Progress 05/01/15 to 04/30/18
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is people serious about small to mid-scale farming, whether they currently have land or not. In particular, we were interested in recruiting limited resource and African-American producers, organic producers, small farmers, and speciality crop producers. The full program was run in 10 counties all throughout Georgia: Year 1: Habersham,Oconee Year 2: Carroll, DeKalb, Dougherty, Screven Year 3: Gwinnett, Houston, Lowndes, Walker Also, a Small Farm Business class was run in Banks and an AgAware class in Greene County. In total, we had 447 unique participants take part in one or more steps of the program.We had 367 participants take Small Farm Business Planning Training/AgAware classes, 117 in our Small Fruit and Vegetable classes, and 90 in our Small Ruminant classes. For our Hands-On program, we had 43 students complete an internship/mentorship/incubabor opportunity with an experienced farmer. In general, our classes were diverse in terms of race and sex of participants. Half of our participants were women. When asked their race, 74 participants identified as minorities, 163 identified as Caucasian and 210 participants chose not to respond. Overall, most of our participants were new or beginning farmers, with 37 noting they were beginning farmers and52 reporting they had no farming experience. Fifteenparticipants had 10 years or more experience. Many participants (344)chose not to provide this information.If we assume these samples are representative, 143 of all participants were beginning farmers and 201 were new farmers. In general, classes located near more urban areas had participants with lowest levels of experience, while classes in more rural areas had participants with more experience. While we didn't solicitdata on the age for all participants, we did ask those in the Hands-On program their age range. Overall, 40% were in the 45-54 age group, with 60% being 45 and up. Only 18% were in the 18-24 age group. We completed a final survey that was sent to 355 participants who had provided us their email addresses. We had 22% response rate from this survey. We estimate with 90% certainty that between 7-23% (31-102) of our participants are now farming. Changes/Problems:In terms of the classroom sessions of the program, we had a few unexpected results that arose. Firstly, we had a few experienced farmers attend the courses. They sometimes felt they were wasting their time because the curriculum was too basic for them. We now emphasize that the program is for new and beginning farmers, to dissuade experienced farmers from attending. Most of the county agents who lead the sessions were great leaders and educators;however, a small percentage of them did not prepare well for their sessions and their programs were not as strongly organized. In our experience, hostsshould run the program on evenings and weekends in winter, this is when we saw highest participation rates. Each session is twohours, but hosts should allocate 2.5 hours for each session to allow time for breaks and discussions. For the curriculum, we did make changes based on results from the first year to make better use of the time. We expanded the Small Farm Business Planning Training to have four sessions instead of three. We also recorded a longer video about Licensing, Regulations, and Certifications from the Georgia Department of Agriculture, updating the Risk Management webinar, and adding a webinar on enterprise budgets. For the Small Ruminant Production material, some portions weremoved to homework assignments, to allow more time for classroom discussion. Some of the Small Fruit and Vegetable Production sessions weremade more in depth, to cater to those who have a little more experience. There were unexpected results in the Hands-On portion of the program as well. A very small percentage of Fruit and Vegetable Hands-On participantsdid not want to pursue farming as a career. We also had some participants assume that Hands-On opportunities were a guarantee for every individual. There was also a few that pursued the Hands-On opportunity just for the stipend. We now encourage future county agents to complete interviews with applicants for the Hands-On program to ensure participants are serious about becoming farmers and understand what the program demands. Also, stipends should be administered at the end of the program to encourage participants to complete the program. For the Small Ruminant Hands-On program, it was difficult to find farm hosts. It takes a good deal of time to train an intern to be productive on a small ruminant farm, therefore we compensated the farmers as well as the participants for their time. Another unexpected result was the demographics of the participants in the Hands-On program. We expected to attract young beginning farmers with limitedexperience. Instead, our participants were middle aged and older, looking to shift careers or retire and become farmers. Some of the interns weren't able to commit to working as many hours as we had initially required for the program, so we adjusted the needed hours accordingly. It would be best to survey our participants in a few years to see how many have started farming, however the time constraints of the grant make this difficult. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training Activities Our Small Farm Business Planning, Small Fruit and Vegetable Production, and Small Ruminant Production classes were taught by University of Georgia county agents. Our curriculum involved pre-recorded webinars by experts in each field. The webinars were supplemented by learning activities to reinforce the learning objectives of a particular session. These sessionswere facilitated by University of Georgia county agents thathave agricultural training and are well equipped to teach beginning farmers. We also teamed up with University of Georgia SBDC to provide business expertise. The combination of county agents and SBDC agents ensured that participants were able to learn a great deal about running a farm business.In total, 14county agents and 6 SBDC agents taughtthe Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program. Additionally, 10agents helped support the classes by leading/teaching a fewsessions or helping to answer participant'squestions. Our