Recipient Organization
ANGELIC ORGANICS LEARNING CENTER
1547 ROCKTON ROAD
CALEDONIA,IL 61011-9572
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The long-term goal of the Strengthening Farmer Entrepreneurship Project is to help all beginning farmers to develop viable, financially robust farm businesses in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. The project widens proven strategies in farmer training by addressing three specific pain points in the path to successful farm operations: 1) access to training and mentorship, 2) land acquisition, and 3) preparation to sell into wholesale markets. Our primary approach is to analyze and update farmer-led training programs to be more responsive to structural barriers that affect women, people of color, immigrant, and veteran beginning sustainable agriculture farmers on their path to successful farm businesses. In this way, the project creates a more robust and equitable food system which is better equipped to serve the needs of the local foodshed.Farmers have identified the following priorities as their top needs through a needs assessment,surveys and farmer alliance meetings:Farm economic viability and profitability. Specifically, farmers identified entrepreneurship, business training, financial and risk management training - including how to grow their businesses and invest wisely in their farmsHelp to address land and land tenure, and acquiring capital for infrastructureGuidance directly from other farmers who have negotiated similar obstacles (mentoring) and access to efficient and informative sources for technical assistance (resources are referral).With these priorities in mind, the Strengthening Farmer Entrepreneurship Project will providemore resources to attract and support beginning farmers from diverse communities. At each step in the path to entrepreneurial success, the project will address structures and processes that pose a barrier to some beginning farmersin the following ways:Translating training materials and communicationsEnsuring that leaders, mentors, and host farms represent women, people of color, immigrants, and veteransCollaborating with community partners (such as Advocates for Urban Agriculture) who have deep roots in diverse communitiesCreating a pipeline of participants that feeds into land access and wholesale market successThe project builds off of the success and innovation of decades of farming training expertise held by both Angelic Organics Learning Center and Liberty Prairie Foundation. All activities in this project have been designed to capitalize on the farmer-to-farmer, local knowledge model, which is critical when addressing underserved communities. The key point of this project is that it not only customizes the training and mentorship to the needs of the individual farmer but also incorporates a more diverse group of farmers into the leadership and governance of the structures that provide that training.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this project is to widen proven strategies in farmer training to be more responsive to structural barriers that affect women, people of color, immigrants, and veterans. These barriers will be addressed along the path to successful and viable farm operations; pain points in access to training and mentorship, land acquisition, and wholesale markets.Specifically, the objectives of the project are:Objective 1: Expand the training and resources available to Upper Midwest Collaborative Alliance for Farmer Training to be more responsive, culturally and geographically, to a larger, more diverse group of beginning farmers.Objective 2: Increase farmer access to specialized farm enterprise training and advisors through the expansion of regional farmer-led Farm Viability Mentorship Circles (FVMC).Objective 3: Broaden Take Root, a paid on-farm training Program, into a collaborative regional program that connects veterans and socially disadvantaged aspiring farmers to paid employment on established farms.Objective 4: Increase farmland access opportunities and skills for beginning farmers through proven land access strategies and widening paths to farming.Objective 5: Increase regional beginning farmer food safety awareness to prepare farmers to sell into wholesale markets.
Project Methods
This section contains descriptions and approach to the methods used for each of the stated objectives of the project as well as a description of the evaluation methods.Objective 1AOLC will become more responsive to the training needs of farmers who are women, people of color, immigrants, and veterans by hosting events in assorted geographical locations, securing interpretive services, and offering culturally diverse training topics. These activities will strengthen the skills of beginning farmers, with specific focus on underserved communities, and, in turn, create a more vibrant and equitable local food system. To meet these objectives, staff will undergo training to advance their collective ability to support socially disadvantaged beginning farmers in our programs. In addition, AOLC will hire Spanish speaking staff and utilize resources to provide training in areas and communities previously underserved by our programs.Three of AOLC's programs, UM CRAFT Field days, Take Root, and Farm Viability Mentorship Circles, will have web pages and print material translated into Spanish. AOLC will collaborate with organizations such as Advocates for Urban Agriculture (AUA), Liberty Prairie Foundation, and Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks in Chicago to provide 3-5 urban and peri-urban UM CRAFT Field Days per year. Take Root will facilitate paid employment and training in Spanish.Finally, Stateline Farm Beginnings will offer 10 classes in or near Chicago, Madison, Milwaukee, and/or Rockford.By increasing access to our farmer training programs and meeting farmers where they are, both geographically and culturally, AOLC will increase the potential UM CRAFT leadership pool. Socially disadvantaged farmers will be invited into UM CRAFT