Source: International Rescue Committee (IRC) submitted to
NEW ROOTS AND SHOOTS: BUILDING ON REFUGEE FARMER SUCCESS IN PANDEMIC AND POST-PANDEMIC MARKETS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1027315
Grant No.
2021-70033-35603
Cumulative Award Amt.
$749,998.00
Proposal No.
2021-06692
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2021
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2024
Grant Year
2021
Program Code
[BFRDA]- Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, Standard
Recipient Organization
International Rescue Committee (IRC)
5348 University Avenue #205
San Diego,CA 92105
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Immigrant and refugee beginning farmers face critical barriers to success, including lack of access to land, training, and markets, compounded by language barriers and limited support systems. The COVID-19 pandemic has created training and marketing challenges, but also led to program innovations that support skills acquisition, market access, and social connections leading to faster farm business growth. The New Roots and Shoots project will build on these lessons to support 120 socially disadvantaged beginning farmers to gain the skills, resources, and opportunities to enter and improve their farm businesses through intensive, individualized assistance and wraparound support. The project has 5 main objectives: (1) improve crop production and food safety practices through on-farm training, 1:1 technical assistance and language-specific video production; (2) increase revenue through developing new market links and providing training in marketing practices; (3) develop infrastructure and productive resources on 6.6 acres of peri-urban farm incubation land; (4) assist farmers to adopt crop and financial recordkeeping practices; and (5) enhance farmer support networks through farmer-to-farmer training events and communities of practice. The combination of training and technical assistance will help farmers improve crop practices, diversify marketing, improve business strategies, and incorporate sound recordkeeping practices to support their long-term business success and overall farm viability. This project is a collaborative effort of the International Rescue Committee's National Technical Unit; IRC programs in Salt Lake City, Tucson, and Seattle; immigrant and refugee farmer groups in all three sites; and university extension programs and produce marketing groups in the three locations.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
6016299302060%
6041499302040%
Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management; 604 - Marketing and Distribution Practices;

Subject Of Investigation
1499 - Vegetables, general/other; 6299 - Marketing, general/other;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
Goal: Support 120 unduplicated socially disadvantaged beginning farmers to gain the skills, resources, and opportunities to enter and improve their farm businesses.Objective 1: Improve crop production and food safety practices of 120 SD farmers through delivering on-farm training, 1:1 technical assistance and creating language-specific videosObjective 2: Increase revenue of 85 SD farmers through developing new market links and providing training in marketing practicesObjective 3: Provide access to land and improved productive resources for 120 SD farmers through developing infrastructure on 6.1 acres of peri-urban farm incubation landObjective 4: Assist 75 SD farmers to adopt beneficial crop and financial recordkeeping practicesObjective 5: Enhance support networks of 120 SD farmers through farmer-to-farmer training events and communities of practice
Project Methods
For Objective 1the IRC will 1) provide small group and 1:1 TA and 2) produce technical assistance videos. 1:1 TAallows IRC staff to assist farmers to set individual goals, to listen deeply to each farmer's challenges, and provide information in a culturally competent way, using interpretation if needed. IRC plans to produce 58videos across the three sites in a variety of languages that can be shared.These videos will feature experienced farmers whenever possible. Production-related topics that IRC will focus on for this project are: food safety/FSMA/GAP; climate change risk/mitigation; water management; pest and disease management; and crop selection and planning.For Objective 2, IRC will1) link farmers with new market opportunities, 2) produce informational videos specifically on market-related topics, and 3) provide 1:1 and small group TA.IIRC staff will work with new and existing farmers to help them access local wholesale and consignment market channelsand improve their capabilities in creating and sending fresh sheets, tracking orders and sales, following SOPs for harvest and packing. Training will use interactive and hands-on methods such as mock farmers markets, and focus on topics including connecting with new buyers, crop planning, filling orders, and managing market interactions.For Objective 3,IRC will: 1) provide soil amendments and shared tools to growers and 2) develop the sites through infrastructure installations. At each site, IRC will provide a basic set of hand tools and will support farmers with compost and other organic amendments. In Seattle, IRC will develop a wash-pack station on a ¼ acre production site in Tukwila and support the development of 2 additional acres in the Kent Valley by providing low tunnels to