Hands-On program involved internships for those participants who did not have access to land and mentorship opportunities for those who had already begun farming. Qualified participants were matched with farmer interns or farmer mentors. These farmers had several years of experience with farming and were able to teach and lead our beginning farmers. The farmers helped to instruct and educate our participants about how to become better farmers. In total, we had 43participants take part in the Hands-On Program, 26did internships,16did mentorships, onecompleted an incubator farm opportunity. Professional Development We had 136 of our Small Farm Business and AgAware participants passedthe knowledge evaluation at the end of the classes with the average score being 87%. There were 84 participants from Small Fruit and Vegetable Production classes who passes the knowledge evaluation and the average score was 89%. For Small Ruminant Production, 56 passedthe knowledge evaluation and the average score was 88%.The pre/post tests were both taken by participants at the end of the classes. Participants were asked to rank their knowledge in subject areas discussed during the class after completing the classes and before the classes on a 5-point scale (0=No knowledge and 4=A great deal of knowledge). Overall, 87 took the test from Small Farm Business Planning classes, 82 from Small Fruit and Vegetable Production, and 74 from Small Ruminant Production. Everyone who took the pre/post tests showed an increase in knowledge in at least one subject area. We were able to send several participants to conferences using grant funds. The University of Georgia hosts a Grazing School for those interested in small ruminants and other livestock. We were able to send fourstudents from the Small Ruminant program to this conference in 2017. Georgia Organics offers a yearly conference and one of the focus is organic production of fruits and vegetables and animals. We were able to award scholarships for 34 participants who were graduating from the program in 2017 and 2018. We had awards ceremonies at the Georgia Organics Conference for those who graduated from all three steps of the Journeyman program. They were awarded official Journeyman Farmer plaques and were recognized at the morning keynote session. Delivery of classes around the state of Georgia Total Meetings: 74 Total Meeting Participants: 1586 Total Webinars: 0 Total Webinar Participants: 0 Total Website Visits: 0 Total Online Course Participants: 0 Meetings 10/15/2015: Clarkesville, GA -- Number of Attendees 44 10/22/2015: Watkinsville, GA -- Number of Attendees 15 11/12/2015: Watkinsville, GA -- Number of Attendees 15 10/29/2015: Watkinsville, GA -- Number of Attendees 15 1/26/2016: Watkinsville, GA -- Number of Attendees 22 2/2/2016: Watkinsville, GA -- Number of Attendees 22 2/9/2016: Watkinsville, GA -- Number of Attendees 22 2/16/2016: Watkinsville, GA -- Number of Attendees 22 2/23/2016: Watkinsville, GA -- Number of Attendees 22 2/27/2016: Watkinsville, GA -- Number of Attendees 22 3/1/2016: Clarkesville, GA -- Number of Attendees 32 3/8/2016: Clarkesville, GA -- Number of Attendees 32 3/15/2016: Clarkesville, GA -- Number of Attendees 32 3/22/2016: Clarkesville, GA -- Number of Attendees 32 3/29/2016: Clarkesville, GA -- Number of Attendees 32 4/5/2016: Clarkesville, GA -- Number of Attendees 32 4/12/2016: Clarkesville, GA -- Number of Attendees 32 8/5/2016: Sylvania, GA -- Number of Attendees 28 8/16/2016: Albany, GA -- Number of Attendees 20 8/18/2016: Albany, GA -- Number of Attendees 18 8/23/2016: Albany, GA -- Number of Attendees 21 8/25/2016: Albany, GA -- Number of Attendees 20 8/19/2016: Carrollton, GA -- Number of Attendees 65 9/24/2016: Decatur, GA -- Number of Attendees 41 10/1/2016: Decatur, GA -- Number of Attendees 41 10/27/2016: Sylvania, GA -- Number of Attendees 25 11/3/2016: Sylvania, GA -- Number of Attendees 22 11/10/2016: Sylvania, GA -- Number of Attendees 26 11/17/2016: Sylvania, GA -- Number of Attendees 23 12/1/2016: Sylvania, GA -- Number of Attendees 25 12/3/2016: Sylvania, GA -- Number of Attendees 21 1/10/2017: Carrollton, GA -- Number of Attendees 26 1/17/2017: Carrollton, GA -- Number of Attendees 23 1/31/2017: Carrollton, GA -- Number of Attendees 22 2/14/2017: Carrollton, GA -- Number of Attendees 18 2/21/2017: Carrollton, GA -- Number of Attendees 21 2/28/2017: Carrollton, GA -- Number of Attendees 23 1/11/2017: Decatur, GA -- Number of Attendees 28 1/18/2017: Decatur, GA -- Number of Attendees 27 1/25/2017: Decatur, GA -- Number of Attendees 27 2/1/2017: Decatur, GA -- Number of Attendees 24 2/8/2017: Decatur, GA -- Number of Attendees 24 2/15/2017: Decatur, GA -- Number of Attendees 25 2/22/2017: Decatur, GA -- Number of Attendees 25 1/17/2017: Albany, GA -- Number of Attendees 19 1/19/2017: Albany, GA -- Number of Attendees 16 1/24/2017: Albany, GA -- Number of Attendees 15 1/26/2017: Albany, GA -- Number of Attendees 14 1/17/2017: Homer, GA -- Number of Attendees 23 1/24/2017: Homer, GA -- Number of Attendees 14 1/31/2017: Homer, GA -- Number of Attendees 16 2/7/2017: Homer, GA -- Number of Attendees 17 6/2/2017: Lawrenceville, GA -- Number of Attendees 23 6/3/2017: Lawrenceville, GA -- Number of Attendees 23 6/15/2017: Lawrenceville, GA -- Number of Attendees 24 6/16/2017: Lawrenceville, GA -- Number of Attendees 24 6/17/2017: Lawrenceville, GA -- Number of Attendees 24 5/25/2017: Valdosta, GA -- Number of Attendees 25 6/1/2017: Valdosta, GA -- Number of Attendees 8 6/8/2017: Valdosta, GA -- Number of Attendees 8 6/15/2017: Valdosta, GA -- Number of Attendees 8 6/22/2017: Valdosta, GA -- Number of Attendees 8 6/23/2017: Valdosta, GA -- Number of Attendees 8 6/29/2017: Valdosta, GA -- Number of Attendees 8 8/29/2017: Rock Spring, GA -- Number of Attendees 7 8/30/2017: Rock Spring, GA -- Number of Attendees 7 9/8/2017: Rock Spring, GA -- Number of Attendees 9 9/15/2017: Rock Spring, GA -- Number of Attendees 9 9/22/2017: Rock Spring, GA -- Number of Attendees 9 2/24/2017: Perry, GA -- Number of Attendees 38 10/17/2017: Perry, GA -- Number of Attendees 7 10/19/2017: Perry, GA -- Number of Attendees 7 10/24/2017: Perry, GA -- Number of Attendees 7 10/26/2017: Perry, GA -- Number of Attendees 7 How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The program was advertised through