support the Incubator Farm Project expansion. 4. Support cooperation among farm businesses, and develop cooperative models for farm business ownership, management, and business transfer. After much research and effort to collaborate and approach this effort, we an held in April in collaboration with Alternatives Federal Credit Union and the Democracy at Work Network called Cooperative Farming Viability and Networking. IMPACT: While one farm and food businesses has been further investigating feasibility of creating a cooperatively owned food hub, many of the other participants learned more about cooperatives models and actually decided they were not interested in them, but rather wanted to pursue sole proprietorship. The cooperative model appears to hold many challenges of working together, sharing profit, and being efficient. We have not received strong support for the continuation of coop business model programs and intend to revisit this in 2017 5. Increase the impact of farmer-to-farmer mentoring; Farmer2Farmer Discussion Group Online, Farmer2Farmer Discussion and Networking Winter Sessions, Farmer Mentor relationship development with Incubator Farmers including social and educational events, Surik Mehrabyan, the first Incubator Farmer to graduate from the Program presenting on his 4 years at the Incubator Farm to the Incubator Committee and the other Incubator Farmers. Goals of this session were to share all the lessons he learned with the other Incubator Farmers, and help the Incubator sub committee become more aware of Surik's experience over the past 4 years. IMPACT: Mentor relationships continue to be a strong component of beginning farmer capacity to get started and get help. The online discussion forum is used multiple times a day, and several times a month, we receive an in-person 'thank you' for facilitating that group. We learned with the incubator farmer mentors in year 1, that mentoring is not as simple as somebody growing the same product as a beginning farmer. Culturally appropriate relationships, personaility matches and willingness to share and ask questions are critical. During 2016, we increased our effort to cultivate mentor relationships for both mentors and mentee. This has proven to be critical for the Incubator Farmers from Burma, who tent to be shy and not ask questions. 6. Provide on-farm learning experiences for diverse "Explorers," with priority on engaging immigrants, refugees, people of color, veterans, and limited resource trainees through Finger Lakes CRAFT Farm Tours and Networking Gatherings, Homesteader Tours, Incubator Farm program and the Incubator Team affirmatively decided that going forward the priority audience for the Program will be New Americans. IMPACT: This year we saw a significant reduction in participation on CRAFT and Homesteading gatherings. As typical with CRAFT nationally, the same farms host each year. The only 2 popular tours in 2016 were on farms/homestead that have not been a CRAFT or Homesteader site in the past. As such, and seeing the success and the Farmer2Farmer Network Gatherings in the winter, we have chosen not to host CRAFT and Homesteader programs in 2017, however, we will still host some site tours in 2017, but promote them as part of the Farmer2Farmer Networking Gathering. The emphasis of the outreach and programming for the Incubator Program on New Americans, means a 2017 committment to redesigning our farm business courses and program offerings and program evaluation to be English as a Second Language appropriate. We have begun to cultivate stronger relationships with ESL tutors and teachers and are working to build a stronger collaboration with TST BOCES. We are seeking organizational funding to support curricula development for ESL Learners.
Publications
|
Progress 12/15/14 to 12/14/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Our audience is diverse beginning farmers in the Central NY/Finger Lakes region, especially: Organic producers Specialty crop producers Small farms Immigrant producers African American We engaged the following categories of beginning farmers: EXPLORERS. Thinking about farming, not yet sure if it's right for them. They may (or may not) own land, but have not yet taken any steps to develop an agricultural business. PLANNERS. Actively planning to start a farm business within 1-2 years. They have basic knowledge & experience, but seek more information about production, marketing and business management practices. EARLY STAGE BEGINNING FARMER. Already farming, but still exploring and learning what is and isn't going to work for their particular operation management practices. ADVANCED BEGINNING FARMER Farming up to 10 years, maturing their farming systems and possibly still diversifying. Groundswell Trainee Demographics 2015 Ethnicity/Race - Number of ID'd Trainees - % ID'd Trainees - Tompkins Cty % - NY State % White/Caucasian 150 90.4% 78.0% 56% People of Color 14 8.4% 22.0% 44% Black/AfricanAmerican 6 3.6% 4.4% 18% Latino/Hispanic 3 1.8% 4.7% 19% Asian 5 3.0% 10.4% 9% New Americans 12 7.2% 13.0% 23% Total Identified Trainees 166 100% Changes/Problems:Our biggest challenge in 2015 was that we continued to attract a very small number of people of color into our programs. This is despite our stated commitment to equity and inclusion, our ongoing efforts to cultivate relationships with diverse members of the local community, and our regular participation in collaborative community initiatives which share the goals of increasing equity and inclusion across the food system. We are experimenting with some new programs in 2016 which we hope will result in increased participation of people of color in our programs, and ultimately, in farming. This may include some programming for youth, a target audience we had not included in our original proposal. We also had some challenges due to staff turnover in 2015. Our Education Program Manager left Groundswell at the end of the 2015 season and did not collect enough Post-Training assessments to provide much useful data for our 2015 programs. Typically we conduct a Pre- and Post-Training Knowledge Assessment for each trainee participating in one of our multi-session program. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?2015 TRAINING PROGRAMS: PROGRAM - TIME FRAME - # TRAINEES Farm Business Incubator Program - Year-Round - 7 Organic Veg Farming Basics for Incubator Farmers - 6 sessions Feb-Apr - 6 Farm Business Planning Course - 10 sessions Jan-Mar - 15 Year-Round High Tunnels Course - 9 sessions Feb-Nov - 23 Draft Animal Practicum - 2 days May 2-3 - 8 Finger Lakes CRAFT Farm Tours & Workshops - 6 sessions May-Oct - 21 Homestead Farmers & Gardeners Gatherings - 5 sessions June-Oct - 17 Workshop: Explore Your Farm Business Idea - 10/21/2015 - 6 Workshop: Get Ready For Market - 2 sessions June & Sept - 8 Workshop: Farmer-Educator Training - 3/30/2015 - 12 Finger Lakes LandLink- Land Seekers Meeting - 9/15/15 - 23 FLOX-Finger Lakes Orchards Exchange Meetings - 5 sessions Jan-May - 8 Cooperative Farming Network Meeting - 4/7/2015 - 10 Farmer 2 Farmer Network Meetings - 3 sessions Dec 2014, Jan & Feb - 28 Individual Business Consultations - Year-Round - 27 Individual Marketing Consultations - Year-Round - 17 "Press Bay Market" holiday Farmers Market Events - 2 Holiday Markets, Nov & Dec - 15 TOTAL PROGRAM ENROLLMENTS: 236 UNIQUE INDIVIDUALS: 176 2015 FARMER NETWORKS NETWORK - FORMAT - # ONLINE PARTICIPANTS Finger Lakes Orchards Exchange - Email discussion forum (plus meetings listed above) - 50 Cooperative Farming Network - Email discussion forum (plus meetings listed above) - 49 Farmer 2 Farmer Facebook Group - Facebook discussion forum (plus meetings listed above) - 248 Produce Farmers E-list - One-way communications from staff re: resources and programs - 67 Livestock Farmers E-List - One-way communications from staff re: resources and programs - 63 How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We promoted our training programs via: 2016 Farm Business Planning Course Press Release To promote annual 10-week course. Audience is "Planners" (planning to farm in 1-2 years) and "Early Stage Beginning Farmers" (already in business). NOT for "Explorers" (just toying with idea of farming someday.) 2016 Farm Business Planning Course Flier To promote annual 10-week course. Audience is "Planners" (planning to farm in 1-2 years) and "Early Stage Beginning Farmers" (already in business). NOT for "Explorers" (just toying with idea of farming someday.) Groundswell USDA Grant Award Press Release Inform the general public and regional agricultural organizations about this 3-year Project and the New Farmer Training programs it supports. Groundswell 2015 High Tunnels Course Press Release #1 Promote 10-month technical course to Beginning Farmers and Planners (planning to farm in 1-2 years.) Year Round High Tunnels Course Press Release #2 Promote 10-month technical course to Beginning Farmers and Planners (planning to farm in 1-2 years.) Groundswell Center Overview-powerpoint slides Explanation of Groundswell's mission and programs for a general audience. 2015 Farm Business Planning Course Press Release To promote annual 10-week course. Audience is "Planners" (planning to farm in 1-2 years) and "Early Stage Beginning Farmers" (already in business). NOT for "Explorers" (just toying with idea of farming someday.) Monthly Email Newsletter Shares information about Groundswell programs and participants with almost 2000 subscribers. Groundswell Website Provides program and organizational information to Groundswell trainees and the general public. Groundswell Facebook Page Provides information on upcoming programs, events, activities, resources, and much more, to more than 1600 friends. Groundswell promotional Quarter-Cards General purpose handouts What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?2016 New Farmer Training Programs are underway now. Details are at our website www.groundswellcenterorg.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
FARMER TRAINING PROGRAMS. We ran 17 distinct face-to-face programs, geared for beginning farmers at various levels of experience, from Explorers to Advanced Beginning Farmers. We also facilitated 3 ongoing networks of farmers and aspiring farmers. The networks combined ongoing online interaction with occasional meetings. We engaged a record number of trainees in 2015. A total of 176 individuals participated in the face-to- face programs listed above. 60 of these people participated in multiple programs. Although we have not completed our annual survey of trainees, we know of 16 individuals who began farming in 2015, and 9 new farm businesses that were launched by our trainees. This brings us to a total of at least 50 new business start-ups, and 65 new farmers supported by Groundswell's programs since 2011. We also developed a promising new marketplace for beginning farmers. Our Marketing Specialist organized a series of special holiday markets in a prime downtown Ithaca location and prioritized beginning farmers as vendors. Feedback showed that these markets provided an excellent venue for beginners to develop marketing skills and experience, and to build their customer base. ENGAGING DIVERSE LEARNERS. A critical part of our mission is to engage diverse learners, with the long term goal of increasing the number of people of color, New Americans, and veterans who have access to land and the opportunity to farm in upstate New York. In 2015 we worked on increasing our engagement with local refugee families and community members of color, to learn more about their interests and needs, and determine how Groundswell can better serve them. Our Incubator Farm Program Manager has been broadening and strengthening his relationships with local Karen Burmese families, who have a strong interest in gardening and possibly farming. We contracted with one of our Incubator Farmers to help with outreach, translation and instruction for the several new Burmese trainees who will be joining the Incubator program in 2016. We have also been building relationships with other local communities of color. In 2015 we worked with two individuals of color as Outreach Specialists. One connected us with local African Americans who are interested in reconnecting with the land, learning how to grow their own food, and bringing youth into that process of learning and empowerment. We are now planning some collaborative programs for 2016 that will place Black men and women at the center as leaders and mentors for young people while teaching about food and farming. Although this is a few steps removed from the actual launch of new farm businesses, we now understand that increasing the numbers of Black farmers in upstate NY is going to be an evolutionary process, and that it needs to involve youth. Another one of our Outreach Specialists helped us to identify our own internal organizational barriers to achieving equity and inclusivity in our programs. We have since begun working the Multicultural Resource Center in Ithaca to conduct a "Racial Equity Self-Assessment" of Groundswell, and to identify clear goals and policies that will help us to achieve our mission.
Publications
|