Progress 09/01/19 to 02/28/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached during this reporting period has included RGFP's Farmer Incubator participants and other local beginning farmers with established farms around the San Luis Valley. The majority of RGFP's Incubator farmers are immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala and are low-income individuals. Additionally, two women beginning farmers participated in the program. All incubator farmers are members of RGFP's co-op, which is implemented and led by the farmers. The pilot farm stand was primarily operated by farmers themselves with help from community volunteers. Despite pandemic-related challenges, RGFP has expanded its reach to include non-RGFP farmers and people interested in farming, particularly with the poultry project. These include people just beginning their farm idea, people with existing farms interested in trying a poultry-centered model, and members of RGFP's family plot program that are interested in commercial operation. Changes/Problems:Most of the problems encountered during this grant period can be attributed to pandemic-related challenges. Due to COVID-19 limitations on travel and in-person gatherings, we had to postpone several training and education opportunities originally planned for the Spring of 2020. The population we serve often has limited computer access, so virtual training was not an option. Additionally, since the busiest part of the year for our farmer participants occurs between May and September, we were unable to reschedule our training opportunities until October 2020. The uncertainty of COVID made it difficult to plan any gatherings and move many parts of our projects as far as we had hoped. RGFP received a grant extension through February 2021 and was able to complete the grant activities safely in later 2020. Additionally, RGFP purchased a tablet library in early 2021 and offered technology training in order to have virtual meetings with farmers. In addition to COVID problems, RGFP also experienced complete staff turnover in 2019/2020 with the RGFP Director retiring and Farm Manager leaving to pursue other opportunities. Despite the challenges this caused, the RGFP team used this as an opportunity to revise and refocus its programming activities to better meet participant needs. The new RGFP Program Director, Addelina Lucero, and new Farm Manager, Jesus Flores, held one-on-one meetings with each farmer incubator participant at the end of the 2020 season to understand their needs and challenges and desires for the future. Poultry Farming: The biggest obstacle to starting the poultry projects has been the up-front costs and resources to begin poultry farming, especially at a scale large enough to make a significant profit.Actual poultry farming was not initiated during the grant period, however, we are excited that this grant laid the important foundation to begin poultry farming in 2021. Farm Stand: The primary challenges were having enough time to spend at the Farm Stand and relatively low numbers of customers compared to other established markets, which were more successful for our farmers. Possibilities for next year include hiring a dedicated staff person to manage the farm stand and transitioning to a farmers market model. The participating farmers all expressed interest in discussing the farm stand with each other to take more leadership in making decisions for next year. The main challenge is to prioritize marketing in order to increase traffic to the farm stand. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?RGFP has provided several training opportunities for RGFP farmer participants and other San Luis Valley farmers. These opportunities have focused on business planning, cooperative development, financial management, regenerative agriculture, poultry farming, and accessing new markets. RGFP trainings, as well as membership in the farmer cooperative, provide ample opportunities for professional development. RGFP farmers have taken a leadership role in the direction of RGFP programming and often participate on a larger advisory committee. Specific topics and workshops covered included: 3-day Poultry Model Workshop & Learning with Main Street Project Bringing Poultry-Centered Regenerative Agriculture to the San Luis Valley (one virtual meeting, two days in-person with Main Street Project) Main Street Project virtual field day Farmer Cooperative Development workshop with RMFU Financial Literacy with RMFU Understanding Water Usage and Regulations with RMFU Compost and Soil Health with Soil Health Services Marketing and Scaling Up with Valley Roots Food Hub Poultry Processing Training with RMFU Production Planning Insurance Working with New Markets Business Planning How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?RGFP worked with a contracted evaluator to evaluate the season. The results have been reported to the RVS reporting system. RGFP reported results of the 2020 season in the San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition's annual report, biweekly newsletters, social media, and through several regional/statewide sharing opportunities (Guidestone's AgriSummit, Colorado Food and Farm System Response Team, Local Food Local Places meetings, etc.). In 2020, RGFP was awarded a three-year USDA OPPE 2501 Program grant that will extend and expand the projects started during the BFRDP grant. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Poultry Farming: In October 2019, RGFP sent 5 farmers to Main Street Project in Minnesota to learn their poultry-centered regenerative agriculture model. Throughout the grant period, Soil Health Services led a composting training, and Rocky Mountain Farmers Union facilitated 3 farmer co-op workshops to help plan for the 2020 growing season and poultry/regenerative agriculture training. An average of 8 participants attended each workshop, primarily RGFP incubator farmers. Due to COVID, RGFP limited external participation for most of its training and workshops. However, 1 local farmer attended the MSP training in Minnesota, 1 local farmer attended a RMFU facilitated workshop, and 4 local farmers participated in the Soil Health Services compost training, overall reaching 6 non-RGFP local farmers. The Main Street Project's train-the-trainer sessions were initially scheduled for March 2020 but were postponed until October 2020 due to COVID. In October, Bob Kell and Wilber de la Rosa visited Alamosa for a two-day training that culminated in a poultry workgroup to move the project forward. As of the end of this grant period, RGFP is moving forward with the poultry project. RGFP will purchase supplies to build the first mobile coop in the Spring of 2021. Participating farmers plan to have about 200-300 birds on the land this year, likely about 25-50 birds each for 6-7 participating farmers. Enhanced Education: Throughout the grant period, RGFP offered 6 training opportunities, some formal and some informal, on financial management and business development. This includes a Cooperative Development and Business Management training with Dan Hobbs of RMFU and Julie Mordecai, past director of RGFP, workshops on production planning and insurance, bulk seed ordering and cooperative land preparation, a financial literacy training with Dan Waldvogle of RMFU, and a marketing/scaling-up training with Nick Chambers of Valley Roots Food Hub. RGFP assisted incubator participants in accessing two new markets in the 2020 season. First, all RGFP participants worked with four local organizations to provide fresh produce to low-income and food insecure individuals, including the Food Bank Network of the San Luis Valley, Boys & Girls Club, Adams State University, and the San Luis Valley Immigration Resources Center. Additionally, 4 RGFP farmer incubator participants regularly sold through the new on-site farm stand. RGFP is also continually strengthening relationships with the Valley Roots Food Hub to offer this additional market to RGFP farmers. Farm Stand Pilot: The farm stand was originally planned to operate 5 days/week for 10 weeks, but because of COVID and drought-related uncertainty, farmers decided to be open Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from August 3rd, 2020, through September 17th, 2020. The farm stand saw an average of 20 sales per day, with an average of 25 visitors per day, and made $4,255.75 total in sales during the season. Our farmers generally felt that the farm stand went okay for the first year. Four out of our seven RGFP incubator farmers participated. All are interested in participating next year with some improvements, and most of the farmers who didn't participate this year would consider participating next year. The farm stand was not able to accept SNAP or DUFB in the pilot year but is approved to accept both this year and are in the process of obtaining the needed training and infrastructure. A survey of farm stand customers indicated that 100% of customers felt the produce wasgenerally fairly priced and of good value and that they would shop again there next season.Most customers heard about the farm stand through word of mouth, the LFC newsletter,Facebook, or simply by driving past the Farm Park and seeing the signs. All respondents saidtheir motivations for shopping at the farm stand included supporting local producers andaccessing fresh produce. Five out of eight also noted supporting the local economy and four outof eight cited the ability to access fresh produce during the week, as opposed to the weekendfarmers markets. In addition, the following outcomes were achieved:the following outcomes were achieved: 90% of participants agreed the course has helped them understand what resources andmarkets are available for raising meat birds at RGFP as well as the difference between conventional agricultural. 100% of participants agreed the project helped them understand why food raised withregenerative agricultural practices is better for the consumer and that it has or willimprove their farming success. 100% of participants agreed the project helped them understand the requirements ofpoultry processing compliance in Colorado 100% of participants agreed the project increased their knowledge of enterprise budgetsfor poultry processing
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached during this reporting period hasincluded RGFP's Farmer Incubator participants and otherlocal beginning farmers with established farms. The majority of RGFP's Incubator farmers are immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala and are low-income individuals. Additionally, two women beginning farmers participated in the program. All incubator farmers are membersof RGFP's co-op, which is implemented and led by the farmers.The pilot farm stand was primarily operated by farmers themselves with help from community volunteers. Despite pandemic-related challenges, RGFP has expanded its reach to include non-RGFP farmers and people interested in farming, particularly with the poultry project. These include people just beginning their farm idea, people with existing farms that are interested in trying a poultry-centered model, and members of RGFP's family plot program that have an interest in commercial operation. Changes/Problems:Most