producers, establishing a cover crop demonstration plot, and supporting the development of individual irrigation plans, since producers will be sharing a limited water supply.IRC Seattle will also support improvements on a 1/4 garden site used by farmers, including providing compost and tunnels. IRC in Tucson manages a centrally located urban farm site, called Literacy Garden, that has .6 acres of production space that will be enhanced with additional farm plots, enhanced irrigation, and seasonal extension materials that are necessary for the extreme summer months of the desert. In SLC, IRC secured an additional 3 acres of land adjacent to a current farm site in 2020. Through this project, SLC will develop this land to bring the space into production through soil amendments, addition of irrigation, and tillage work.For Objective 4,IRC will1) work with producers to use crop and market records and 2) guide them to use this information to build crop and marketing plans for future years. This assistance will take place during small group and 1:1 TA. IRC has delivered workshops on recordkeeping and created notebooks and worksheets for farmers to use in the field. IRC plans to work with farmers during annual enrollment to identify the best media or platform for capturing data, whether it is the use of photography, online or phone-based trackers, or paper workbooks, and then use regular 1:1 TA sessions to check-in on progress and help them analyze the data from these tools. New Roots SLC has been testing various formats for several years and these will serve as a starting point for the creation and adaptation of other tools that fit with farmer literacy and digital skill levels. IRC staff will assist each producer to use or adapt a tool, and regularly follow up with producers to gauge the efficacy of the tool and devise alternatives if necessary. The IRC trainer community of practice in this project will be helpful for exchanging ideas and troubleshooting needs identified in this arena.For Objective 5,IRC will 1) implement farmer-led field walks or mini-workshops and 2) support farmer communities of practice. IRC will facilitate these farmer-to-farmer training opportunities by observing and identifying particular activities that participants do well, asking them to share with other farmers informally, and facilitating field walks for farmers to exchange knowledge and techniques.Through this regular practice, IRC will assist farmers to get to know one another on shared farm sites and foster interpersonal connections between the farmers themselves. IRC already communicates with many farmers though social media platforms and will help farmers form their own groups starting with producers who are located on the same farm site and share a common language.To capture data and evaluate project impact, the following tools will be used:1:1 TA Meetings - meetings with all project farmers willprovide support for production, marketing, or business skills development, and to assist farmers in setting goals,and work with them to assess their progress in a participatory way. These meetings will be critical to gathering case notes for each farmer related to knowledge gained, markets entered, resources accessed, and how they are utilizing information provided by the project.Market and Sales Records - Thorough records on every market thatIRC runs or collaborates with will be kept. Records include market income, farm businesses participating, inventory, and number ofshoppers. New Roots staff will collect sales records from farmers on a weekly or monthly basis to see changes in income and trends. This will be used not only to analyze project impact but also to have conversations with individual farmers in relation to their crop and marketing plans, and their training goals for the year.Efforts to Outcomes (ETO) Tracking Database -IRC's US Programs has developed a national, cloud-based data system called 'Efforts to Outcomes' (ETO) that tracks data within every program operating across all 23 of IRC's US offices.The project will use this platform to track the farmers involved in each program, land under cultivation, market participation, services used (including hours and subjects of training), individualized case notes, and outcomes data such as market income and farmer skill attainment.Farming Skills Benchmarking tool - IRC developed an observation-based tool to evaluate farmer competency in 9 areas of farming skillincluding crop management, irrigation management, harvest and food safety, marketing, and recordkeeping. This tool will be used by project staff involved in the project to assess farmer skill levels pre-and post-training and technical assistance is providedto gauge level of improvement. Project staff will meet with each farmer at annual enrollment to assist them in setting goals under three of the 9 areas. Staff will note these in the project database and use this to hone training and 1:1 technical assistance delivered.End-of Season Participant Surveys - this 14-question survey toolmeasures multiple spheres of project impact including changes in social bonds and bridges, household savings and income, and health improvements experienced by farmers involved in our programsannually. For the purpose of this project, staff will add 1-3 specific questions that will elucidate the ways in which the project strengthened social connections, and how these connections impacted farmer business success.

Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience: African American Asian or Pacific Islander Hispanic or Latino Immigrant producers Limited resource producers Specialty crop producers Urban producers Changes/Problems:Staff have pivoted some support away from production skills and towards marketing skills over the course of this project. While this has meant that the project hasn't met some training targets it set for itself in the original proposal, it has paid off in almost twice as many farmers as anticipated adding a new market and starting farm businesses. Furthermore, farmers became more independent in their sales, as some farmers began to make and manage their own market connections. The combination of market brokering, aggregation support, and market TA enabled farmers to engage with retail and wholesale buyers and, after some experience with this, sustain the connections and the market channels established through the project on their own. Also importantly, wholesale buyers began contacting the farmers and arranging purchases without significant involvement of project staff. When we initially wrote the application New Roots staff werestill using training videos as a way to connect with farmers that were important forms of contact and support during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we moved away from more stringent COVID-19 mitigation measures, we found in-person training and technical assistance to be a more effective way of connecting with farmers. Farmer prefer hands-on 1:1 technical assistance and so the project has shifted more of its emphasis there. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Project staff continued to conveneevery quarter to discuss progress and challenges. These were important opportunities for staff, located in different parts of the country but working with similar demographic groups and challenges, to troubleshoot issues and learn from one another. These same staff were also part of the National New Roots Community of Practice, which includes IRC farmer training staff from 13 sites across the country. During these monthly video conference calls, training professionals exchange lessons learned and tools for program delivery and evaluation, and learn about other opportunities for growth, including webinars and conferences offered by other institutions or groups. Staff did not attend any in-person trainings or conferences this year of the project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Year-end meetings with farmers to review goals and business progress, coordination meetings with land and training partners, stakeholder visits to markets, distributing market and promotional information via paper flyers and social media What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Project is Complete

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? IMPACT STATEMENT: IRC's New Roots program assisted 178 socially disadvantaged new American farmers to enter, prepare for, or improve their farming success over the three-year project. New Roots staff in 3 locations have delivered 154 hands-on workshops and 5,012 hours of individualized production, marketing, and business technical assistance, and produced 33 videos to reinforce key farming concepts and activities taught in person. The New Roots project also invested heavily in training farm infrastructure on 14 incubator and training sites across 3 locations, enabling 147 socially disadvantaged beginning famers to have access to improved production, harvest and packing resources. This training and technical assistance has led to significant improvements in farming practices according to IRC's observation based "farmer skills benchmarks" assessment tool which tallies key practices in each of 11 areas of farming knowledge and skill. This tools has shown us that over 3 years, 83 farmers improved their climate-adapted farming practices, 77 improved their food safety practices, 82 improved their marketing practices, and 60 farmers began to use better recordkeeping practices. Finally, targeted marketing support has led to 60 refugee and immigrant aspiring farmers establishing new farm businesses, 101 accessed a new market venue, and 76 increased their income thanks to the project. ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Objective 1: Result 1. farmers implement new farm-specific climate change risk and mitigation strategies Producer action: Implement, Topic: Organic production Estimated Number: 84, Actual Number: 83 How verified: 1:1 TA meetings, Benchmarking tool score Result 2. Farmers implement new food safety practices Producer action: Implement, Topic: Vegetables Estimated Number: 108, Actual Number: 77 How verified: 1:1 TA meetings, Benchmarking tool score Related Outputs: Provided 2,390 hours in agricultural production and food safety technical assistance to 131 farmers Delivered 104 on-site production and food safety workshops to 112 farmers Developed 33 farmer-facing short instructional videos with 519 views to date Objective 2: Result 3. Farmers add a new market venue Producer action: Implement, Topic: Local, regional, and direct marketing Estimated Number: 57, Actual Number: 101 How verified: ETO, project records Result 4. Farmers demonstrate improved skills for marketing their produce Producer action: Implement, Topic: Marketing plans and strategies Estimated Number: 102, Actual Number: 82 How verified: Benchmarking tool score Result 5. Farmers increase income each year for at least 2 years. Producer action: Implement, Topic: Local, regional, and direct marketing Estimated Number: 96, Actual Number: 76 How verified: 1:1 TA meetings, Farmer and market sales records Related Outputs: Provided 2622 hours of 1:1 technical assistance in marketing topics to 123 farmers Delivered 50 workshops in marketing attended by 141 farmers Objective 3: Result 6. Farmers access improved production and harvest resources Producer action: Implement, Topic: Organic production Estimated Number: 110, Actual Number: 147 How verified: Incubator farm site and participant records, ETO database Related Outputs: Made 24 infrastructural improvements and land expansions across 14 farm sites Objective 4: Result 8. Farmers keep records on crop production and income/expenses Producer action: Implement, Topic: Financial records and analysis Estimated Number: 102, Actual Number: 60 How verified: 1:1 TA meetings, Benchmarking tool score Related Outputs: • Engaged 165 farmers in 1:1 technical assistance meetings on recordkeeping • Engaged 103 farmers in planning conversations using their own data Objective 5: Result 7. Refugee and immigrant aspiring farmers establish new farm businesses Producer action: Implement, Topic: Urban farming Estimated Number: 19, Actual Number: 60 How verified: ETO, program records Related Outputs: Facilitated 23 farmer-to-farmer trainings led by 16 farmers to help more mentorship and local collaboration. facilitated 3 farmer communities of practice Elaboration on accomplishments exceeds allowable space in REEport - for more narrative updates, please refer to RVS or ask the PD.

