Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:This project served beginning farmers in northeastern North Dakota. Our target audience was Native American Beginning FArmers on the Spirit Lake Reservation. We served 15 students representing nine farm teams. Six students were Native American, seven were from the northeast region of ND, eight were female. One student was an immigrant. According to our enrollment survey 12 of the 15 students were non-white (Native American, Asian, Latino or Hispanic-American, Two or more races, or Other race/ethnicity) About a third of the class had a total family income of less than $30,000 per year. Changes/Problems: At the time we developed the project plan and grant application the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was still unclear. As a result we were unable to do some of the activities we'd planned, particularly those requiring travel or large gatherings. Other activities were adapted for virtual delivery. The biggest change was that we held all of our meetings via Zoom rather than in-person. We moved Farm Beginnings to a fully online course. We were unable to travel to meet with Land Stewardship Project staff who had adapted Farm Beginnings for a Native American audience in Minnesota. We adapted by finding additional resources to provide laptops and technical support for students who were not as technologically savvy. The biggest key to our success was meaningful collaboration among partners. FARRMS provided the well-established Farm Beginnings curriculum and facilitation. NPRC&D Council and Cankdeska Cikana Community College provided connections within the northeast regions and found resources to help make the program accessible to an underserved population. Together we were able to bring beginning farmer education to a community that had not previously participated in Farm Beginnings. Describe any unexpected results of the project: We found that by offering the Farm Beginnings course online it was more convenient for students and we were able to serve students from farther away. Many students reported they preferred having the course online. How would you improve this project if you were to do it again? It would have been helpful to hold at least a few of the Farm Beginnings sessions in person to build stronger relationships with students. Unfortunately that wasn't an option due to the pandemic. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We had anticipated offering the Farm Beginnings course in-person using the classrooms at CCCC in Fort Totten, ND. However due to the pandemic we transitioned the course to an entirely online model.Paul and Heidi offered input to help tailor the course to meet the needs of farmers in the northeast region of ND. They recommended speakers from the region and assisted in recruiting students from the region. Heidi from CCCC recruited five Native American Beginning Farmers from the Spirit Lake Nation who enrolled in Farm Beginnings. The CCCC Land Grant program supported these students by providing tuition scholarships, issuing them laptop computers so they could participate in the course online. She also obtained funds to offer these five students startup grants upon completion of the course There were 15 total students in the class representing nine farm teams. Nine business plans were created and presented at the end of the course. Each of the farm teams was paired with an experienced farmer mentor (some farm teams were paired with a husband/wife mentor team). Mentors spent on average four total hours working with students and were reimbursed for their time (from a different funding source than the BFRDP grant). The Farm Beginnings class met nineteen times starting January 28 and ending April 22. The course included 40 hours of online material plus readings, worksheets, podcasts, pre-recorded videos and a digital resource library. Date Event Hrs 1.28.21 Orientation 1 2.4.21 #1 Sustainability and the Triple Bottom Line; Find Your "Why?"; Identify your Resource Base; Paul Overby on Sustainability 2 2.5.21 Mentor Happy Hour - Mentors and Students Meet 1.5 2.11.21 #2 Cree Bradley - Values, Visioning, Holistic Goal 2 2.18.21 #3 Soil Health: Jay Fuhrer, Jon Stika, Justin Zahradka, Derek Lowstuter 1 2.25.21 No Class, Attend Virtual "Growing Stronger Together" Conference all week 6 3.4.21 #4 Budgeting Basics and Record Keeping: Jen Skoog and Lori Martin 2 3.11.21 #5 Holistic Financial planning with Cree Bradley 3 3.16.21 (Optional) Plant Medicine for Beginners with Linda Black Elk 2 3.18.21 #6 Holistic Financial Planning: Putting It On Paper with Cree Bradley 2 3.22.21 Mentor Session: Marketing 1.5 3.24.21 (Optional) Farm Finance 102 with Jen Skoog 2 3.25.21 Farm Food Safety, Legal Business Structures, Resources for Beginning Farmers, Legal resources from Farm Commons, Jamie Good, Glenn Muske, Stephanie Blumhagen 2 3.29.21 Mentor Session: Review Progress on Whole Farm Plans 1.5 4.1.21 #8 Marketing: Telling Your Story; USDA NRCS resources; ND and MN Local Food/Emerging Farmer Alliances: Ryan Pesch, Danielle Mickelson, Mary Podoll, Emily Reno, Stephanie Blumhagen 2 4.5.21 Mentor Session: Review Whole Farm Plans 1.5 4.8.21 #9 Food Safety with NDSU Extension; Organic Certification; USDA FSA Loans and programs: Julie Garden-Robinson, Clair Keene, Leann Heisler 2 4.15.21 Whole Farm Presentations 2 4.22.21 Whole Farm Presentations and Focus Groups with Native American students 2 How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Reports on this project have been shared with the North Dakota Local Food Develoment Alliance and NDSU Extension. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Develop an implementation plan for beginning farmer training in NE ND Project partners Stephanie Blumhagen from FARRMS, Paul Overby from Northern Plains Resource Conservation and Development Council and Heidi Ziegenmeyer from Cankdeska Cikana Community College met via Zoom for planning and project development. The group met 15 times between August 2020 and May 2021 Due to the pandemic we transitioned the course to an entirely online model.Paul and Heidi offered input to help tailor the course to meet the needs of farmers in the northeast region of ND. They recommended speakers from the region and assisted in recruiting students from the region. Heidi from CCCC recruited five Native American Beginning Farmers from the Spirit Lake Nation who enrolled in Farm Beginnings. The CCCC Land Grant program supported these students by providing tuition scholarships, issuing them laptop computers so they could participate in the course online. She also obtained funds to offer these five students startup grants upon completion of the course There were 15 total students in the class representing nine farm teams. Nine business plans were created and presented at the end of the course. Each of the farm teams was paired with an experienced farmer mentor (some farm teams were paired with a husband/wife mentor team). Mentors spent on average four total hours working with students and were reimbursed for their time (from a different funding source than the BFRDP grant). The Farm Beginnings class met nineteen times starting January 28 and ending April 22. The course included 40 hours of online material plus readings, worksheets, podcasts, pre-recorded videos and a digital resource library. Date Event Hrs 1.28.21 Orientation 1 2.4.21 #1 Sustainability and the Triple Bottom Line; Find Your "Why?"; Identify your Resource Base; Paul Overby on Sustainability 2 2.5.21 Mentor Happy Hour - Mentors and Students Meet 1.5 2.11.21 #2 Cree Bradley - Values, Visioning, Holistic Goal 2 2.18.21 #3 Soil Health: Jay Fuhrer, Jon Stika, Justin Zahradka, Derek Lowstuter 1 2.25.21 No Class, Attend Virtual "Growing Stronger Together" Conference all week 6 3.4.21 #4 Budgeting Basics and Record Keeping: Jen Skoog and Lori Martin 2 3.11.21 #5 Holistic Financial planning with Cree Bradley 3 3.16.21 (Optional) Plant Medicine for Beginners with Linda Black Elk 2 3.18.21 #6 Holistic Financial Planning: Putting It On Paper with Cree Bradley 2 3.22.21 Mentor Session: Marketing 1.5 3.24.21 (Optional) Farm Finance 102 with Jen Skoog 2 3.25.21 Farm Food Safety, Legal Business Structures, Resources for Beginning Farmers, Legal resources from Farm Commons, Jamie Good, Glenn Muske, Stephanie Blumhagen 2 3.29.21 Mentor Session: Review Progress on Whole Farm Plans 1.5 4.1.21 #8 Marketing: Telling Your Story; USDA NRCS resources; ND and MN Local Food/Emerging Farmer Alliances: Ryan Pesch, Danielle Mickelson, Mary Podoll, Emily Reno, Stephanie Blumhagen 2 4.5.21 Mentor Session: Review Whole Farm Plans 1.5 4.8.21 #9 Food Safety with NDSU Extension; Organic Certification; USDA FSA Loans and programs: Julie Garden-Robinson, Clair Keene, Leann Heisler 2 4.15.21 Whole Farm Presentations 2 4.22.21 Whole Farm Presentations and Focus Groups with Native American students 2 Determine feasibility of a Food Sovereignty Certificate program at CCCC. We assessed what food sovereignty or sustainable ag programs are offered at other tribal colleges and institutions of higher education in North Dakota. We created a list of all tribal colleges, public 2-year colleges, public four-year colleges and universities and private non-profit and for-profit colleges and universities in North Dakota. We determined that at least two other tribal colleges have food sovereignty programs. Heidi found it challenging to recruit program participants and in conversations with staff from United Tribes Technical College's Food Sovereignty program we learned that they found recruitment challenging also. We concluded that rather than developing a Food Sovereignty Certificate program at CCCC it would be more effective for CCCC to pursue partnerships with other tribal colleges. Identify modules of the Farm Beginnings course that can be adapted to incorporate Dakota culture and language. We added a lesson on land acknowledgement to the Farm Beginnings curriculum as well as readings and discussions on Food Sovereignty and traditional Native American agriculture. We added further readings and lessons on food sovereignty and Native American agriculture to the curriculum for the sustainable ag interns in summer 2021. We added a webinar called Plant Medicine for Beginners, led by Linda Black Elk, a Native American ethnobotanist and food sovereignty coordinator at United Tribes Technical College. We had over seventy-five attendees joining this webinar