Facebook, listservs, webpages, local newspapers, Market Bulletin, and flyers. Promotional Materials Example AgAware Flyer A flyer to encourage participation in AgAware program. Flyers were also created for Habersham and Screven county programs. Example Small Farm Business Flyer A flyer to give information about Small Farm Business training. Flyers were also used with information about DeKalb and Dougherty sessions. Example Small Ruminant Production Training Flyer A flyer to educate beginning farmers about Small Ruminant Production training to those who have completed the Small Farm Business Training. Information was changed to advertise in Screven and Carroll counties. Example Small Fruit and Vegetable Flyer A flyer to educate potential participants about Small Fruit and Vegetable sessions and Journeyman Flyer. Similar flyers were used for sessions in DeKalb and Dougherty as well. Example Facebook Post-UGA Sustainable Agriculture post advertising Journeyman Farmer Program Educate those interested in sustainable agriculture about Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program. Posts have been made using flyers for all counties running the program. UGA Sustainable Agriculture Website-Journeyman Farmer Program Information on UGA Sustainable Agriculture Website that explains Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program Year 1-Sustainable Agriculture at UGA Newsletter-Article about Journeyman Farmer Program Article to educate potential participants about Journeyman Farmer Program. Year 2- Article-Journeyman Program Offers Path to Successful Farming Educate Georgia Organic's followers about the program and encourage them to sign up for the program. Year 2-Sustainable Agriculture at UGA Newsletter Article-Journeyman Farmer Program Gears Up for Second Year Excitement Article written in the UGA Sustainable Agriculture Newsletter explains the program and partners involved. Year 2-News article-UGA Teaches Journeyman Farming News article in Albany, Georgia about Dougherty County Journeyman sessions. Year 2-Poster-Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program Equips Beginning Farmers Poster was presented at Georgia Association of County Agricultural Agents to explain Journeyman program and give some results from our pilot year Year 2-Growing Georgia-Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program Article was written to describe and inform about the Small Ruminant sessions taking place in Carroll County. Year 2-CAES Newswire article about Journeyman Farmer Awards at Georgia Organics Article educates about the Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program graduates who were honored at the 2017 Georgia Organics conference. Year 2-Press release for Carroll County Journeyman program Press release to educate public about Journeyman program in Carroll County Year 2-UGA Sustainable Agriculture Newsletter Article-"Journeyman Farmer Program Year 2&3" Educated readers about the Journeyman Farmer Program lead by UGA Extension Year 3- Georgia Organics-Grower Newsletter-Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program Grower Newsletter from Georgia Organics goes out to people interested in organic and sustainable agriculture. Year 3-eDirt Georgia Organics Newsletter-Advertisement for Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program eDirt Georgia Organics newsletter goes out to individuals in Georgia interested in learning more about organic agriculture. Year 3-Sustainable Agriculture at UGA Spring 2017 Newsletter with Journeyman Advertisement The Sustainable Agriculture newsletter is produced by University of Georgia Sustainable Agriculture office. The newsletter features sustainable agriculture research and highlights around the state. Year 3-Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program Poster for NACAA Meeting Poster was presented at annual National Association of County Agricultural Agents meeting to educate agents about Journeyman program and achievements. Year 3-Abstract for Journeyman Poster for NACAA Meeting The abstract is meant to educate other county agents about the Journeyman program. Abstract is located on page 65. Year 2-Georgia Organics advertisement for Journeyman Program in newsletter Spring 2016 Georgia Organic's newsletter goes out to general public who has an interest in organic production in Georgia. The ad is on page 7 of the newsletter. Year 2-Georgia Organics advertisement for Journeyman Program in newsletter Fall 2016 Newsletter is meant to inform members and general public about Georgia Organics Conference. Ad is on page 8. Year 2-Georgia Organics advertisement for Journeyman Program in newsletter Summer 2016 Newsletter goes out to general public Year 3-Georgia Organics advertisement for Journeyman Program in newsletter Spring 2017 Newsletter is meant for general public. Year 3-Georgia Organics story about Journeyman Program in newsletter Fall 2017 Georgia Organics newsletter is for general public to educate about organic production in Georgia. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Impact of project This goal of this project has been to help train beginning farmers to help them be more successful with their current farm operation or help them start a farm operation. As part of our BFRD grant, we have created curriculum for three courses: Small Farm Business Training, Small Fruit and Vegetable Production, and Small Ruminant Production. We have hosted the full program in 10 counties throughout Georgia and an additional Small Farm Business Planning Trainingand AgAware class were hosted in twocounties.We have had 447participants take part in at least one step of the program and43participants take part in the Hands-On internship/mentorship/incubator opportunities. We had outlined 14 goals for the program when applying for BFRD grant. Overall, we met or exceeded 11 of them, those are bolded in the table below. Number of participants in Small Farm Business Planning Training/AgAware:367 (Goal=350) Number that improved business practices:359 (Goal=350) 139 took the knowledge evaluation and136 passed, indicating 37% of participants who took business training improved business practices. If we assume these samples to be representative, then we estimate 359 of our participants improved their business practices (97% of participants who took knowledge evaluations passed, 97% of 367 is 359) Number of participants in Small Fruit and Vegetable Production: 117 (Goal=150) Number of participants in Small Ruminant Production:90 (Goal=45) Number that improved production practices:200 (Goal=195) 144took the knowledge evaluation and 140 passed, indicating 68% of participants in production classes improved production practices.If we assume these samples arerepresentative, then we estimate 200 participants improved production practices Number Hands-On participants: 57(Goal=69) Number that completed all three steps: 43 (Goal=69) Number of facilitated webinar courses:12(Goal=7) Number of courses developed:3 (Goal=3) Number of new farmers as a result of program:31-102 (Goal=35) 12 stated they are farming from survey;90% CI [31-102] Number of beginning farmers in program:143 (Goal=35) 37 stated they have 1-10 years farming experience, 32% of those that responded. 