Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:PIF's target audience is socially disadvantaged, refugee farmers. Throughout the grant period PIF worked with 43beginning farmers (years 0-10) withrefugee backgrounds, of Asian and African backgrounds. All farmers served arelimited resource growersof specialty crops.17of these producers grow on urban sites. This target audience includes both practicing farmers (33), as well as aspiring farmers (10) who are in Year 0 and during the project period were working to establish a community farm. The audience emphasis includes the following producer categories: African American Asian or Pacific Islander Immigrant producers Limited resource producers Small farms Urban producers Women Changes/Problems:Several changes were made throughout the project period, all of which have been previously discussed and accepted by BFRD program. Most notably, two of the original five objectives were removed from the project. The staffing funded through the project (1 FTE annually) was insufficient to allow the organization to achieve these two objectives. Provision of individualized technical assistance and coaching was essential to this project, and requiredmore of the Project Manager's timethan that initially anticipated. Furthermore, and as discussed in detail in our progress reports, early in the grant period the need to respond rapidly to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic had a significant effect on overall staff capacity. As described in detail in our Year 1 Progress Report, during the first year of the grant, sales through PIF's Food Hub, which manages sales for farmers in our incubator program, increased significantly. To meet this demand, PIF staff, including Rachel Lockhart Folkerts and Daniella Lewis, were required to spend a significant amount of time managing sales activities. This work was not accounted for in the original grant work plan. Ultimately, adapting to meet increased sales demands has resulted in improved outcomes for the target population. We encountered challenges in working with two project partners: The Alliance (our business training partner) and Prairie View A&M (our external evaluator). Ultimately, both of these partners were unresponsive to requests from our organization and participated little in the project. As a result, the work that we planned for our partners to do was done in house. While this did not change the overall project approach, it did strain our capacity to deliver on other grant activities. While our approach emphasized language access through provision of interpretation at in-person meetings and translation of documents, the resources available were insufficient to adaquately address this challenge. The language barrier is a real challenge and we've often had to at least partially communicate in English which is not any of the farmers' first language. Without always have proper translation, some material was not fully comprehended and required more time and effort to communicate. In general, getting farmers to take action on activities like business planning was extremely challenging. This is due in part to the education levels of the target audience, and in part due to significant constraints on farmer time. We were able to adapt and begin to overcome this challenge by targeting the adult children of farmers participating in the incubator program, who had more of the baseline skills required to successfully complete business planning activities. This is a strategy we will continue to employ in future farmer training activities. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities to Targeted Farmers 'Farmer Retreat' - a week-long, intensive workshop series - provided in 2021, 2022, and 2023, reaching 43 total participants 40 additional workshops, demonstrations, and fieldtrips have been hosted, covering many production and business topics, over the project period, reaching ~30participants total 12 partial scholarships were provided to particpating farmers to attend a state-wide farming conference (2021 and 2022). Additional detail about these opportunities has been provided via RVS and in Progress Reports. Opportunities to PIF Staff Attendance at Statewide Farming Conferences: PD R. Folkerts attended (1) statewide farming conference and Project Manager P. Shinneman attended 1 statewide farming conference. Via the BFRDP, both of these staff members have gained access to the network of BFRDP recepients and have benefited from resources and insights provided through this network. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?PIF is working directly with targeted farmers to provide workshops/demonstrations and technical assistance. During the project period, we have significantly increased the number of participants in our training programs (i.e, workshops, Farmer Retreat and other training activities which are separate fromthe incubator farm), from the 11 incubator farm participants to 43 total participants. Outreach has been conducted through direct communication with interested participants. In particular, outreach is conducted through site visits, phone calls, and WhatsApp. We have found that the most effective method of delivery is individualized technial assistance through in-person meetings. This is the approach outlined in the project proposal, and the need for this type of high-touch approach has been validated via our experiences throughout the project period. While farmers enjoy activities like workshops and field trips, we have found that in-person meetings and individualized technical assistance drive the achievement of the project's key results (e.g., creation of crop plans, business plans, and adoption of new production methods which increase farm sales). Locally, PIF is working to share results of our training efforts with other beginning farmers in our region via participation in local and statewide conferences, as well as through networking efforts with other farming organizations, funders, and interested community organizations. This includes emails and blog-posts created and distributed interanally to PIF's local community of support, as well as conversations with partners and prospective partners. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Overall, the project achieved its goal to enchance the viability of targetedfarms. As a result of over 2,100 hours of intensive training and technical assistance, reaching 43 beginning farmers with refugee backgrounds, the following key accomplishments were achieved: Average farm sales for participating incuabator farms increased by 47% (comparison of basline (2019 total sales) and 2022sales data (representing peak sales, which declined somewhat in 2023 due to drought Two participants in the incubator program expanded from <1 acre urban sites to 2-5 acre sites, through lease and purchase Business plan developed to guide start-up of a Sudanese community farm, comprising ~10 farming families Additional major accomplishments include: Under Objective 1:Enhance the knowledge, skills, and abilities of farmers in farm financial management 100% of participants in the incubator program, and 20 total participants in training activities, report that they understand the basics of business financial and risk management in the US context, including: credit scores & how to access credit, personal and business budgeting, and financial record keeping & analysis 100% of participants took steps to formalize their business, most commonly by creating a DBA, opening a business checking account, and enabling card or online payments at farmers markets. 100% of participants developed a key component of a business plan, including developing crop plans, sales goals, and marketing plans 20 participants are able to assess profit potential using an enterprise budget tool 20 participants are able to identify financing options available at the local, state, and federal level to help them expand their businesses. Under Objective 2:Enhance the knowledge, skills, and abilities of farmers in organic crop production 26 participants adopted at least 1 new production method annually Production increased at 100% of participating incubator farms, as evidenced by the significant sales increase 25 participants reportincreased efficiency of farm their operations (i.e. reduce labor requirements and/or decrease costs) In comparison to 2019, sales in 2020, 2021, and 2022 increased by an average of 46% across 8 incubator farms. 2023 YTD sales are decreased somewhat, due in large part to drought. Under Objective 3:Diversify markets by enabling access to wholesale markets and increasing direct-to-consumer sale ofspecialty crops to targeted communities 4 of 8 farms participating in the incubator program added a farmers market into their sales mix 100% of farms participantingin the incubator programunderstand and are applying food safety practices, governed by a food safety plan. This knowledge will be critical for future access to wholesale markets. 100% of incubator farms are FSMA compliant and prepared for a GAP audit or other certification progress Objectives 4 & 5 were removed from the project in an Award Revision Request, approved on 3/6/2023. Details about the reason for this revision were provided in the Progress Reports and in the letter requesting the revision.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:PIF's target audience is socially disadvantaged new American farmers. Specifically, during the reporting period PIF worked with 43beginning farmers (years 0-10) from refugee backgrounds, all African or Asian American, with limited resources and growing specialty crop on small farms. The majority (31) of these producers grew on urban farms. This target audience includes both practicing farmers (33), who are in years 1-10 of operating an independent farm enterprise, as well as aspiring farmers (10) who are in Year 0 and during the project period were working to establish a community farm. Changes/Problems:As we enter into Year 3 of the project, we have realized that the funding provided through the BFRDP partnership is insuffienct to enable us to meet all project goals.In other words, we have discovered that we require more staff time than is allocated to the project to accomplish all five project objectives within the 3-year time-frame, paritcularly given the disruptions which were caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Year 1 of the project. In addition, we are working with a larger than anticipated number of beginning farmersdue to a partnership agreement entered into at the beginning of this reporting period with the American Sudanese Chamber of Commerce (ASCC). They approached PIF to provide them with training and technical assistance which would enable them to first establish and then develop a community farm serving ~30 farming families in their community. We feel it is important to respond to this request, given the size and demonstrated interest of this group, as well as its obvious alignment with the broad goals and interests of the BFRDP. As such, staff time has been diverted to provide specific technical assistance and training for this group which has reduced time available to address Objectives 4 & 5 of the original proposal.These challenges were discussed in the Year 1 Progress report. As such, we have determined to focus available project funding and available staff time on meeting Objectives 1-3. Objectives 4 and 5 remain important goals of PIF's Farmer Education Program, and in fact, we have applied for and received additional USDA funding via the 2501 Program which will allow us to devote the necessary resources required to fulfill these project objectives. However, in terms of available resoures via this grant agreement, we would like to remove Objectives 4 and 5 from the project. Additionally,farmer adoption of best-practices which have been demonstrated and instructed on via BFRDP activities, paritcularly those related to business management, continueto lag behind our initial targets and expectations. Significant time is being spent by PIF staff, parituclarly by PIF's new Program Manager, Paul Shinneman, in providing one-on-one assistance related to business management. It has been challenging for farmers who are already working significantly more than full-time hours to adot practices like record-keeping, despite acknowledgement of the benefits of these practices from the targeted farmers. In response, we are shifting our strategy in Year 3 and are intentionally reaching out to the adult children of parcitipating farmers and seeking to engage them in key business management activities. In many cases, this group is already participating in farm activities, particularly those related to marketing and financial management. We believe they will be able to quickly and relatively easily be able to adopt key practices, like keeping records of all farm sales via Square or