leadership, in order to strengthen and balance the steering committee's ability to effectively represent and advocate for UM CRAFT and the needs of regional farmers. With the wisdom of a diversified steering committee and a seasoned evaluator, we will prepare to plan, design, and launch a social audit of UM CRAFT.Objective 2Farm Viability Mentorship Circles are peer-directed and built on the idea that all participants have something to contribute and all participants have something to learn. This program will build on previous successes to fine-tune FVMC's curriculum to increase participation and availability of resources. In year 1, AOLC will connect with farmer participants and other organizations using similar models- such as AUA, to review and strengthen the existing curriculum, requirements, and guidelines for membership. FVMCs will be promoted to regional farmers to charter 1-3 new circles annually. These circles will self-defined annual learning plans centered around farm viability. AOLC will utilize the circle's annual learning plan to guide our training support and to help connect circles to 1-3 farm advisors, speakers, and/or financial professionals per year. Each circle will undergo a multi-faceted evaluation process, including baseline surveys, meeting evaluations, and annual improvement plans, to ensure the goals established by the circles are being met yearly.Objective 3Take Root increases the number of beginning farmers who enter into and sustain careers in farming, by fostering connections to established regional farms, paid-on farm production training, and educational opportunities. The successful program, piloted under an Oberweiler Foundation grant since 2017, will be enhanced to serve a broader subset of beginning farmer participants. AOLC and LPF will update the curriculum, processes, and requirements to expand the program, currently serving 1-2 veterans annually, to serve 2-4 beginning farmers including women, people of color, immigrants and veterans. In Take Root, each participant creates a customized learning plan, gains 400-800 hours of paid on-farm production experience, receives access to 6 paid off-site trainings, and 1-2 regional farm conferences annually. Participants will be placed on host farms that commit to help participants reach their learning goals through weekly individualized training. In order to provide participants with appropriate pairings, AOLC with conduct host farm screenings and create a diverse pool of potential host farms, of which a minimum of 50% will be run by women, people of color, immigrants and veterans.Objective 4The successful land access program, Farm Link, piloted under our previous BFRDP grant, will provide specialized advising and linking support to farmers and landowners, primarily in northeast Illinois. This objective, spearheaded by Liberty Prairie Foundation (LPF), provides innovative solutions to one of the most difficult barriers beginning farmers face, land access. Farm Link will help the graduates of Stateline Farm Beginnings, Farm Business Development Center (FBDC), Take Root, UM CRAFT farmers, and others to locate and secure land.To grow the regional network and provide additional linkages for farmers, landowners, and advisory/support networks, events will be expanded outside of McHenry and Lake counties. The program will continue to be strengthened by researching, meeting, and selecting specialized service providers, including estate planners, mediators, lawyers, and accountants for listing on the Farm Link website. Additionally, LPF will partner with several providers to plan, market and conduct a total of 4-5 farmer and landowner training sessions/workshops.Also under this objective, LPF will build the capacity of its youth farming program (ages 15-18) and FBDC incubator as reliable pathways for beginning farmers to reach readiness for long-term land access opportunities and land linking. The educational program staff will bring awareness of the FBDC and Farm Link to underserved beginning farmers by hosting 2-3 outreach events, outreach to 25-30 beginning farmers each year, and as a result, accept 1-3 new underserved beginning farmers into the FBDC program.Objective 5AOLC will continue our work with the Fresh Picks Farmer Alliance (FPFA), a collaborative group of farmers, businesses, and nonprofits, anchored by Irv & Shelly's Fresh Picks, a wholesale distribution, and marketing business based near Chicago. FPFA members share a vision for building our regional food system and have developed a network of farm hubs in the greater Chicago foodshed. To advance the ability of regional farmers to sell into wholesale markets, AOLC will convene the FPFA to develop a wholesale and food safety training curriculum. Additionally, AOLC staff will visit ValleyHUB at the Food Innovation Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan to enrich our research of food hub standards and curriculum.EvaluationThis project will undertake a process and outcome evaluation with collaborating partners and other stakeholders that documents project results under the guidance of Ann Williams Research and Evaluation. Dr. Williams is an experienced outside evaluator who has worked with AOLC to track results under projects with USDA and other private support for the past six years. Dr. Williams will work with staff and major stakeholders to develop appropriate evaluative tools, including semi-structured interview questions, and online and paper questionnaires for participants and stakeholders. Outcomes will be assessed using pre/post-training questionnaires and an end-of-season questionnaire will be administered on an annual basis. There may be some participant overlap among the trainings offered as part of this project - our data shows that most beginning farmers participate in training offered by other agencies as well. We will consolidate annual outcome measurement into one questionnaire that is administered across training activities whenever possible in order to limit survey fatigue and avoid duplicate measurement.