52 stated they have 0 years farming experience, 45% of those that responded. If we assume these samples are representative, 143 of all participants were beginning farmers and 201 were new farmers. Number of beginning, minority farmers:139 (Goal=12) 74 stated they were minorities, 31% of those that responded. If we assume these results are representative, 139 participants were minority farmers Number of trainers trained to teach:20 + 10 assisted (Goal=11) Number of farmer networks strengthened:12 (Goal=7) We had anticipated 69 participants would complete all three parts of the program and complete Hands-On opportunities. While we only had 43 make this goal, we did award Hands-On opportunities to 14 other participants in Small Fruit and Vegetable component, but they weren't able to complete the opportunities for various reasons. The lack of Small Ruminant participants in the Hands-On program was because of the difficulties in finding quality farmers who had time to serve as hosts. We modified our approach and offered the host farmers small stipends as well, which helped secure a few more farmers. Overall we created a program that reached participants across the state of Georgia and leveraged resources from many different partners. The program is still in demand and will continue to run after the grant is over. Goal 1: Develop a comprehensive, statewide training program for beginning farmers that can be easily sustained after the grant ends The first step of the program is Small Farm Business Planning Training or AgAware Training since many new and beginning farmers struggle with running their farm as a business. The Small Farm Business Planning classes were created and lead by UGA Extension and UGA Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Instead of running Small Farm Business Planning, agents had the option to offer AgAware training;a one day class lead by AgSouth Farm Credit agents. Step two involves production classes: Small Fruit and Vegetable or Small Ruminant Production.Small Fruit and Vegetable Production curriculum was created by UGA Extension and Georgia Department of Agriculture. It involved seven classes, one involving farm tours to nearby farms. Small Ruminant Production classes were created by Fort Valley State University and involved six sessions, one involving FAMACHA certification, hoof trimming, and administering shots to the animals. Each class for Small Farm Business, Small Fruit and Vegetable Production, and Small Ruminant Production contain two hours of curriculum. All of the classes involved pre-recorded webinars by experts and learning activities. The learning activities allowed participants to put their learning to practice and engage in dialogue with the extension agents and other participants. Even though the grant program is over, we still have a great deal of interest in the program from county agents and participants around the state. The program will run this year in three more counties and two of those counties will be able to offer some Hands-On opportunities. Goal 2: Leverage resources through partnerships with land grants, grower groups, non-governmental organizations, lenders, and the Georgia Department of Agriculture to create a sustainable training program. The program involved the collaborative effort of six partner organizations: University of Georgia Extension, Fort Valley State University, University of Georgia Small Business Development Center, Georgia Organics, AgSouth Farm Credit, Georgia Department of Agriculture, Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Association.UGA county extension agents hosted the trainings and served as facilitators and teachers for the programthroughout the state. Fort Valley State University worked to create the Small Ruminant curriculum and oversee the Hands-On program for Small Ruminant Production. Georgia Organics organized the Hands-On program for Small Fruit and Vegetable participants, helped to market the program, and hosted graduation ceremonies to honor participants that completed all three steps of the program. Small Business Development Center at UGA helped to create the curriculum for the Small Farm Business Trainings and provided local SBDC personnel to facilitate learning activities and answer business related questions. AgSouth Farm Credit ran AgAware trainings as part of the program. Goal 3: Develop/strengthen informal local farmer networks. At each of our 12 locations for the program, we saw networking amongst participants in the program. During the classroom sessions, they were able to talk about ideas with other participants in their area and disucss future farming plans. They were also able to ask questions with local county agents, SBDC agents, Farm Credit agents, and local farmers at farm site visits. Goal 4: Develop successful, beginning small and mid-scale farmers in Georgia. We completed a final survey that was sent to 355 participants who had provided us their email addresses. We had 22% response rate from this survey. Overall, our goals were to help 35 new farmers begin farming, 350 continue farming success, and 35 prepare to start farming. We estimate with 90% certainty that between 7-23% (31-102) of our participants are now farming. Based on the survey, 22-38% (98-169) have improved farming success. We exceeded our goal of number who have prepared to start farming. Based on the survey, 47-63% (210-281) are preparing to start farming because of the program.