tracking all farm expenses through a separated business account and/or tags in programs like Mint, which will enable both them and PIF staff to better identify opportunities for improvement in farm business management. As of the writing of this progress report, we have begun to conduct outreach and initial training activities to this new group of participants in a beginning farming operation. Another challenge has been sustaining the sales increase experienced by targeted farms during Year 1 of the project. While there were many programmingdisruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant positive effect was an increase in direct-to-consumer sales, particularly via Farm Share operated through the PIF Food Hub. In Year 1, sales byincubator participants increased by an average of 34% over 2019 (pre-pandemic and pre-project levels). In Year 2, these gains were, on average, lost, in part due to decreases in total customers/sales volume, and in part due to weather-related disruptions in production (in particular, a drought in the summer of 2022). On average, farmers participating in the PIF incubator program are ~18% behind on their self-determined sales goals in 2022 to date. We seek to address this in Year 3 by introducing new sales opportunities and by engaging the adult children of targeted beginning farmers in targeted training related to business managment and marketing. These efforts are described elsewhere in the grant report. Finally, we have experienced challenges related to engaging planned project partners in the project. In particular, the Alliance andthe third-party evaluator have both provided less support than initially planned. This is due to staff limitations on their part. In the case of the Alliance, the team working with us on business planning activities experienced turnover and a reduced work force over the past year, as well as increased demands on their time from other projects they are engaged in. Ultimately, we have learned that we need to increase the funding provided to project partners in order to ensure their participation in key activities. Becuase the Alliance has not been available for business management/planning activities, PIF project staff have taken on more of this work than initially planned. In addition,despite staff efforts to reach out and work with the PVAMU staff involved in program evaluation, we have not been successful in getting critical engagement from them. We created our own evaluation tool, which we believe to be comprehensive, and are conducting our own program evaluation. However, in addition to the dificulty in getting participants to fill out such a comprehensive survey tool, it has been difficult to engage the evaluator in preparing an analysis on our behalf. This has further increased the workload of program staff, above what was initially planned. This has further contributed to our need to eliminate Objectives 4 and 5 (from the original proposal) from this project's objectives and planned outcomes. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities to Targeted Farmers 4 Workshopshave been provided (outside of the Farmer Retreat) on the following business and production-related topics, reaching ~20 unique participants: Fig Production (pruning, propogating), Intro to Excel for Farm Record Keeping, Applying for Farm Loans through the FSA, Intro to Soil Health 8 Demonstrationshave been provided, reaching 11 unique participants, including demonstrations on the following topics: reducing water usage with drip irrigation, using a high-tunnel to start seeds, fig pruning, planning & installing a new irrigation system, using shade cloth for season extension, using frost cloth for season extension, using tilther, using Jang seeder One (1) 5-day Farmer Retreathosted and reaching 17unique participants. In total 23hours of training related to business management per provided, 7hours related to land access, and 10hours related to production topics. 4 Field Tripswere hosted, reaching at least 20 unique participants, including trips to the following small farms: Bissonet Chicken Farm, Talking Tree Farm, Whitehurst Farm, and Hamsa Farm. Attendance at Statewide Farming Confernece by 5Farmers. 5 targetedfarmers attended the Texas Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association confernece in February, 2022. ~60 beginning farmers had access to specialized support (provided by PIF) related to crop production, business managemenet, and land access. Opportunities to PIF Staff Attendance at Statewide Farming Conferences: PD R. Folkerts attended (1) statewide farming conference and Project Manager P. Shinneman attended 1 statewide farming conference (2 unique conferences were attended). Via the BFRDP, both of these staff members have gained access to the network of BFRDP recepients and have benefited from resources and insights provided through this network. Attendance at American Farmland Trust Training: Transitioning Land to a New Generation. PD R. Folkerts attended this training in March, after being selected as part of their trainer cohort. Participating in this training greatly enhanced PD Folkerts' ability to conduct land access training for targeted farmers via this BFRDP grant. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?PIF is working directly with targeted farmers to provide workshops/demonstrations and technical assistance. We have found that the most effective method of delivery is individualized technial assistance through in-person meetings. This is the approach outlined in the project proposal, and the need for this type of high-touch approach has been validated via our experiences in the first 2 years of this project. In fact, the high demand for in-person consultation, meetings, and trainings has greatly reduced PIF's ability to provide Locally, PIF is working to share results of our training efforts with other beginning farmers in our region via participation in local and statewide conferences, as well as through networking efforts with other farming organizations, funders, and interested community organizations. This includes emails and blog-posts created and distributed interanally to PIF's local community of support, as well as conversations with partners and prospective partners. These activities are not being funded through the grant, but are noted here because of the critical importance of the work we are conducting in partnership with the BFRDP to PIF's overall work and mission to enable the success of new American farmers in our region. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Overall, we plan to focus grant efforts in Year 3on achieving Objectives 1-3. We believe thattargeting staff time dedicated to the BFRDP towards providing high-touch, intensive technical assistance and training related to both production and business management practices, as well as continuing to diversify markets available to farmers via the PIF Food Hub, is the best strategy to meet the self-identified needs of targeted beginning farmers. Objectives 4 & 5 remain strategically important to PIF as a farm support organization; however, we now recognize that we are unable to meet these goals using available resources via the BFRDP. As such, we have secured additional resources to achieve these goals and will be working on them outside of the BFRDP. The most significant barrier to success faced by targeted beginning farmers remains lack of understanding and implementation of business and financial management practices essential to operating within a US context. We are shifting our approach in this area. In Year 3, we will target training and technical assistance efforts in these areas towards the adult children of the farmers participating in the incubator program. We believe that, in combination with the training being provided directly to the incubator farmers, that targeting this information towards adult children who already participate in the farm business in some way will increase uptake of key practices such as developing business and marketing plans. In addition, we are continuing to try to reengage with the Alliance. We plan to coordinate workshops with them on business topics approximately quarterly during the final year of the project. In Year 3 we plan to increase training opportunities (workshops, demonstrations, and technical assistance) being providedd to the ASCC. They plan to launch a vegetable farming operation in the coming year, and PIF plans to work closely with them throughout their start-up process. This work will impact up to 30 families who plan to farm via the ASCC's new community farm. Finally, in Year 3 wewill develop afull food safety plan for the PIF Food Hub. While food safety plans exist for farms operating within the PIF incubator program, a formalfood safety plan is yet to be written to govern the operations of the PIF Food Hub. Currently, targeted farmers are reaching wholesale and restaurant markets through the PIF Food Hub. As such, we are prioritizing developing a formal, comprehensive food safety plan for the PIF Food Hub in order to open up more market opportunities to the targetedfarmer population. We will also offer scholarships to farmers to attend a PSA Food Safety Course so that they can develop their own food safety plans. PIF staff are available to coach farmers on this topic as well. As a practical matter, we have found that targeted farmers prefer for the PIF Food Hub to manage more complicated market opportunities on behalf of the group,like wholesale opportunities which require things like GAP certification. Additionally, we are opening up new market opportunities via new partnerships we have developed in the food access space. Specifically, we are working with individual farmers to ensure they have SNAP/EBT equipment and are trained to use it, and we have partnership agreements enabling the PIF Food Hub to sell ~$60,000 of produce to support other local food access initiatives. We expect these efforts to cumulatively increase total sales from targeted farms during Year 3 of the project.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Overall Impact Through the partnership agreement with the BFRDP, PIF is actively providing specialized training and technical assistance to immigrant and refugee beginning farmers in the Houston region and supporting their efforts to establish and develop organic and sustainable farming enterprises. Specifically, PIF's work in Year 2 of this grant agreement has resulted in the following impacts to 43 unique partipants in program activities: Identification of land available for leaseon which the ASCC plans to start a community farm, which will be operated by ~30 families within the Sudanese community; Expanded market opportunities for a 20-member Congolese women's community farm, Shamba Ya Amani, via the creation of a 'Flower Share' to market and sell flowers grown by the community farm in 2022. Steps taken to formalize business practices by a majority of participating farmers, including but not limited to actions like establishing a DBA, creating and using Square accounts to manage sales translations, and opening business checking and savings accounts. Increased awareness of financing options, including loans available via the Smal Business Administration and through the USDA. At least 4 participating farmers have received loans through the SBA as a result of grant activities. Adoption of new production practicies amongst targeted farmers, including use of drip-irrigation, use of season-extension tools like frost cloth, and fruit-tree pruning. Objective 1:Enhance the knowledge, skills, and abilities of new American farmers in business management, including both financial and risk management. Major Activities Workshops (including those conducted during Farmer Retreat) on the following topics were provided during Year 2: using Excel for record keeping, applying for farm loans via the FSA, introduction to farm cooperatives, creating a risk management plan, farm taxes, assessing loan opportunities for your business, setting SMART goals, financial readiness for land acquisition, assessing wholesale business opportunities, record keeping for the small farm.Total of 34 hours of formal training activities provided, reaching ~17 unique participants. Total of ~300 mentorship hours provided by PIF staff and project partners at the Alliance, reaching13 unique participants. Mentorship was provided on all of the above topics, as well as on developing business plans for various types of products and/or expansions in the farm enterprise, and crop planning & assessing income/market opportunities Key Outcomes & Accomplishments Taking steps to formalize business: at least 3 farmers began using Square to track sales at farmers markets Taking steps to formalize business: at least 1 farmer opened a business checking account Taking steps to formalize business:1 business plan produced examing viability