CENTER FOR FARM AND FOOD SYSTEM ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• Sponsoring Institution: State Agricultural Experiment Station
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: STATE
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1021127
• Project Start Date: Sep 9, 2019
• Project End Date: Sep 9, 2024
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
(N/A)
FAYETTEVILLE,AR 72703

Performing Department
Horticulture

Non Technical Summary
Phase I (September 2019 - December 2023) entails four of the five Farm Entrepreneurship Program core components: 1) experiential training program (Farm School), 2) in-person curriculum, 3) Apprenticeship Program and 4) County Workshop Series. The fifth component, the Farm Incubator, will be added after Phase I. The 11-month experiential farmer training program (launching in 2021) focuses on field, greenhouse, high tunnel, and perennial fruit and vegetable production techniques. Business and legal topics will complement production topics. Program graduates will have a strong foundation in sustainable agricultural practices and experience in developing crop and business plans for commercial agricultural production. Starting in 2020, apprenticeships will offer on-the-job training and mentorship. Target clientele are individuals interested in gaining more on farm experience before commencing production on their own land or moving into an agriculture-related field. We will collaborate with County Extension Agents to offer a six-part workshop series in 2022 and 2023. This will further help us impact NWA farmers and recruit for the other programs. At the end of Phase I, we expect to have graduated individuals from our programs who have moved into full time farming or ag-related careers, strengthened farmer networks, and extended our educational reach across NWA, all leading to increases in the quantity and quality of produce available. The investments in infrastructure, equipment and curriculum will continue to provide benefits beyond Phase I by helping to support the establishment of the full Farm and Food System Entrepreneurship program.

Animal Health Component

100%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

100%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
205	1499	1060	100%

Knowledge Area
205 - Plant Management Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
1499 - Vegetables, general/other;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems);

Keywords

begining farmer

apprenticeships

Goals / Objectives
Phase I (September 2019 - December 2023) entails four of the five Farm Entrepreneurship Program core components: 1) experiential training program (Farm School), 2) in-person and online curriculum, 3) Apprenticeship Program and 4) County Workshop Series. The fifth component, the Farm Incubator, will be added after Phase I.The 11-month experiential farmer training program (launching in 2021) focuses on field, greenhouse, high tunnel, and perennial fruit and vegetable production techniques. Business and legal topics will complement production topics. Program graduates will have a strong foundation in sustainable agricultural practices and experience in developing crop and business plans for commercial agricultural production.Online curriculum will be launched in 2023 to serve educational needs of producers who 1) have geographic or time constraints that prohibit Farm School and Apprenticeship participation and/or 2) desire only part of the curriculum.Starting in 2020, apprenticeships will offer on-the-job training and mentorship. Target clientele are individuals interested in gaining more on farm experience before commencing production on their own land or moving into an agriculture-related field.We will collaborate with County Extension Agents to offer a six-part workshop series in 2022 and 2023. This will further help us impact NWA farmers and recruit for the other programs.At the end of Phase I, we expect to have graduated individuals from our programs who have moved into full time farming or ag-related careers, strengthened farmer networks, and extended our educational reach across NWA, all leading to increases in the quantity and quality of produce available.