Publications
|
Progress 05/01/16 to 04/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is people serious about small to mid-scale farming, whether they currently have land or not. In particular, we were interested in recruiting limited resource and African-American producers, organic producers, small farmers, and speciality crop producers. During Year 2, we had 232 unique participants take part in the Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program. Of these, 50% were women. Of the 144 who reported race, 29% were African-American, 2% were Hispanic, and 1% were Asian. We had 92 participants enroll in DeKalb, Dougherty, and Banks County Small Farm Business Planning Trainings. We had 93 participants take part in the farm business planning training through AgAware in Screven and Carroll Counties. In total, 181 unique participants took part in one of our business trainings, which exceeded our goal of 150 for Year 2.For Small Fruit and Vegetable Production Training in DeKalb and Dougherty Counties, we had 53 unique participants, almost reaching our goal of 60 for Year 2. The Small Ruminant Production training was run in Carroll and Screven Counties with 52 participants. This exceeded our goal of 20 for Year 2. We had four participants complete all three stages of the program by finishing with the Small Fruit and Vegetable Hands-On Module. One of these is a beginning, minority farmer and two are beginning farmers. Two students completed internships and two completed mentorships with nearby farmers. Changes/Problems:We are finding it difficult to hold trainings during spring/summer months. We had scheduled dates for Gwinnett, Greene, and Houston to run the program but the dates had to be rescheduled to later in the summer or fall due to low numbers of participants. We have had more success with running the program in the fall/winter and then Hands-On Training through spring and summer months. The Hands-On program for Year 3 may have to be shortened due to this rescheduling and the fact that no-cost extension are not available. It is difficult to line up the growing season with the grant deadlines. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Hands-On Internships/Mentorships: The four graduates from Small Fruit and Vegetable Hands-On Module differed in their knowledge gained and farming interests. Participant 1 possessed the highest level of knowledge of all of the Journeyman farmers at the beginning of the Hands-on Module. She spent 20 hours a week at her intern site and she worked there consistently throughout her internship. Her greatest areas of improvement were her knowledge of (a) keeping planting records, and (b) planning for seed/seedling purchases and sowing based upon sales projections. Participant 2 possessed the lowest level of knowledge of all of the journeyman farmers at the beginning of the Hands-on Module. She spent 10 hours a week at her intern site; however, she worked there inconsistently throughout her internship due to (a) personal hardships, and (b) forest fires that drastically reduced the amount of time her farm host was available to host her. Her greatest areas of improvement were her knowledge of the following: Making professional receipts and sales orders; Knowing when vegetables are ready to harvest and when they are past their harvesting period; Composting; Soil Sampling; Starting and terminating cover crops;Pest identification and management Participant 3 had a farmer mentor. He possessed the second-highest level of knowledge of all of the journeyman farmers at the beginning of the Hands-on Module. He received a total of 6.5 hours of mentorship from his mentor. His greatest areas of improvement were his knowledge of the following: Knowing when to direct seed outside; Mapping or recording where to plant crops. The areas where he had the least amount of improvement were Deciding how much of each crop to plant based on sales projections, and Identifying at least three pests and their control methods. Participant 4 possessed the lowest level of knowledge of all of the journeyman farmers at the beginning of the Hands-on Module. Despite receiving a total of 12.25 hours of mentorship from her mentor, she also increased her knowledge by the least amount due to an interest in homesteading versus marketing gardening or farming. We have greatly increased the number of people applying for the Hands-on Module and will only be accepting those who are serious about farming in the future. For the Small Ruminants Hands-On Module, we currently have five participants working as interns from Year 1. It has been difficult to find farmers for interns/mentees due to the time commitment needed from the farmers raising small ruminants. Paying the farmers has helped to find sites for Hands-On participants. Classroom Sessions: In total, there were 52 different classroom sessions for the program, which includedSmall Farm Business Training, AgAware, Small Fruit and Vegetable Production, and Small Ruminant Production. These sessions were held in Banks, Carroll, DeKalb, Dougherty, and Screven Counties. The full Journeyman Certificate Program was run in Carroll, DeKalb, Dougherty and Screven Counties. Third party evaluations were done at the end of each training in order to gauge student knowledge gained and their comments on the program. Overall, some trends were noted from the third party evaluations, but the responses were very diverse. Knowledge evaluations were also completed to determine student comprehension of topics covered in the training. The Small Farm Business Training was conducted in DeKalb andDougherty Counties. DeKalb County had 41participants and 38 participants take the third party evaluations. All noted increased knowledge in subject areas covered by the class. Participants said that the topics that were most beneficial included business planning and the presentation by a local farmer about his business practices. The knowledge evaluation was taken by 16 out of 41participants and the average score was 94.6%.The Dougherty Small Farm Business Planning Training had 27participants and 18 took the third party evaluations. Again, all noted increased knowledge in subject areas covered by the training. Participants noted that the SWOT analysis and links to various resources were some of the most beneficial topics. The knowledge evaluation was taken by 14 participants and the average score was 86.7%. AgAware Training was conducted in Screven and Carroll Counties. Screven County had 28 participants and Carroll County had 65 participants. Screven had 27 people complete the evaluations and 24people stated that the overall AgAware program was "very good" or "excellent". Income statements and applying for financing were rated highest by participants. Three participants took the AgAware test and average score was 84%.Carroll County AgAware had 58 of 65 people complete the post-evaluations. Fifty-three participants said the overall AgAware program was "very good" or"excellent". SWOT, FSA overview, and balance sheets were topics rated highest by participants.Twenty-six people took the AgAware test and the average score was 89%. Small Fruit and Vegetable Production Training took place in DeKalb and Dougherty Counties. DeKalb had 34 participants and 19 took the third party evaluations. All reported an increase in knowledge after the training.The course on soil fertilizers and amendments was most beneficial to participants. Twenty-six participants took the knowledge evaluation and the average score was 93%. The Dougherty County Small Fruit and Vegetable Production Traininghad 19 participants and 15 took the third party evaluations. All reported an increase in knowledge after the training. Most beneficial topics were found to be soil health and fertility, pest management, and marketing. Sixteenparticipants took the knowledge evaluation and the average score was 87.5% The Small Ruminant Production Training took place in Screven and Carroll Counties. Screven had 26 and 18 took the third party evaluations. All said they gained knowledge in all subject areas, in particularFAMACHA training and other hands-on training, such as castration, shots, hoof trimming. The most beneficial topics were parasites, worming, disease, and health of small ruminants. Eighttook the knowledge evaluation and the average score was 92.5%.Carroll County Small Ruminant Training had 24 participants and 21 took the third party evaluations. All stated knowledge gained in all subject areas, especially castration, shots, and hoof trimming and IPM. The most beneficial topics for participants were health and disease. Twenty-three participants took the knowledge evaluation and the average score was 84%. Overall, 23% of participants moved from business training to one of the production trainings. The production sessions were opened up to other participants who weren't interested in pursuing all three steps of the program. Overall feedback from these classroom sessions suggests that participants in Dougherty Small Farm Business Planning, Dougherty Small Fruit and Vegetable Production, and Screven Small Ruminant Production benefitted from the changes made to curriculum for Year 2. They had overall higher satisfaction with the course compared to the pilot year as noted in our third party evaluations. They also had similar or higher levels of gained knowledge during the training compared to the pilot year. DeKalb Small Farm Business Planning Training had higher satisfaction in some areas, but since this course had many participants (41) they still struggled to have time to cover all material and have discussions. DeKalb Small Farm Business Planning Training also had lower levels of knowledge gained, perhaps due to less time for discussion of topics. Feedback from the course also indicates that participants wish there were more live speakers, as opposed to pre-recorded webinars and more hands-on activities during the classes. At this time, changes to the curriculum won't be made but this information may be useful for future programming. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Flyers were created for each of the different classes.Each classwas advertised using Facebook posts on UGA Sustainable Agriculture site and Georgia Organics site. Georgia Organics wrote severalarticles about the program in their newsletter that is distributed to their email listserv. Articleswerewritten in the UGA Sustainable Agriculture newsletter about the program and helped to promote upcoming sessions. Newspaper articles were run in Dougherty and Carroll Counties to promote sessions in their area. A poster about the program was presented at the Georgia Association of County Agricultural Agents to explain the program and give results about the pilot year. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Some challenges during Year 2 were faced with the Hands-On Module. We had a small pool of applicants and this affected the qualityof the Hands-On participants. The main goal of the program is to help beginning farmers learn more about small farm business and production; some of the Hands-On applicants did not have future goals of running a farm as a business. We have had more interest in the Hands-On Module for Fruits and Vegetables and Small Ruminants for Year 2 so we will be able to only choose those that are serious about farming to participate in the Hands-On component. In Year 1 we had less than 10 applicants for the Hands-On Program while in Year 2 we've had more than 40. For Fruits and Vegetables Hands-On, we will visit every mentorship applicant's site before approval, to help only choose those that are serious about farming. We will also call all Fruit and Vegetable Hands-On participants monthly to ensure they are receiving thorough education. We will be modifying the knowledge matrix for the Hands-On Fruit and Vegetable component so it will be easier for participants to fill out. Year 3 agents who run the program have been encouraged to be engaging teachers and facilitate discussion in the class. Year 3 will be run in five counties. Greene County, Houston County, and Lowndes County will run AgAware Training. Gwinnett County and Dade County will run Small Farm Business Training. Greene, Houston, Gwinnett will run Small Fruit and Vegetable Production Training. Lowndes County and Dade County will run Small Ruminant Production.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Impact of project:The average age of farmers in the Untied States is increasing and the number of small and medium sized farms is decreasing. The main goal of this program is to create a program to help train small, beginning farmers. The Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program involves three steps for participants to complete: Small Farm Business Planning Training or AgAware, Small Fruit and Vegetable Production or Small Ruminant Production, and Hands-On internship/mentorship. The curriculum involves pre-recorded webinars and learning activities lead by UGA Extension agents throughout the state.Overall, this project has impacted 232 beginning farmersduring Year 2 of the program. All participants who took third party evaluations stated that they gained knowledge in regards to small farm business planning, small fruit and vegetable production, and small ruminant production. Goal 1: Develop a comprehensive, statewide training program for beginning farmers that can easily be sustained after the grant ends. Based on feedback from the first year, we made changes to the curriculum: Small Farm Business Planning Training was expanded into four sessions. Small Fruit and Vegetable Production learning activities were modified to increase depth of discussion and knowledge gained. Small Ruminant Production sessions were shortened to allow enough time for discussion; some activities were made into homework or as optional activities. Notebooks were adjusted for all sessions so certain portions were easier to read for participants. Goal 2: Leverage resources through partnerships with land grants, grower groups, non-governmental organizations, lenders, and the Georgia Department of Agriculture to create a sustainable training program. We continued working with our partners to run the program throughout the state. A total of 10 UGA Extension agents ran the program in five counties throughout the state. Georgia Organics worked to facilitate the Small Fruit and Vegetable Hands-On component, awarded scholarships to 30participants to attend the Georgia Organics conference, and helped to promote the program.Fort Valley State University worked to update the Small Ruminant Production curriculum and oversaw the Small Ruminant Hands-On program. AgSouth Farm Credit ran AgAware trainings as Step 1 in the program. UGA Small Business Development Center helped to facilitate Small Farm Business sessions with UGA Extension agents. We also had a visit with Denis Ebodaghe from NIFA to learn about our program. We were able to explain our program with him and discuss areas we could improve upon. We visited a local farm with him that was mentor for one of our Hands-On participants. Goal 3: Develop/strengthen informal local farmer networks. Five counties participated in the program during Year 2; four of those counties offered all stages of the program. We saw collaborations and networking taking place during these trainings. Small Farm Business Training was run in DeKalb, Dougherty, and Banks Counties. AgAware Training was offered in Carroll and Screven Counties. Small Fruit and Vegetable Training was offered in DeKalb and Dougherty Counties and Small Ruminant Training was offered in Carroll and Screven Counties.We had 232 unique participants take part in the Journeyman Farmer Certificate program during Year 2. Goal 4: Develop successful, beginning small and mid-scale farmers in Georgia. All participants who have completed third party evaluations at the end of the course have noted an increase in knowledge in small farm business planning, small fruit and vegetable production, and small ruminant production. We will distribute a survey to all participants at the end of the grant cycle to determine which participants started farming as a result of this program andwhich improved their farming success. One of the participants from Year 2 had this to say about his experience with the program, "Thank you for allowing me to participate in the Journeyman Small Ruminant course! As a career military logistics officer, I entered this program with some knowledge and experience with business management, but very little knowledge or experience with livestock management. During the past few months, I have developed a business plan that I will use to secure the capitol required to start a farm. The plan will also serve as a roadmap to keep the business moving toward our goals. The Small Ruminant Production Training was awesome! After completing the six sessions, I believe I have a basic conceptual understanding of small ruminant management." One of the four graduates from Year 2 stated the following about her internship and future plans, "I have learned several farming techniques as an intern, such as soil conditioning, composting, transplanting, planting and storing seeds, crop rotation, pest and weed control, marketing, agri-tourism, building a greenhouse, worm beds, and more. Everything that I learned at my farm site I am applying to my own farm so that I can be successful in vegetable, fruit, and flower production."