of nursery business within ASCC; 1 business plan for poultry production business under development by farmer on PIF incubator site ~11 farmers understand the concept of 'Return on Investment' and have conducted an ROI exercise through a grant application process and/or a PIF workshop 12 farmers identified areas for improvement in terms of risk management ~13 farmers understand key concepts in small business management including understanding options for credit/loans and how to assess their value to the farm, business budgeting, risk management in the small farm Objective 2:Enhance the knowledge, skills, and abilities of new American farmers in advanced organic production methods for vegetable crops. Major Activities A total of ~50hours of formal training opportunities on production-related topics provided via field trips, workshops, and demonstrations (including those held during the Annual Farmer Retreat), in total reaching ~20 unique participants:Soil Health, Fig Propogation, Fig Pruning, Using Drip Irrigation, Season Extension techniques, using a high tunnel for seed starting, irrigation design & installation, using fertigation, using appropriate technology for the small farm (silage tarps, jang seeder, etc.), curing, product quality standards Total of ~400hours of mentorship on production related topics received by targeted farmers, including mentorship on all of the above topics, as well as on crop planning,provided to 11 farmers in the PIF incubator program and leaders of a 20-member Congolese women's community farm. Key Outcomes & Accomplishments 100% of participating farmers (11 on incubator farms and 20-member Congoselse women's group operating a community farm), adopted at least 1 new production technique in Year 2 of the project. This included the following: season extension using shade and/or frost cloth, using fertigation, using drip irrigation, using a tilther, and using other specific technology appropriate for small farms New products/crops introduced, including flowers and figs Targeted farmers cumulatively increased production space to include an additional ~3 acres of organic specialty crop production during Year 2 of the project (an ~30% increase in production space of targeted farmers vs Year 1 of the project) Objective 3:Diversify markets that are available to farmers operating on PIF Incubator Farms; in particular, improve food safety practices & documentation systems to enable access to wholesale markets, and increase direct-to-consumer product marketing to targeted communities, including immigrant communities, throughout the Houston metro region. Major Activities 10 farmers operating within the PIF incubator farms provided with kit of improved display and marketing materials for use at farmers markets, and provided with training on how to display products at a farmers market on-farm food safety plan created for 11 farmers operating on PIF urban incubator farms Launched PIF Flower Share, opening new markets for flower growers (20 members of a Congolese women's community farm) Key Outcomes & Accomplishments ~$1,600 in new sales provided via a piloted, 12-week Flower Share on behalf of 20-member Congolese women's farm Unfortunately, overall sales at PIF incubator farms decreased in Year 2 of the project. This is discussed elsewhere in the report. Objective 4:Enable new American farmers to secure long-term land access Major Activities 7 hours of workshops provided during Annual Farmer Retreat, reaching 13 unique participants, on the topic of land access including: understanding land tenure in US context, goal setting, assessing your financial readiness, land access options PD attended training with American Farmland Trust; organizational capacity gained to comprehensively and meaningfully address land access issues PD conducted networking activities with national organizations and local stakeholders. ~80 mentorship hours provided to targeted farmers, including to ASCC (representing 30 aspiring farming families) and 2 farmers operating at PIF incubator farm. Mentorship provided to assess opportunities available to these farmers regarding land access. Key Outcomes & Accomplishments This remains a critical strategic goal for PIF and our Farmer Education Programs specifically. However, we have found that we do not have adaquate funding through the BFRDP to accomplish this goal. This is discussed in more detail elsewhere in the report. Objective 5:Develop sharable, regionally specific resourcesto enable more urban and small-scale farming in the Houston metro region. While this remains a goal of the Farmer Education Program, we have realized that we cannot fund all program goals and personnel via one grant project. Therefore, we have sought and secured additional funding which is needed to achieve this goal.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience served during Year 1 of the project term has been socially disadvantaged new American farmers. Specifically, the farmers served through Plant It Forward's programming arrived to Houston with refugee status from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, and Liberia. Resettled refugees are a population that struggle to find meaningful employment. The socially disadvantaged farmers served are all within their first ten (10) years of farming in the US. Changes/Problems:The COVID-19 pandemic presented significant challenges to the organization that are effecting our ability to meet project goals & objectives of our BFRDP award during year one of the project. However, the organization is recovering and have a plan in place to put additional staffing and organizational resources behind this project during years two and three. Ultimately, we expect to get back on track during year two and meet our goals, objectives, and outcomes by project close. Like many organizations, Plant It Forward (PIF) experienced significant operational strain as a result of the pandemic. Organizational resources were severely constrained due to resource constraints. Like non-profits nationwide, PIF suffered from decreased donations during a time of increased expensense due to increased demand for local produce. In March and April of 2020, as the pandemic began, demand for local produce increased. PIF's food hub, and consequentely farmers in our incubator program, experienced a 150% increase in sales. While this was a positive outcome for farmers, for our program and organization the rapid, unplanned scaling required