Project Methods
Farm School Training ProgramThe Farm School training farm will host the 11-month, experiential training program (Farm School). The Farm School will include over 1,000 hours of activity, encompassing 24 contact hours over 3 days in a week: approximately 350 hours of face to face production, business, and legal curriculum delivery (described in the next section) and 700 hours of hands-on production and harvest activity. Successful completion of the program will require 1) demonstrated competency in all curriculum and field exercises, as well as 2) development of crop production and five-year business plans. Trainees will gain experience in production intensity at scales of 0.1 to 1 acre per crop, in greenhouse production and in annual and perennial crop production. They will learn production practices required for Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification and recordkeeping for the Food Safety Modernization Act. They will also learn proper harvesting and food handling techniques. Importantly, the temperate climate of Northwest Arkansas (NWA) allows unique opportunities for both early-and late-season production extension and year-round production for select crops through high tunnel and greenhouse production. Season extension through these means can increase farm income stability and profitability while also increasing the amount and diversity of local produce available for NWA consumers. The first cohort will begin in February 2021. In addition to experiential and classroom instruction, Farm School enrollees will be encouraged to participate in networking events held quarterly. Farm, Business and Legal Curriculum Completion and Translation for Online DeliveryDuring the 2018?2019 funding period, 43 production, business, and legal modules were developed for inperson delivery. Each module includes curriculum frameworks, module outlines, PowerPoints, additional sources for information, and applicable activities and handouts. Approximately 52 modules remain to be completed for the Farm School curriculum (See topics in white in Figure 1). Further, for each module (the previous 43 and new 52), assessments that demonstrate competency in activities/skills will be developed so that student learning can be measured. All 95 modules will be delivered in?person as part of the Farm School 11-month training program. Subsets of these modules will serve as the basis of curriculum in the Apprenticeship and County Workshop Series outreach programs described further below. Our demand survey results (presented in our June report) demonstrated a strong interest by farmers in online training opportunities. Some farmers in NWA and around the state already have land/experience or have life commitments that prohibit them from Apprenticeship or Farm School program participation. By offering courses online, we can increase curriculum accessibility and the number of farms we can impact. We will work with UA Global Campus (GC) and Dr. Kate Shoulders, our curriculum expert who also has extensive experience on developing on?line curriculum with GC, to translate all modules for on?line delivery. The tasks will be split between Dr. Shoulders and GC to greatly reduce costs compared to if GC translated alone. This cost savings is described in the Budget Justification. For on?line delivery, multiple modules will be organized as "ourses" Online curriculum development activities will take place in 2020 and 2021, be refined and finalized in 2022, and launch in 2023. In return for a fee per student, GC will manage course registration, collect course fees, and troubleshoot any technological issues that arise.Apprenticeship ProgramWe will recruit farms and apprentices to launch an Apprenticeship Program in January 2020. The purpose of this program is to provide advanced training and skill building in a working farm environment. Additionally, apprentices receive mentorship from host farms that is likely to continue beyond the training period. The apprenticeship may take place for one to two seasons, per the interest of the apprentice. Apprentices continuing with a second season will be encouraged to move to a farm with a different scale of production (such as a smaller intensive scale production farm or a larger scale farm with increased mechanization and diversified marketing strategies). A condensed curriculum of 12 classes has been developed based on our Farm School Curriculum on production, business, and legal topicsbased on the expectation that apprentices will have prior farming experience or knowledge. For apprentices that have completed the Farm School, these classes will refresh and broaden knowledge. The classes are designed to provide foundational information so apprentices can recognize the application of best farming practices. We plan to offer nine classes in January and February, prior to the on-farm experience. The three remaining classes will take place over the growing season to offer the apprentices an opportunity to share information on their various experiences. In addition, networking events (described in the Farm School section) will be held quarterly starting in 2020. When the Farm School launches in 2021, these networking events will be open to both apprentices and Farm School students. Six farms have expressed interest in hosting apprentices in 2020; we will continue to identify other farms around the state to expand opportunities. Our target is to recruit apprentices in early fall 2019, begin the curriculum in January 2020 and place them on-farm in early March 2020. Using the applications, we have developed for both host farms and apprentice seekers, apprentices will be matched with farms that could provide the experience they desire.Once a 'match' has been made, an agreement is signed between the farm and the apprentice outlining responsibilities, housing, payment, and important expectations.County Workshop Series ProgramFinally, to increase the reach of our curriculum to more farmers locally and to facilitate networking of producers across NWA counties, we will collaborate with Washington and Benton County Extension personnel to deliver a series of six workshops (three a year over a period of two years) which provides a condensed version of our larger curriculum for the Apprenticeship Program. With input from the county agents, topics may change and/or expand in future years. Like the Farm School and Apprenticeship program participants, our desire would be for farmers to enroll in this program as a cohort for sharing information. If space allows, County Workshop Series participants would be invited to participate in the Farm School/Apprenticeship Program quarterly networking events for a small fee. In 2020-2021, we will work with county agents to ensure our materials are appropriate for extension delivery. Together we will organize the series and then deliver the workshops (half in Benton county and half in Washington county) in 2022-2023. These workshops will be co-offered in collaboration with the USDA funded AR SARE Professional Development Program (PDP), led by Amanda McWhirt (UADA Cooperative Extension Service (CES)), Henry English (UA Pine Bluff) and Heather Friedrich. The goals of the PDP program are aligned with our project goals in that they provide training and learning opportunities to advance the application of sustainable agriculture practices in Arkansas. PDP routinely works within the CES system.