of the problems encountered during this grant period can be attributed to pandemic-related challenges. Due to COVID-19 limitations on travel and in-person gatherings, we had to postpone the training and education opportunities originally planned for the Spring of 2020. The population we serve often have limited computer access, so virtual training was not an option. Additionally, since the busiest part of the year for our farmer participants occurs between May and September, we were unable to reschedule our training opportunities until October 2020. The uncertainty of COVID made it difficult to plan any gatherings and move many parts of our projects as far as we had hoped. In addition to COVID problems, RGFP also experienced complete staff turnover in 2019/2020 with the RGFP Director retiring and Farm Manager leaving to pursue other opportunities. Despite the challenges this caused, the RGFP team used this as an opportunity to revise and refocus its programming activities to better meet participant needs. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?RGFP has provided several training opportunities for RGFP farmer participants and other San Luis Valley farmers. These opportunities have focused on business planning, cooperative development, financial management, regenerative agriculture, poultry farming, and accessing new markets. RGFP trainings, as well as membership in the farmer cooperative, provide ample opportunities for professional development. RGFP farmers have taken a leadership role in the direction of RGFP programming and often participate in the larger advisory leadership committee. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?At the time of this report, RGFP is working with a contracted evaluator to evaluate the season (and the additional workshops hosted during the extension period). The results will be reported in the final grant report, as well as the RVS reporting system. RGFP is working on additional reports to disseminate on their website, newsletters, and other venues. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To accomplish the remaining goals, RGFP has planned the remaining training opportunities to be completed by the end of the year. This includes two training workshops with Rocky Mountain Farmers Union on September 27th and December 15th, and a two-day workshop in Alamosa with Main Street Project on October 16th and 17th moving the poultry project forward in the San Luis Valley. Additionally, RGFP is working with an evaluator to aggregate and analyze collected data and evaluate the project thus far. Final evaluation results will be reported in the final report.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Due to COVID-19 related restrictions, RGFP was granted an extension through February 2021 to complete its grant activities. However, RGFP was able to implement some training before the pandemic and took this unique opportunity to gather participant feedback and uplift participant voice in program planning. As of August 31, 2020, the following objectives and outcomeswere achieved: Poultry Farming: In October 2019, RGFP sent 5 farmers to Main Street Project in Minnesota to learn their poultry-centered regenerative agriculture model. Throughout the grant period,Soil Health Services led a composting training, and Rocky Mountain Farmers Union facilitated 3 farmer co-op workshops to help plan for the 2020 growing season and poultry/regenerative agriculture training. An average of 8 participants attended each workshop, primarily RGFP incubator farmers.?Due to COVID, RGFP limited external participation for most of its training and workshops. However, 1 local farmer attended the MSP training in Minnesota, 1 local farmer attended a RMFU facilitated workshop, and 4 local farmers attended the Soil Health Services compost training, overall reaching 6 non-RGFP local farmers. The Main Street Project's train-the-trainer sessions were scheduled for March 2020 but were postponed until October 2020 due to COVID. At the time of this report, RGFP is working with a contracted evaluator to evaluate the season (and the workshops hosted during the extension). The results will be reported in the final report. Enhanced Education: RGFP has offered 4 training opportunities, some formal and some informal, on financial management and business development. This includes a Cooperative Development and Business Management training with Dan Hobbs of RMFU and Julie Mordecai, past director of RGFP, workshops on production planning and insurance, bulk seed ordering and cooperative land preparation, and planning for more formal financial management training that was postponed due to COVID. RGFP assisted incubator participants in accessing two new markets in the 2020 season. First, all RGFP participants worked with four local organizations to provide fresh produce to low-income and food insecure individuals, including the Food Bank Network of the San Luis Valley, Boys & Girls Club, Adams State University, and the San Luis Valley Immigration Resources Center. Additionally, 4 RGFP farmer incubator participants regularly sold through the new on-site farm stand. Farm Stand Pilot: The farm stand was originally planned to operate 5 days/week for 10 weeks, but because of COVID and drought-related uncertainty, farmers decided to be open Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays from August 3rd, 2020 through September 17th, 2020. The farm stand saw an average of 20 sales per day, with an average of 25 visitors per day, and made $4,255.75 total in sales during the season
Publications
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