significant staffing adjustments. Increased sales did not result in increased revenue to the organization, and therefore, existing staff responded by adjusting job duties to make sure we could accomodate the increased demand and enable farmers in our incubator program to achieve maximum sales. Two of PIF's four staff members (both engaged in BFRDP work) spent a cumulative 40 hours per week assisting farmers in the incubator program with packing and distributing CSAs. While this was a learning opportunity for farmers and the organization, and did result in increased sales to socially disadvantaged beginning farmers, it was time that we could not use to achieve stated project goals and objectives. Specifically, providing mentorship around production topics (outside of harvest and produce washing/packaging) and business topics was challenging due to the increased time needed for sales and distribution activities. Similarly, project partners at the Alliance were constained by the pandemic in their ability to deliver formal training and mentorship to beginning farmers on financial management and business topics. During 2020 and for a few months of 2021, only virtual sessions were possible. While PIF tried to accomodate virtual learning, the need for translation made it difficult and impractical to host virtual training sessions. While mentoring hours and formal training hours were lower than hoped for in year one of the project. However, going forward we expect to meet project targets for formal training hours provided (20 annually). Based on Year 1, we do not think farmers will be able to devote 200 hours annually towards participating in mentorship activities. Outside of formal training, it has been difficult to get farmers to work on business development activities due to heavy demands on their time. PIF will continue to provide formal training opportunities and offer follow-up by making mentors available. To address these staffing constraints and their effects on our BFRDP project, PIF is currently working to expand staff capacity to meet program needs. We are currently (as of October, 2021) working to 1) hire a Program Coordinator who can provide the significant mentorship and coaching hours needed for the project, 2) on-boarding a current PIF staff member to work on the food safety plan, which we expect to complete by the end of the calendar year, and 3) promoting Co-PD Rachel Folkerts to the role of Farm Programs Director, where she will spend at least 30% FTE working towards Objective 4 of the current BFRDP award (enabling new American farmers to secure long-term land access). Additionally, during the past year, PIF has identified over 50 aspiring farmers who are interested to receive training and eager to access resources to enable them to begin farming. Specifically, PIF has entered into a partnership, goverrned by a MOU, with the American Sudanese Chamber of Commerce in Houston. We have agreed to provide a minimum of four (4) workshops over the next year to them. Additionally, we are working with the Houston Public Library and refugee resettlement services to identify recently arrived Afghan refugees who are interested in establishing a career in farming. While land access will be addressed with these targeted groups, and is a current project objective, the staff capacity written into our proposal (1 staff member who would provide mentorship/training on production and meeting objectives 4&5 related to land access and providing regionally-specific resources to beginning farmers) is inadaquate to achieve program objectives and meet the need in our community from aspiring and beginning farmers. Moreover, there is a need to address other topics with these groups of aspiring farmers that are not specified in the current grant but relate to overall BFRDP objectives.Thus, we propose amending the overall project goal to include aspiring farmers. The amendment of the originalgoal is written in bolded textbelow: "The overall project goal of the Plant It Forward (PIF) Farmer Development Initiative is to enable socially disadvantaged farmers to develop economically viable farming businesses. Specifically, PIF will enable refugee and immigrant (new American) farmers to transition their startup businesses into the grow and establishment phase of business development. Additionaly, PIFwill provide introductory training to prepare aspiring farmers (15) to launch farm start-ups." What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportuntunities for targeted farmers: 9 Workshops have been provided covering the following production & business-management topics: best-practices for managing nightshades, organic weed control, cover cropping, using appropriate tools/technology for small-scale farming, harvesting & post-harvest handling for best produce quality, crop insurance options, funding options for expanding your farm/purchasing land, personal & business savings best-practices, financial resources for small businesses available through local agencies, using native plants to enhance pollinating & farm ecosystem health. One (1) 4-day Farmer Retreat was hosted for beginning new American farmers in August, 2021. This intensive training opportunity, for which 13 farmers received a stipend to incentivize attendance, provided training in the following topics: lean/efficient farming practices, tools to assess farm profitability, understanding an enterprise budget, comparing profitability of different crops, soil testing, farm mapping for crop planning, seed ordering how-to, how-to acquire land, alternative business models: wholesale opportunities, nursery management practices & potting soil comparisons, tool demonstrations 15 Demonstrations have been provided, reaching 13 farmers, including the following production topics: season extension techniques (3 demonstrations), using appropriate technology (3 demonstrations), conserving water (1), pest control (2), planting techniques (2), harvesting & post-harvest techniques (3) 3 Field Trips were hosted. 