Progress 09/09/19 to 09/09/24

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems:Dr. Mackay retired, project has been taken over by Heather Friedrich who has submitted for a new REEport What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This project has been taken over by Heather Friedrich

Publications

Progress 10/01/22 to 09/30/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Our Target Audience is primarily aspiring and beginning farmers. Some already have land or are generational farmers but most of our target audience are first generation farmers who lack farm and entrepreneurial knowledge and skills that are required to be successful in farming. We also serve established farmers by incorporating them into our programs and through partnerships with cooperative extension to serve them through educational or networking events. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Both the Farm School and the Apprenticeship program and the Apprenticeship/Beginning Farmer classes provide opportunities for aspiring and beginning farmers to expand their skills and knowledge and to gain a greater understanding of local agricultural resources. Since 2020, 1951 people have participated in CAFF programs through Farm School, Apprenticeship, classes, and networking events. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We continued to reach a broad audience through our newsletter, social media and website. The CAFF website received over 24,000 visits in 2023. We have over 4600+ followers on Facebook and 3000+ followers on Instagram. We have 900 contacts registered in our CRM which we use to distribute our monthly newsletter. Through these avenues we share stories, videos and interviews about our project participants, share opportunities for education, funding or resources to farmers, informational videos on practices, as well as share opportunities for the community to support farmers in our local food system. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period we will continue to offer the Farm School and Apprenticeship programs and offer the apprenticeship/beginning farmer classes to other beginning farmers. In 2024 we are dropping the Grower Schools for established growers but adding Short Courses to reach other beginning or aspiring farmers through a more accessible format. These programs will be evaluated and updated to identify where improvements can be made. We will continue to work with service providers to expand our reach. We will continue to share the impacts of our programs to gain momentum and interest among potential participants. We will continue to offer both formal and informal networking events in 2024.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Center for Arkansas Farms and Food core components: 1) experiential training program (Farm School), 2) in-person curriculum, 3) Apprenticeship Program and 4) County Workshop Series. The Farm School, second co-hort graduated 9 people in 2023. The program provided in-depth experiential learning opportunities in specialty crop production and farm entrepreneurial skills. Graduates created a business plan and a crop plan. The Farm School curriculum was evaluated throughout the season with more curriculum changes occurring, post graduation. Significant advances were made to the program in 2023 by establishing a field curriculum. Additionally, modifications and improvements were made to the program structure and grading rubric. The Apprenticeship program started its fourth cohort with 4 apprentices on 3 farms. We offered 14 online classes to the apprentices and opened them up to other beginning farmers throughout Arkansas. The county workshops were offered as 'Grower Schools' and offered indepth and experiential information on greens, pepper and root crop production.

Publications

Progress 10/01/21 to 09/30/22

Outputs
Target Audience:Our Target Audience is primarily aspiring and beginning farmers. Some already have land or are generational farmers but they are mostly first generation farmers who lack farm and entrepreneurial knowledge and skills that are required to be successful in farming. We also serve established farmers by incorporating them into our programs and through partnerships with cooperative extension to serve them through educational or networking events. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Both the Farm School and the Apprenticeship program and the Apprenticeship/Beginning Farmer classes provide opportunities for aspiring and beginning farmers to expand their skills and knowledge and to gain a greater understanding of local agricultural resources. In total, at least 200 people have participated in CAFF programs. We offer many opportunities for participants to network with each other and with service providers in the region and tour local farms. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We continued to reach various audiences through social media. Over 11,800 users visited the CAFF websites. We have over 3800 followers on Facebook and 2236 followers on Instagram. We ghave 851 contacts registered in our CRM which we use to distribute our monthly newsletter. Through these avenues we share stories and interviews about our project participants, share opportunities for education, funding or resources to farmers as well as share opportunities for the community to support farmers in our local food system. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period we will continue to offer the Farm School and Apprenticeship programs and offer the apprenticeship classes to other beginning farmers. These programs will be evaluated and updated where improvements can be made. We will organize and offer the county workshops in coordination with Cooperative Extension and work with other service providers to expand reach to gain participation among established growers in these events. We will continue to share the impacts of our programs to gain momentum and interest among potential participants. We will continue to offer both formal and informal networking events in 2023.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Center for Arkansas Farms and Food core components: 1) experiential training program (Farm School), 2) in-person curriculum, 3) Apprenticeship Program and 4) County Workshop Series. The Farm School, second co-hort graduated 9 people in 2022. The program provided in-depth experiential learning opportunities in specialty crop production and farm entrepreneurial skills. Graduates created a business plan and a crop plan. The Farm School curriculum was examined and improved throughout the season. Additionally, modifications and improvements were made to the program structure and grading rubric. The Apprenticeship program started its third cohort with 4 apprentices on 3 farms. We offered 15 online classes to the apprentices and opened them up to other beginning farmers throughout Arkansas. In total we had 141 participants in these classes.. The county workshops were offered as 'Grower Schools' and offered indepth and experiential information on greens, pepper and root crop production. These workshops will continue to happen in 2023.