from across the nation. We held a focus group on April 22, 2021 in a classroom at CCCC after the five Native American participants presented their Whole Farm Plans. We did not ask what tribes they are enrolled in but they all reside on or near the Spirit Lake reservation and have connections both to Spirit Lake Nation and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. Participants ranged in age from (estimated) early to mid 30s to mid to late 60s or early 70s. Summary of Findings: There is an interest in more agriculture and food sovereignty education. There is aneed for more advertising so people know about programs offered. Many people in their community aren't aware of existing programs. They would like to learn from elders and are interested in learning traditional skills and about native plants. Most have access to land, though it's often too expensive. There is interest in both business planning and production skills and also traditional skills and native plants. We had planned to have students from CCCC participate in summer Sustainable Ag Internship program. However we were unable to find any students interested in the program. We did include CCCC staff in our farmers market internship program and Heidi and her staff held a farmers market in summer 2021. Utilize NP RC&D Council's connections to recruit beginning farmers for Farm Beginnings. NP RC&D assisted in recruiting students for Farm Beginnings by sharing our advertisements through their networks. Their connections with ag media in our state helped get our press releases picked up by publications such as AgWeek which resulted in several new students who otherwise wouldn't have heard about the course. Identify needs and topics of interest to beginning farmers in NE ND. We recruited speakers specifically from the northeast region so that students would have resources in their region to connect with. These included Justin Zahradka, Grafton, ND on soil health, Danielle Mickelson, Rolla, ND on marketing, and Leann Heisler, USDA FSA Devils Lake Service Center Students requested information on organic certification so we added that to the curriculum with a presentation from Clair Keene with NDSU Research Extension. Increase membership and engagement in NDLFDA NDLFDA doubled its membership numbers and engagement due to partnership with FARRMS, NPRC&D Council and CCCC. A hunger and social service nonprofit serving the Spirit Lake Community called Wana Wota joined NDLFDA. We also shared the summarized results of our focus group with NDSU Extension Tribal Liaison, Jan Stankiewicz and formed a tribal food sovereignty working group which will find ways that NDLFDA can support tribal food sovereignty and tribal local food systems. NDLFDA Board of Directors members contributed 116 total volunteer hours which are used as match for this grant. Collaborate to host a NE ND Local Food Summit. Due to the pandemic we determined this was not the right time to hold a local food summit.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:This project served beginning farmers in northeastern North Dakota. Our target audience was Native American Beginning FArmers on the Spirit Lake Reservation. We served 15 students representing nine farm teams. Six students were Native American, seven were from the northeast region of ND, eight were female. One student was an immigrant. According to our enrollment survey 12 of the 15 students were non-white (Native American, Asian, Latino or Hispanic-American, Two or more races, or Other race/ethnicity). About a third of the class had a total family income of less than $30,000 per year. Changes/Problems:At the time we developed the project plan and grant application the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was still unclear. As a result we were unable to do some of the activities we'd planned, particularly those requiring travel or large gatherings. Other activities were adapted for virtual delivery. The Farm Beginnings course was transitioned to an online course. Several students from Spirit Lake did not have computers or the familiarity with technology necessary for an online course. We secured resources to provide laptops and technical assistance to support these students so they could participate fully. We found that by offering the Farm Beginnings course online it was more convenient for students and we were able to serve students from farther away. Many students reported they preferred having the course online. It would have been helpful to hold at least a few of the Farm Beginnings sessions in person to build stronger relationships with students. Unfortunately that wasn't an option due to the pandemic. We did assess the food sovereignty programs offered by tribal colleges in North Dakota and concluded that partnering with an existing program would be more effective than launching an entirely new food sovereignty program. We recruited students in the northeastern region of North Dakota for our Farm Beginnings course and served 15 students of which seven were from the northeastern region and six were Native American Beginning Farmers. The Farm Beginnings class met nineteen times starting January 28 and ending April 22. The course included 40 hours of online material