Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:• African American • Farmworkers • Limited resource producers • Specialty crop producers • Women Changes/Problems:Lessons learned in Year 1 led the project to implement a much more detailed participant vetting process. This ensured that participants in Year 2 were able to farm and had the capacity to begin farming. For example, the capacity to purchase minimal equipment and to make at least an equal investment into their farms as the $500 micro loan. For existing farmers, it was very helpful to partner them with new farmers and to include them in project planning meetings for year two in order to ensure their buy-in regarding aggregate buyers. Farmers in the North Mississippi Delta have been made many promises that were never kept. Therefore, their buy-in regarding updating farming practices was met with skepticism. Bringing those farmers in as mentors and including them in planning meetings with the aggregate buyers and horticulture specialists has gone a long way regarding ensuring buy-in and really getting these farmers to agree to making updates to their practices in order to increase production and annual income for each of them! In Project Year 3, due to the success of previous project years, farmers took on more land than they were able to stay on top of. This created a critical labor shortage for weeding and harvesting. In the future, farmers will need to secure funding for and source of labor in advance or reduce the acreage they are farming. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?2 participants, one male and one female, both African American and both age 22-28 have enrolled in AG Econ Bachelors programs The project training was primarily focused on new and beginning farmer ramping up over 3 years into commercial farming of specialty crops. The program focused on 100% African American, limited resource farmers and the resources and supports required to increase or create annual income through farming by an amount adequate to create or sustain 1.0 FTE. This is what was accomplished with 135 limited resource, socially disadvantaged beginning farmers. They created enough annual income to enable them to stay in small rural communities with enough income to not have to commute to work, leave the rural communities for larger cities or to take more than one full-time job to sustain themselves. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project has disseminated participant recruitment information through churches, schools, colleges and other community organizations. The project FaceBook page has 237 followers. Several regional news papers have run stories on the project participants and their project success including regional agricultural magazines. WROX radio has broadcast live from project events supporting healthy eating and local agriculture. Additionally, all required reporting has been submitted to USDA with all requested information. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During the 3 year life of the project, Delta Farming Start continued to develop and disseminate training materials, provide curriculum development, quarterly training, mentoring, one on one coaching, financial resources and relationship building with aggregate buyers all focused on farm production and business management strategies to enhance land stewardship and the financial viability of participating beginning/expanding farmers and ranchers throughout the North Delta. In order to ensure success of our targeted participants, 100% African American, limited resource producers and low income farm workers, MDC found that infrastructure components and buyers were critical in order to increase farmer annual income. Infrastructure components provided include, but are not limited to: soil testing and soil preparation, coordinated access to large equipment like tractors, tillers and precision seeders at low or no cost, cold chain components such as cold trucks for transportation and cold storage beyond what is available at the Alcorn State University processing plant, drivers and scales on the available cold trucks from MDC and partners, identification of and access to quality seed and pesticide vendors. Specific T/A was also focused on completing NRCS high tunnel and well/irrigation applications. On-farm analysis and plan for application of herbicides, pesticides, fertilizer and mulch along with planting specs for each participant farm were provided. These components were all coordinated and provided to participants by the MDC Delta Farm Start project team: MDC BDFRP staff, Up In Farms horticulture support, Tougaloo College Farm Aid Project, Alcorn State University Ag Extension services and NCAT. The team also provided continuous ongoing one on one, on-site mentoring for farm participants being critical to keep their production on track and for mentors to identify simple measures, such as a hoop house shade to preserve tomato crops throughout the summer heat. In addition to 4,398 hours of training, one-on-one on farm coaching and mentoring, the