Publications
|
Progress 05/01/15 to 04/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience consists of people serious about small to mid-scale farming whether or not they currently have land. Limited resource and minority participants were specifically recruited. This year we had 114 participants in the pilot trainings. Of these, 47% were women, 11% were African-American, 2% were Asian, and 1% Hispanic. We had 60 people enroll in the two Small Farm Business Planning training, which exceeded our target of 50 people. We had 22 people participate in the Small Ruminant Production training, which exceeded our target of 5, and 32 people participated in the Small Fruit & Vegetable Production training, which exceeded our target of 30. The Small Ruminant Hands-On training and the Small Fruit & Vegetable Hands-On training will be conducted over the summer; consequently, we do not have first year participant numbers yet. We do expect to have at least 10 participants in these programs. Participants who completed the Small Farm Business Planning training and a production trainings are applying for the Hands-on trainings. These participants will be selected in the next two months. Changes/Problems:There were several minor changes to our original proposal. We had originally intended to pilot all three trainings at the Oconee County Extension office. A partnership of UGA Extension with the Food Bank of NE Georgia that was starting a food hub in Rabun County created additional demand for small farm training in the mountain counties. Consequently, we ran the AgAware program and the Small Fruit & Vegetable Training in Habersham County, which allowed us to reach the small farmers in the mountains a year early. The Small Farm Business Planning Training and the Small Ruminant Production Training was run in Oconee County. This decision allowed us a broader geographical reach in our first year than originally planned. We had initially wanted to run all our production trainings during the winter of 2016; however, we delayed starting the Small Fruit & Vegetable Production Training in the mountains until March 1st and it was completed April 15th. This small delay was due to the preference of the county agents leading the program and their experience with getting participants to attend meetings during the winter months when ice is frequent. The Hands-On Trainings are planned for this summer. The Small Fruit & Vegetable Hands-On training will select applicants during the first of May and participants should be working on farms as interns or with their farmer mentors this summer. Fort Valley State University (FVSU) is working on getting permission from their legal affairs office on the proposed Hands-on training manual and hopes to place participants this summer also. We have also accelerated the number of locations that will be run in the 2nd year of the grant. Originally, Habersham County was scheduled for Year 2. We ran the program in Year 1 due to the demand for the program in the county. Dougherty County was scheduled to be run in Year 3, but are moving this forward to Year 2 to give participants in the area a full chance at the Small Fruit & Vegetable Hands-On Program during the spring and summer months when production in greatest. We are also moving forward the Metro Atlanta program that was scheduled to be run in Year 3 to Year 2 for a similar reason. This means in Year 3 we will only have to accelerate the program in the Peach/Houston County areas so that participants can get the Small Farm Business Planning Training in the spring or early summer and production training in the late summer or fall in order to be finished with the Hands-on training by the end of the grant on April 30, 2018. This is not ideal in terms of production but is dictated by the terms of the grant. The final change was a new Co-PD - Dr. Niki Whitley at Fort Valley State University. Dr. Whitley is the new Small Ruminant Extension specialist at FVSU. She has been instrumental in developing the Small Ruminant Production Training and will be leading the Small Ruminant Hands-On Training. We are happy to have Dr. Whitley working with us on this project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Trainings were piloted in NE Georgia with a total of 92 participants. Beginning farmers first completed the Small Farm Business Planning Training that was developed in partnership with the UGA Small Business Development Center, the Ag Credit Unions of Georgia, and the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Fifteen participants attended this training. Our third party evaluation indicated the Small Farm Business Planning curricula was helpful and applicable to their farm operation. The participants also strongly agreed the training increased their interest in business planning for their small farm, but there was not adequate time to cover all the material in the training. Participants improved their knowledge of business planning based on both the retrospective pre-test results and the knowledge evaluation (avg score = 84 out of 100). The retrospective pretest indicated the participant's confidence and knowledge about business topics had increased with an average increase of 1.60 on a scale of 0 = no knowledge and 4 = a great deal of knowledge. The participants in the Small Farm Business Planning training were also asked to take an online knowledge evaluation to show that they understood the key concepts. This knowledge evaluation score to show successful completion of the business training and is used as part of the criteria for selecting the participants in the Hands-On Training. Ten of the 15 participants in the training took the online knowledge evaluation and the average score was 84 out of 100. We also partnered with AgSouth who ran their award-winning AgAware training, which covers similar material to the Small Farm Business Planning training. Participants in this full-day training can use this to fulfill their business planning training requirement. There were 44 participants in this training. The Ag Aware evaluation indicated participants thought the training was very good (Average = 4.6 out of 5; n= 35). The highest rated topic was the importance of developing good recordkeeping habits (average = 4.6). Balance sheets, applying for financing, and Georgia Department of Agriculture programs were also highly rated (average = 4.5). The lowest ranked topic was the presentation from FSA. Participants in the Ag Aware Program also can take a brief test after the training. Very few of the participants chose to do so. Successful participants in the business trainings were eligible for the production trainings. Twenty-two people participated in the Small Ruminant Production Training. Eight of these had the business training. We opened the class to other participants in order to have a robust group to evaluate this pilot course.Our third party evaluation indicated the training was well received with 74% of the respondents rating the training good to excellent. The training increased their interest in small ruminant production and provided ample resources to assist them with their operation. Similar to the Small Farm Business Planning Training, the sessions were thought to be too