plus readings, worksheets, podcasts, pre-recorded videos and a digital resource library. Nine new Whole Farm Plans were created as a result of the course. We also held a focus group to assess the demand for beginning farmer education on the Spirit Lake reservation. We found that there is interest in education on farm business planning, production methods, and especially Native American led education on traditional farming methods and uses of plants. The North Dakota Local Food Development Alliance met monthly and doubled in membership and engagement. The Alliance gained several new members from the northeastern region. A food security initiative serving the Spirit Lake Tribe called Wana Wota joined the Alliance. The Alliance launched a Tribal Food Sovereignty working group with tribal members, NDSU Extension's Tribal Liason and USDA Rural Development's ND Tribal Liason all participating. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We offered the Farm Beginnings course online due to the pandemic. Paul and Heidi offered input to help tailor the course to meet the needs of farmers in the northeast region of ND. They recommended speakers from the region and assisted in recruiting students from the region. Heidi from CCCC recruited five Native American Beginning Farmers from the Spirit Lake Nation who enrolled in Farm Beginnings. The CCCC Land Grant program supported these students by providing tuition scholarships, issuing them laptop computers so they could participate in the course online. She also obtained funds to offer these five students startup grants upon completion of the course There were 15 total students in the class representing nine farm teams. Nine business plans were created and presented at the end of the course. Each of the farm teams was paired with an experienced farmer mentor (some farm teams were paired with a husband/wife mentor team). Mentors spent on average four total hours working with students and were reimbursed for their time (from a different funding source than the BFRDP grant). The Farm Beginnings class met nineteen times starting January 28 and ending April 22. The course included 40 hours of online material plus readings, worksheets, podcasts, pre-recorded videos and a digital resource library. Date Event Hrs 1.28.21 Orientation 1 2.4.21 #1 Sustainability and the Triple Bottom Line; Find Your "Why?"; Identify your Resource Base; Paul Overby on Sustainability 2 2.5.21 Mentor Happy Hour - Mentors and Students Meet 1.5 2.11.21 #2 Cree Bradley - Values, Visioning, Holistic Goal 2 2.18.21 #3 Soil Health: Jay Fuhrer, Jon Stika, Justin Zahradka, Derek Lowstuter 1 2.25.21 No Class, Attend Virtual "Growing Stronger Together" Conference all week 6 3.4.21 #4 Budgeting Basics and Record Keeping: Jen Skoog and Lori Martin 2 3.11.21 #5 Holistic Financial planning with Cree Bradley 3 3.16.21 (Optional) Plant Medicine for Beginners with Linda Black Elk 2 3.18.21 #6 Holistic Financial Planning: Putting It On Paper with Cree Bradley 2 3.22.21 Mentor Session: Marketing 1.5 3.24.21 (Optional) Farm Finance 102 with Jen Skoog 2 3.25.21 Farm Food Safety, Legal Business Structures, Resources for Beginning Farmers, Legal resources from Farm Commons, Jamie Good, Glenn Muske, Stephanie Blumhagen 2 3.29.21 Mentor Session: Review Progress on Whole Farm Plans 1.5 4.1.21 #8 Marketing: Telling Your Story; USDA NRCS resources; ND and MN Local Food/Emerging Farmer Alliances: Ryan Pesch, Danielle Mickelson, Mary Podoll, Emily Reno, Stephanie Blumhagen 2 4.5.21 Mentor Session: Review Whole Farm Plans 1.5 4.8.21 #9 Food Safety with NDSU Extension; Organic Certification; USDA FSA Loans and programs: Julie Garden-Robinson, Clair Keene, Leann Heisler 2 4.15.21 Whole Farm Presentations 2 4.22.21 Whole Farm Presentations and Focus Groups with Native American students 2 How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We've reported on project activities and accomplishments to the North Dakota Local Food Development Alliance. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We developed a project plan to offer beginning farmer training to Native American Beginning Farmers at Spirit Lake. Our project team met 15 times between August 2020 and May 2021. due to the pandemic we transitioned the course to an entirely online model.Paul and Heidi offered input to help tailor the course to meet the needs of farmers in the northeast region of ND. They recommended speakers from the region and assisted in recruiting students from the region. Heidi from CCCC recruited five Native American Beginning Farmers from the Spirit Lake Nation who enrolled in Farm Beginnings. The CCCC Land Grant program supported these students by providing tuition scholarships, issuing them laptop computers so they could participate in the course online. She also obtained funds to offer these five students startup grants upon completion of the course There were 15 total students in the class representing nine farm teams. Nine business plans were created and presented at the end of the course. Each of the farm teams was paired with an experienced farmer mentor (some farm teams were paired with a husband/wife mentor team). Mentors spent on average four total hours working with students and were