Recipient Organization
FARMER VETERAN COALITION
4614 2ND ST STE 4
DAVIS,CA 95618
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Title: Supportive, Small Scale Basic Livestock, Financial Skills and Risk Management Training for Beginning Veteran Farmers ProgramThe Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC) - a community-based non-profit organization, submits a renewal application for a standard project to exclusively serve beginning veteran farmers with added emphasis on women veterans in agriculture.The project will utilize a veteran-to-veteran network model that operates in conjunction with our colaborative partners at the local, state, regional and national levels, to conduct new veteran farmer outreach and education, provide training events, conferences, workshops and on-farm events hosted by beginning veteran farmers, as well as developing new veteran-to-veteran farmer networks, mentoring capacity, internships, agriculutural job opportunities and partnerships.In addition, it provides twenty seven workshops with specific training on basic small scale livestock/vegetable production practices, financial & business education, and risk management training, coupled with on-going support that provides beginning veteran farmers with comprehensive, individualized capacity development assistance, using a case management model in which individual needs, assessments and development plans guide the provision of subsequent services and training.Over the three-year grant term, this project will provide beginning farmer and rancher outreach and education to 1,350 veterans, provide 24 regional webinars serving 450 new veteran farmers, develop 850 new partnerships, 325 individualized beginning veteran farmer capacity development plans, as well as conducting 27 regional small scale production workshops serving a minimum of 370 new veteran farmers.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The goals of this project are 1) to create a national peer network that provides or facilitates access to training, education, internships, jobs, mentors, referrals and resources for beginning farmer veterans 2) to increase the agricultural capacity (e.g., level of agricultural production, financial, risk management and business development skills) of beginning farmer veterans, and 3) to increase the number of beginning farmer veterans entering into farming.Associated Objective #1Build a national peer network for veteran-to-veteran learning entitled "Farmer Veteran Peer Network". The network will involve a national coalition partners including, but not limited to the Farm Credit Council, American Farm Bureau Federation, The National AgrAbility Project, American Argi-Women and many local and state entities.Farmer Veteran Peer Networkprovide,or facilitate ,training, , mentorships, internships, jobs, referrals and resourcesfor beginning farmer veteransthe provision of comprehensive capacity development assistance; tailored to the veterans' individual assessment and development planAssociated Objective #2We will combine new small scale livestock production and business planning materials with existing core tools previously created through Risk Management Agency grants known as the One Page Business/Financial Plan, One Page Monthly Cash Flow Budget, and One Page Risk Management Plan. These tools will be adapted to explain small scale pork and pastured poultry production business, small scale honeybee, grass fed beef, lamb, goat and vegetable business models.We will incorporate the new training materials into twenty seven workshops (at least twenty two of which will be on-farm and hosted by FVC beginning farmer veterans) that target these farmer veterans and their specific livestock, provide regional training platforms for them to gather and learn from each other, and assist them in refining their own financial, production, risk management and business plans. Additionally, all workshop attendees will receive on-going comprehensive, individualized capacity development assistance using a case management model in which individual needs, assessments, and development plans, guide the provision of subsequent services, training, referrals and linkages to resources.Six of the twenty seven workshops will be specifically focused on developing, supporting and educating women farmer veterans on the production, financial and risk management components of small scale livestock/vegetable operations. Additional emphasis will be placed on developing, integrating and utilizing local networking and supportive resources for women such as the FVC Veteran Peer Farmer Network.
Project Methods
Over the last six years of working with thousands beginning farmer veterans we have learned two key lessons.First, successful farm and farmer development is most likely to be achieved in the framework of a continuing supportive relationship through a mix of training, technical assistance, advocacy, and mentoring. Second, beginning farmer veterans prefer to receive direct, peer-to-peer experiential training delivered in either small groups or one-on-one in a local setting.Those lessons helped shaped this program, which will use peer-to-peer outreach and education components, followed by a case management strategy to provide individualized comprehensive development services to participating beginning farmer veterans.The proposed case management strategy employs a cycle of activities beginning with outreach and recruitment, followed by intake and assessment, and the preparation of individualized capacity development plans. Once the initial development plan is adopted, it guides the provision of subsequent development activities, including training, technical assistance, advocacy and mentoring services.The proposed veteran-to-veteran peer learning model operates at the local, state, regional and national level for all of our activities. Peer learning is not unique to farming. However, nowhere is it more pertinent than in veteran communities. The military culture is one in which service members are trained to perform their duty as a collective team. In war time, this culture generates an environment where service members exclusively rely on the support of their colleagues and community to cope with stress and address challenges.Consequently, veterans tend to listen to and interact with other veterans before anyone else. Credibility and trust are integral to building beneficial relationships in the veteran community and in developing positive peer-to-peer interactions.Based on existing demand and commitments from our partners, we have established fifteen initial training locations. Pork production training sites will be in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, and Nebraska. Grass-fed Beef will be in Wisconsin and Minnesota, Poultry will be in Arkansas, Beekeeping will be in West Virginia, and California will host Lamb, Poultry and Beef. The Women Veterans in Agriculture workshops will be conducted in January and June of each year; with one workshop on the west coast and the other on the east coast.The additional twelve sites will be determined by the ability to cluster sessions in states where there exists a concentration of farmer veterans who would be likely to attend and benefit from such training and also based on the feedback we get from project outreach and recruitment efforts for the established training sites; as well as the availability of our partner's staff and facilities.Special attention will be paid to the ability to create persistent peer networks of farmer veterans.Each of the workshops will consist of three sequential sessions. The first session of each workshop will feature a one-and-a-half hour presentation, discussion, and interactive exercises on financial and business planning standards specifically designed for beginning farmer veterans and ranchers (the One Page Business/Financial Plan tools). The Farm Credit Council and its affiliated local Farm Credit Associations' professional staff will deliver these workshops.In the second session of each workshop, The Farm Credit Council and its affiliated local Farm Credit Associations will present for one hour, demonstrating in detail the use of the interactive spreadsheets known as the One Page Monthly Cash Flow Budget. These benchmarked spreadsheets are already available for grass fed beef and small scale vegetable growing farm operations. The Farm Credit Council will be responsible for creating the curriculum materials in conjunction with technical expertise provided by project partners FVC, project collaborators and TSU.In the third session of each workshop, production partners and appropriate USDA Agency personnel will address production and risk management tools available for the farm business models described in the One Page tools in the two previous workshops. The workshop will utilize the assessment approach outlined in the One Page Risk Management Plan, then further providing illustrations of actionable marketing risk reduction strategies suitable for small scale producers such as forward contracting and input cost protection mechanisms available through Niman Ranch beginning farmer programs. USDA Agency personnel will be able to present information on risk mitigation tools offered by RMA, FSA loan programs, or relevant RD programs. On-farm production presentations, pasture walks, discussions and interactive Q&A sessions with beginning farmer veteran operators will conclude the balance of the third session.The timeline for workshops will be:(4 workshops) Pork (February - April)(2 workshops) Grass-fed Beef (May - June)(1 workshop) Beekeeping (July- August)and (2 workshops) California workshops (May - September).The Women Veterans in Agriculture workshops will be in California and West Virginia (January & June 2016), Florida and TBD (January & June 2017) and TBD (January & June 2018).