long. There were also some issues with the county agent facilitators not being able to answer questions on particular topics. The retrospective pre-test indicated that the participants increased their knowledge and confidence in the small ruminant production topics with an average increase of 1.86. Twenty two participants took the online knowledge evaluation with an average score of 87. The Small Fruit & Vegetable Production Training has 32 participants enrolled. Of these, 13 had the business training. Five had taken the Small Farm Business Planning training and eight the AgAware training. The participants agreed the training increased their interest in small fruit & vegetable production, but the group had two very different levels of experience with several very experienced growers and others who were very new to farming.Many of our evaluation question response reflected this diversity of experiences and these views were also reflected in participant comments such as: "This class was far too basic for my experience level, that is not to say that I didn't still learn something but probably not enough to justify the time", and "Make it for truly beginning farms. The folks that had been doing for long time was major distraction". The retrospective pre-test indicated that the participants increased their knowledge and confidence in the small fruit & vegetable production topics with an average increase of 0.83.This was a smaller increase than seen in the other two trainings and again is likely due to the experienced growers in the group.We are changing our marketing material to emphasize that this training is targeting to those who want to begin farming or those who are very new to farming.Fourteen participants took the online knowledge evaluation and all passed with an average score of 89. We will beginning the Hands-On Training programs in May 2016. A training manual, application form, selection rubric and knowledge evaluation rubric has been developed for the Small Fruit & Vegetable Production Hands-On training. The Small Ruminant Hands-On Training manual and application form is in the process of being finalized. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Participants were recruited for the Small Farm Business Planning training and the production trainings through flyers, short newspaper articles, Facebook posts on the UGA Sustainable Ag Facebook page and the Georgia Organics Facebook page. In addition, the Journeyman Farmer Program was discussed at several other county extension meetings. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?As discussed in the previous section, we will running the Hands-On trainings for both the Small Fruit & Vegetable Production and the Small Ruminant Production track in the summer of 2016. We will be revising the curricula based on our evaluations. For the Small Farm Business Planning Training, our planning committee has already met to consider the changes that need to be made and decided on the following: expanding the training from 3 to 4 sessions to allow more time for the learning activities, recording a longer webinar on Licensing, Regulations and Certifications from the Georgia Department of Agriculture, recording a different webinar on Risk Management, and developing a webinar on using enterprise budgets. Dr. Whitley at Fort Valley State University will be revising the Small Ruminant Production Training based on input received from our evaluations. We will be keeping the number of session the same, but will move some of the material presented in the session to videos that can be viewed at home to allow for more group discussion and participation in the learning activities. Similarly, we will make changes in the Small Fruit & Vegetable Production Training based on the results of those evaluations. The number of sessions will stay the same, but several of the learning activities will be revamped to make them slightly more in depth. We hope this will give us a better balance between new farmers and those who have some experience. Again, this training is focused on true beginners and is not meant to be an in-depth training for experienced farmers. Based on feedback from the county agents hosting the pilot projects, we will also be revising the Wiki to make it more succinct and user friendly. It will be organized by Session within the Training rather than by Resource. The Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program will then be run in four different locations throughout Georgia, including Carroll County, Screven County, Dougherty County and the east Metro Atlanta area. We anticipate running the Small Farm Business Planning Training in the fall 2016 in Dougherty and the east Metro Atlanta area. Screven County and Carroll County will run the AgAware program in August 2016 for the business training. The Small Ruminant Production training will be run in Screven County in the fall of 2016 and in Carroll County in the winter of 2017. Small Fruit & Vegetable Production Training will be run in Dougherty and the east Metro Atlanta in winter of 2017. The Small Fruit & Vegetable Hands-on training will be run in the summer of 2017 in the Metro Atlanta and Dougherty county area. The Small Ruminant Hands-On trainings should be run beginning in the winter of 2017 for the Screven county area and in the spring of 2017 in the Carroll county area. In addition, because the grant will end in April 2018, we will move forward our final Small Farm Business Planning Trainings and the Production training to summer and fall of 2017 so that we have time for the Hands-On trainings to occur.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Journeyman Farmer Certificate program has three steps for a beginning farmer to complete to learn the fundamentals of a successful farm: a business training, a production training and a hands-on training. This year we developed and piloted the curricula for the comprehensive training program, which included a Small Farm Business Planning Training, Small Fruit & Vegetable Production Training and Small Ruminant Production Training. A Hands-on Training Manual and application form was developed for the Small Fruit & Vegetable Hands-on program. A draft Hands-On Training Manual was developed for the Small Ruminant Hands-On Program. These trainings form the base of a sustainable program that county agents or other organizations will be able to use far into the future. We were able to develop these curricula through partnerships with Georgia Organics, Fort Valley State University, Georgia Department of Agriculture, the UGA Small Business Development Center, and the Ag Credits Union of Georgia. These partnerships will also allow the program to be sustained in the future. The curricula consists of topic webinars and embedded learning activities. Participants come to a county extension office to attend sessions. The format encourages participant interaction and the formation of local farmer networks that can support beginning farmers. Because the program is just beginning, we do not know how many new farmers result from the program. However, according to evaluations received to date, we have improved knowledge of the farmers who have participated in the program.
Publications
|