6 farmers traveled to Hope for Small Farm Sustainability in the Rio Grande Valley (Harlingen), TX. 14 farmers traveled to a Burmese farm in Rosharon TX, and 14 farmers traveled to Hope Farms in Houston, TX. 7 farmers attended a statewide farming conference. Matching, in-kind support was used to cover farmer expenses, including hotel and conference registration costs, in order to facilitate attendance at the Farm & Ranch Freedom Alliance growers conference in August, 2021. Beginning farmers (14) had access to professional staff support in production and farm business topics. Specifically, participating farmers had access to 2 full-time PIF staff members who provided mentorship and formal training on production and business topics, as well as 2 full-time staff member from the Alliance's Financial Opportunities Center who provided small business management training and personal finance training and mentorship. During the first year of project activities, PIF staff did not participate in relevant professional development activities due to significant constraints placed on staff capacity by the COVID-19 pandemic and because of travel restrictions. However, professional development opportunities are planned for project staff in year 2, including participating in a Produce Safety Alliance Grower's training and joining American Farmland Trust's cohort of trainers on the issue of land transfer. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In terms of outreach to beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers, we have made connections with additional groups of new American farmers, including the local Burmese farming community and aspiring Sudanese American farmers. We will work in the coming year to translate existing materials, as needed, for relevant farming populations. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had very limited ability to attend conferences. By the end of the 3-year project period we expect to attend at least one conference in order to share relevant program achievements. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?PIF experienced significant staffing constraints, a direct result of COVID-19 and its impacts on our organization and our Food Hub program. These constraints are described in detail in the next section. We are making the following adjustments to ensure we meet project goals during the next reporting period: We are soliciting applicants currently with the intent to hire a full-time Program Coordinator who can provide the significant mentorship and coaching hours needed for the project. We seek to start this new role by January 1, 2022. This will increase our staff capacity to achieve the BFRDP goals and objectives. We are currently in the process of on-boarding a current PIF staff member to work on the food safety plan, which we expect to complete by March, 2022. We have promoted Co-PD Rachel Folkerts to the role of Farm Programs Director. In Year 2 of the project she will spend at least 30% FTE working towards Objective 4 (enabling new American farmers to secure long-term land access). We have hired 1 Assistant Manager to help with Food Hub activities, which will enable Daniella Lewis, PIF's Food Hub Director, to allocate more time to meeting project goals and objectives related to marketing & wholesale readiness. Again, in Year 1 of the project, demands placed on the organization due to the unforeseen impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic severely constrained staff capacity, however, we are actively addressing these limitations during the coming year. PIF has been actively conducting outreach activities in order to identify additional farmers to serve through project activities. In Year 1, we worked with 14 farmers, 13 who were already part of the Plant It Forward network of new American farmers. In Year 2, we will begin a partnership with the American Sundanese Chamber of Commerce. The goal of the partnership is to provide interested members of the Houston's Sudanese community with information and training about accessing land and starting a farm. Training activities over the next year will be focused on developing a business plan and on accessing land for start-up. We expect to expand programming sufficiently to meet the anticipated goal of 30 farmers through this partnership. We have noticed that, during Year 1, farmers did not participate in enough mentorship hours to meet project goals & objectives (200 hours for business-related topics, and 400 hours for production topics). While professional staff were available, we found that farmers simply did not have the time to participate in this number of mentorship hours. In Years 2 and 3 we are working to increase the number of aspiring (Year 0) and/or practicing (Years 1-10) beginning farmers to work with. We are also revising the target number of mentorship hours to reflect a more realistic time-commitment from aspiring and current farmers, all of whom have limited time to devote to training activities. Finally, we are working with The Alliance's Financial Opportunities Center to increase the number of workshops (formal training opportunities) available to new American/beginning farmers on business management topics. We have established a monthly calendar that includes 10 workshops (totaling 20 hours) where project partners from the Financial Opportunities Center will be available to provide formal training opportunities.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The following impacts have resulted for beginning BIPOCfarmers during year one of the 3-year grant term: Increasedsales by an average of 34% vs pre-pandemic levels; Targeted farmers gainingknowledge about an array of topics related to farm financial management and organic crop production, including 'lean' business management and use of enterprise budgets to evaluate crop profitability; Targeted farmers implementing new business and production practices, including formalizing businesses by forming DBAs and opening business bank accounts, and using season extension techniques like shade cloths to increase profitability of key crops; Beginning BIPOC farmers are forming a state-wide peer network. Additionally, PIF is gaining capacity as a farm support organization to comprehensively address systemic issues facing regional food systems across the US, including the well-documented land access disparities faced by BIPOC growers. While PIF experienced significant challenges in organizational capacity because of the COVID-19 pandemic, PIF is now well-positioned to deliver on this and other project objectives which due in large part to USDA BFRDP support. Objective 1:Enhance the knowledge, skills, and abilities of new American farmers in business management, including both financial and risk management. Major Activities:Workshops to beginning farmers covering the following topics: crop insurance options, funding options