MDC Delta Farm Start, BFRDP project has provided 1) 135 micro grants of $500 to participants for start-up or expansion expenses covering 400 total acres, 2) access to 83 acres of donated land to farm for participants who did not own their own land, 3) access to tractors, tilling and precision seeding equipment, at low or no cost to participating farmers, 4) connection to irrigation and hoop house resources, 5) connection to processing plant, 6) MDC installed at no cost to the project, cold storage and acquired cold transportation for product, and 7) secured and coordinated aggregate sales to buyers for participants. (*Note: Please See Steps section in annual reports below for detail on services provided to participants.) Individual participant total annual earnings increase project years 1-3 ROI = 708% Of 135 funded micro-grants of $500, a $67,500 investment, grant recipients as well as an additional 10 participants who were not grant recipients but existing farmers have jointly increased their total annual earnings over 3 years by $545,640 an ROI on micro-grant funding to farmers of 708% with a total regional economic impact of $807,547. Of the 135 individual participant farmers funded, 6 lost money, 4 broke even and 24 have jointly earned the above noted return on investment. Of the 24 who have earned money, 23 used their micro grants to cultivate their own land, and 1 used the micro grant to cultivate 25 acres of the 83 donated with purple hull peas. Greens will also be harvested throughout November and December. Greens are harvested 3 times per winter and will produce approximately 650 lbs of greens per acre for an estimated total of 48,750 lbs of greens in year 3. Two of the aggregate buyers, Walmart and Kroger's will pay .80 per pound for a total of $39,000 of greens to be purchased by the end of year 3 and added to the total income of $219,666 for participating farmers in PY 3. (Note: Although over 3 years, 24 farmers really moved into commercial specialty crop farming, and have contributed to the bulk of the ROI, ALL participants increased their annual income by at least 15%.) Result 1. Output PY 1-3: Two, 4-day trainings per year, 135 total participants complete and submit short form business plan/micro-grant applications. Producer action: Decide, Topic: Economics of input decisions When measured: Yearly Estimated Number: 135, Actual Number: 135 How verified: Training Participant Sign-in Sheets and completed/awarded micro-grants per year. Result 2. Outcome PY 1-3: No less than 135 participants who complete training over 3 years and are awarded $500 micro-grants and launch farm/ranch micro-enterprise. Producer action: Implement, Topic: Vegetables When measured: Yearly Estimated Number: 135, Actual Number: 135 How verified: Grants awarded, data collection regarding individual production/change in annual earnings. Result 3. Outcome PY 2-3: Increased annual average income for 135 grant recipients by no less than 15%-85% from launching micro farm/agricultural related enterprise. Producer action: Implement, Topic: Vegetables When measured: Yearly Estimated Number: 135, Actual Number: 135 (Note: 24 farmers really moved into commercial specialty crop farming, and have contributed to the bulk of the ROI, however, ALL participants increased their annual income by at least 15%.) How verified: Data collection using indicators related to/including participant annual income. Result 4. Outcome PY 2-3: Of the annual $22,500 micro-grant investment, 135 recipients will contribute to an ROI that together totals approximately $869,340 - $1,412,490. Producer action: Implement, Topic: Cost of production and farm financial benchmarking When measured: Yearly Estimated Number: 135, Actual Number: 24 farmers really moved into commercial specialty crop farming, and have contributed to the bulk of the ROI, however, ALL participants increased their annual income by at least 15%. How verified: Data Collection related to/including micro-grant recipient changes in annual income. Result 5. Output PY 3: Two, 4-day transition trainings completed with micro-grant alumni focused on 15-20 participants transitioning from micro-grant process to SBA loan funding Producer action: Understand, Topic: Business and strategic planning When measured: Yearly Estimated Number: 20, Actual Number: 20 How verified: Sign-in sheets for transition training and SBA loan applications completed. Result 6. Outcome PY 3: 20 micro-grant alumni will transition to approved Southern BanCorp SBA loans, no less than 10 each farm/agricultural small business starts will launch. Producer action: Implement, Topic: Acquiring and managing credit When measured: Yearly Estimated Number: 20, Actual Number: 24 have accessed one of the following: SBA Loan, FSA Loan, Alcorn State Farmer Loan How verified: Number of micro-grant alumni funded by lenders, verified with lending agencies. Please project annual reports Years 1-3 for additional detail regarding services provided and outcomes achieved.
Publications
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