Publications

Progress 10/01/20 to 09/30/21

Outputs
Target Audience:Our Target Audience is primarily aspiring and beginning farmers. Some times they already have land or are generational farmers but they are mostly first generation farmers who lack farm and entrepreneurial knowledge and skills that are required to be successful in farming. We also serve established farmers by incorporating them into our programs and through partnerships with cooperative extension. Changes/Problems:COVID-19 necessitated some classes to be held remotely in both the Farm School and Apprenticeship program. Remote technologies using ZOOM and MS Teams were employed to teach the curriculum to the students in lieu of in person classes when needed. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Both the Farm School and the Apprenticeship program and the Apprenticeship/Beginning Farmer classes provide opportunities for aspiring and beginning farmers to expand their skills and knowledge and to gain a greater understanding of local agricultural resources. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We continued to reach various audiences through social media. Over 8,000 users visited the CAFF website in over 10,000 sessions. By the end of Sept 2021 we had nearly 500 people registered on our CRM to receive regular updates, information, and newsletters. During this time we also had 1,779 followers on Facebook, 776 followers on Instagram, 76 Twitter followers, and 78 Youtube subscribers. Through these avenues we share stories and interviews about our project participants, share opportunities for education, funding or resources to farmers as well as share opportunities for the community to support farmers in our local food system. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period we will continue to offer the Farm School and Apprenticeship programs and offer the apprenticeship classes to other beginning farmers. These programs will be evaluated and updated where improvements can be made. We will organize and offer the county workshops in coordination with Cooperative Extension. We will continue to share the impacts of our programs to gain momentum and interest among potential participants.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Center for Arkansas Farms and Food core components: 1) experiential training program (Farm School), 2) in-person curriculum, 3) Apprenticeship Program and 4) County Workshop Series. The Farm School was launched with 8 students and graduated 5. The program provided in-depth experiential learning opportunities in specialty crop production and farm entrepreneurial skills. The Farm School curriculum was finished prior to launching and was reviewed throughout the year and notes were made where improvements could be implemented for future classes. Additionally, a production instructor was hired through NCAT. The CAFF Farm became group GAP certified and this element is now fully incorporated into the curriculum and student learning activities. We also developed a partnership with Global Campus to provide access to Blackboard for the future Farm School cohorts because of many technical issues encountered with Microsoft Teams. The Apprenticeship program started its second cohort with 4 apprentices on 3 farms. We offered 15 online classes to the apprentices and opened them up to other beginning farmers throughout Arkansas. In total we had 97 participants in these classes. We also worked with Cooperative Extension to host two, in-person high tunnel workshops in the summer of 2021. The county workshops will happen in 2022 and 2023. However we regularly meet with community partners including cooperative extension, to synergize our efforts to support and expand our food system. Additionally, we had two open houses with 60 people in attendance.

Publications

Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:During the first year, apprentices were placed on participating small farms that produce horticultural specialty crops including fruits, vegetables, and cut flowers. Training was also held for local specialty crop farmers and county agents. Changes/Problems:COVID-19 necessitated classes to be held remotely. Remote technologies using ZOOM and MS Teams were employed to relay the curriculum to the students in lieu of in person classes. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Apprenticeship training at hortiucltural specialty crop farms in Northwest Arkansas. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Begin the first class of experiential training program (Farm School) using in-person and online curriculum, places the second cohort of apprentices in theApprenticeship Program, and have aCounty Workshop Series.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Five apprentices were placed on farmand completed training in the summer of 2020.

Publications

Progress 09/09/19 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Held planning meetings to begin grant activities. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Staff will be hired, curriculum will be completed, facilities will be completed, fields will be prepared to begin farmer training program in 2021. Advertising of apprenticeship program, recruitment of mentor farmers, and development of program documents will be completed. First group of apprentices will be placed on mentor farms.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Planning meeting was held to begin program development to support the goals of the project.

Publications