for expanding your farm/purchasing land, personal & business savings best-practices, financial resources for small businesses available through local agencies, 'lean' business practices, risk management: saving for crop loss, record keeping and record analysis to evaluate farm profit, understanding a crop enterprise budget ~20 hours of formal training on these topics were provided, including during the 4-day Farmer Retreat in August, 2021 ~100 mentorship hours were provided to 14 beginning farmers on financial and risk management topic and specifically related to the workshop topics listed above Data collected& Discussion of Results: N/A Key Outcomes & Accomplishments: 3 beginning BIPOC farmers took steps to formalize their business by establishing a DBA, opening a business checking/savings account, accessing funding through a starter loan program operated by The Alliance's Financial Opportunities Center 14 farmers made progress towards understanding the basics of business financial and risk management in the US context, including: understanding how to access credit, personal and business budgeting, and financial record keeping & analysis 14 farmers understand what an enterprise budget tool is and how it is used in small business management and decision making 14 can identify some financing options available at the local, state, and federal level to help them expand their businesses Objective 2:Enhance the knowledge, skills, and abilities of new American farmers in advanced organic production methods for vegetable crops. Major Activities: 6 Workshopshave been provided covering the following production topics: best-practices for managing nightshades, organic weed control, cover cropping, using appropriate tools/technology for small-scale farming, harvesting & post-harvest handling for best produce quality, using native plants to enhance pollinating & farm ecosystem health. 15 Demonstrationshave been provided, reaching 14 farmers, on the following production topics: season extension techniques (3), using appropriate technology (3), conserving water (1), pest control (2), planting techniques (2), harvesting & post-harvest techniques (3) 3 Field Tripswere hosted. 1 4-day Farmer Retreat was hosted.This intensive workshop series covered many of the topics listed above 7 farmers attended a statewide farming conference. In total, 50 cumulative hours of formal training opportunities were provided and ~400 mentorship hours on production topics. Data collected& Discussion of Results: N/A Key Outcomes & Accomplishments: Targeted farmers are adopting new production methods including: using shade cloth and frost cloth for season extension; use of weed control methods like silage tarps, plastic mulch, and flame weeders; and use of drip irrigation as water conservation method. Annual gross sales among targeted farmers increased by an average of 34% compared to pre-pandemic levels, despite significant weather-related crop loss in 2021 (Winter Storm Uri) Targeted farmers (14) understand the principle of 'lean' practices (ie how to assess operational efficiency) and understand available tools and methods that may be applied to their own farms. Objective 3:Diversify markets that are available to farmers operating on PIF Incubator Farms; in particular, improve food safety practices & documentation systems to enable access to wholesale markets, and increase direct-to-consumerproduct marketing to targeted communities, including immigrant communities, throughout the Houston metro region. Major Activities: Due to COVID-19 related impacts, PIF's Food Hub pivoted its marketing efforts, resulting in a significant (~34% increase vs pre-pandemic sales) increase in direct-to-consumer sales for targeted farmers. Instead of targeting immigrant communities, as initially planned, PIF pivoted towards implementing a home delivery system for its Farm Share/CSA. PIF staff made the decision to pivot towards home delivery based on feedback from customer surveys and accompanying market analysis. This is achieving the overall objective of diversifying markets available to targeted farmers, as home delivery is a new market for the PIF Food Hub. PIF made significant website updates to support this market pivot and to improve marketing more broadly. New marketing materials were developed to support this market pivot, including development of branded home delivery packaging and improvements in virtual marketing (ie updating the look and feel of PIF's physical and virtual materials to better reflect PIF's unique market position; tracking engagement of various market segments). Marketing materials are currently under development that will target diret-to-consumer sales opportunities at local farmers markets. Data collected& Discussion of Results: N/A Key Outcomes & Accomplishments: Increased sales by an average of 34% across farms (8) operating through PIF incubator program, compared to pre-pandemic levels Initial internal food safety audit completed and key areas for improvement identified on incubator farms and within the PIF Food Hub Objective 4:Enable new American farmers to secure long-term land access Major Activities: Land access was addressed in two (2) field trips. Practicing BIPOC farmers hosted workshops with targeted farmers working on PIF incubator farms on the following topics: using USDA programs to finance land purchases and owner-financed land purchases. Data collected& Discussion of Results: N/A Key Outcomes & Accomplishments: 100% of farmers participating in above activities understand options for securing land outside of the incubator farm site Objective 5:Develop sharable, regionally specific resourcesto enable more urban and small-scale farming in the Houston metro region. Major Activities: Farmer resource website currently under development (https://plantitforward.webflow.io/) housing regionally specific information including: planting calendar, seed & supply sources, bed preparation & harvesting guides Data collected& Discussion of Results: N/A Key Outcomes & Accomplishments: Targeted farmers are gaining access to regionally-specific information and printed guides, as they are adapted and developed. 3 printed guides were developed and distributed as part of the 4-day Farmer Retreat. During year 2 of the project, the farmer resource website will be developed to the point of dissemination and PIF will begin to translate its resources
Publications
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