reimbursed for their time (from a different funding source than the BFRDP grant). The Farm Beginnings class met nineteen times starting January 28 and ending April 22. The course included 40 hours of online material plus readings, worksheets, podcasts, pre-recorded videos and a digital resource library. Determine feasibility of a Food Sovereignty Certificate program at CCCC. We assessed what food sovereignty or sustainable ag programs are offered at other tribal colleges and institutions of higher education in North Dakota. We created a list of all tribal colleges, public 2-year colleges, public four-year colleges and universities and private non-profit and for-profit colleges and universities in North Dakota. We determined that at least two other tribal colleges have food sovereignty programs. Heidi found it challenging to recruit program participants and in conversations with staff from United Tribes Technical College's Food Sovereignty program we learned that they found recruitment challenging also. We concluded that rather than developing a Food Sovereignty Certificate program at CCCC it would be more effective for CCCC to pursue partnerships with other tribal colleges. Identify modules of the Farm Beginnings course that can be adapted to incorporate Dakota culture and language. Due to the pandemic we were unable to meet with members of the Land Stewardship Project in Minnesota who adapted Farm Beginnings for the Upper Sioux Community nor could we attend Farm Beginnings Collaborative annual meetings. We did add a lesson on land acknowledgement to the Farm Beginnings curriculum as well as readings and discussions on Food Sovereignty and traditional Native American agriculture. We added further readings and lessons on food sovereignty and Native American agriculture to the curriculum for the sustainable ag interns in summer 2021. We continue to seek out educational resources on these topics and will continue to add to our curriculum. We added a webinar called Plant Medicine for Beginners, led by Linda Black Elk, a Native American ethnobotanist and food sovereignty coordinator at United Tribes Technical College. We had over seventy-five attendees joining this webinar from across the nation. We held a focus group on April 22, 2021 in a classroom at CCCC after the five Native American participants presented their Whole Farm Plans. We did not ask what tribes they are enrolled in but they all reside on or near the Spirit Lake reservation and have connections both to Spirit Lake Nation and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. Participants ranged in age from (estimated) early to mid 30s to mid to late 60s or early 70s. Summary of Findings: There is an interest in more agriculture and food sovereignty education. There is aneed for more advertising so people know about programs offered. Many people in their community aren't aware of existing programs. They would like to learn from elders and are interested in learning traditional skills and about native plants. Most have access to land, though it's often too expensive. There is interest in both business planning and production skills and also traditional skills and native plants. We had planned to have students from CCCC participate in summer Sustainable Ag Internship program. However we were unable to find any students interested in the program. We did include CCCC staff in our farmers market internship program and Heidi and her staff held a farmers market in summer 2021. Utilize NP RC&D Council's connections to recruit beginning farmers for Farm Beginnings. NP RC&D assisted in recruiting students for Farm Beginnings by sharing our advertisements through their networks. Their connections with ag media in our state helped get our press releases picked up by publications such as AgWeek which resulted in several new students who otherwise wouldn't have heard about the course. Identify needs and topics of interest to beginning farmers in NE ND. We recruited speakers specifically from the northeast region so that students would have resources in their region to connect with. These included Justin Zahradka, Grafton, ND on soil health, Danielle Mickelson, Rolla, ND on marketing, and Leann Heisler, USDA FSA Devils Lake Service Center. Students requested information on organic certification so we added that to the curriculum with a presentation from Clair Keene with NDSU Research Extension. Increase membership and engagement in NDLFDA NDLFDA doubled its membership numbers and engagement due to partnership with FARRMS, NPRC&D Council and CCCC. A hunger and social service nonprofit serving the Spirit Lake Community called Wana Wota joined NDLFDA. We also shared the summarized results of our focus group with NDSU Extension Tribal Liaison, Jan Stankiewicz and formed a tribal food sovereignty working group which will find ways that NDLFDA can support tribal food sovereignty and tribal local food systems. NDLFDA Board of Directors members contributed 116 total volunteer hours which are used as match for this grant. Collaborate to host a NE ND Local Food Summit. Due to the pandemic we determined this was not the right time to hold a local food summit.
Publications
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