Publications


    Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23

    Outputs
    Target Audience: Audience Emphasis African American Asian or Pacific Islander Hispanic or Latino Immigrant producers Limited resource producers Specialty crop producers Urban producers Participants Served Record the total number of unique participants who participated in your program: Total Number of Participants: 85 Enter the actual cumulative number of participants who as a result of your program: Started Farming: Target - 0, Actual - 12 Helped prepare to start farming: Target - 0, Actual - 12 Improved farming success: Target - 120, Actual - 61 Changes/Problems:When we initially wrote the application, officeswerestill using training videos as a way to stay connected with farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we moved away from more stringent COVID-19 mitigation measures, we found in-person training and technical assistance to be a vastly more effective way of supportingfarmers. Additionally, staffing changes and changes to the interpretation services available have made recording multiple interpreted versions of each video more difficult, so videos produced this year have been primarily showing processes without voiceovers, and used to help reinforce topics, SOPs, or other key procedures that farmers learn first during an in-person workshop.We will consult this winter, but may want to cut the overall number of training videos to a much smaller number, so that we could ensure quality and that the topics are best suited to the format. Ideally in the future we would also hire a production company to assist with this. As we support more farmers, as well as more farmers with increasing acreage, we are needing to complement technical, operational, and material assistance with building farmer capacity to manage their land, markets, and businesses more independently. This takes considerably more effort at the outset of the project than we planned for. We are discussing ways to best set expectations with farmers about sharing responsibilities for production-related activities, farmsite upkeep, and business outreach and management and the best ways for us tosupport farmers that enhance their sense of ownership and foster more independence. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Total Meetings: 765 Total Meeting Participants: 2762 Total Webinars: 0 Total Webinar Participants: 0 Total Website Visits: 0 Total Online Course Participants: 0 Meetings/Trainings - list exceeds allowable space in REEport. Please contact PD or refer to RVS for full list of entries In March, 2023, 7 staff involved in thisproject had the opportunity to meet in Phoenix, Arizona as part of the BFRDP ET project #2020-49400-32320. At the meeting, staff received a training on Experietial Teaching Methods, led by the PD of this project, Aley Kent, and reviewed various new resources available for training English language learning, low literacy and/or culturally diverse farmers. Staff from this project then travelled to Tucson for a site visit and meeting. During this sitre visit, we toured the IRC Tucson training farm and 2 new farm incubation sites. We also met to discussproject implementaiton issues and generated a list of topics for ongoing discussion and troubleshooting. THis group meetings once every 2 months to check in on progress and exchange successes and assit each other with challenges. Please contact the PD for further information about this meeting orthe training resource referred to above. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All three project sites have shared updates on their efforts and activities with local county agencies and farmer support organizations during meetings. Staff also have year-end meetings with farmers to review and celebrate accomplishments, revisegoals and make plans for the coming season. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Provide agricultural production and food safety technical assistance, Deliver on-site production and food safety workshops, Develop farmer-facing short instructional videos and disseminate to farmers in the program and other partner organizations, Provide 1:1 technical assistance in marketing and recordkeeping Deliver workshops in marketing topics Make infrastructural improvements to training farm sites including fencing, irrigation, season extension and wash/pack stations, and soil amendments. Maintain 11training farm sites across 3 locations for access by beginning farmers Engage farmers in planning conversations using their own data Assist farmers who are advanced in relevant areas of competency to lead instructional workshops for their peers.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? IMPACT STATEMENT: IRC's New Roots program assisted 105socially disadvantaged new American farmers to enter, prepare for, or improve their farming success over this project period. New Roots staff in 3 locations have delivered 61hands-on workshops and 2184hours of individualized production and marketing technical assistance,and produced8videos to reinforce key farming concepts and activities taught in person. The New Roots project also invested heavily in training farm infrastructure this year on11 incubator and training sites across 3 locations, enabling 105socially disadvantaged beginning famers to have access to improved production, harvest and packing resources. This training and technical assistance has led tosignificant improvements in farming practicesaccording to IRC's observation-based "farmer skills benchmarks"assessment tool which tallies key practices in each of 11 areas of farming knowledge and skill. This tools has shown us that in this year, 73farmers improvedtheir climate-adapted farming practices, 65improvedtheir food safety practices, 61 improvedtheir marketing practices, and44farmers began to use better recordkeeping practices. Finally, argeted marketing support has led to40refugee and immigrant aspiring farmers established new farm businesses, 54accesseda new market venue, and 72increased their income compared to last year's revenues. ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Objective 1: Result 1. farmers implement new farm-specific climate change risk and mitigation strategies Producer action: Implement, Topic: Organic production Estimated Number: 84, Actual Number: 73 How verified: 1:1 TA meetings, Benchmarking tool score Result 2. Farmers implement new food safety practices Producer action: Implement, Topic: Vegetables Estimated Number: 108, Actual Number: 65 How verified: 1:1 TA meetings, Benchmarking tool score Related Outputs: Provided 888 hours in agricultural production and food safety technical assistance to 61 farmers Delivered 27 on-site production and food safety workshops to 58 farmers Developed 8 farmer-facing short instructional videos with 139 views to date Objective 2: Result 3. Farmers add a new market venue Producer action: Implement, Topic: Local, regional, and direct marketing Estimated Number: 57, Actual Number: 54 How verified: ETO, project records Result 4. Farmers demonstrate improved skills for marketing their produce Producer action: Implement, Topic: Marketing plans and strategies Estimated Number: 102, Actual Number: 61 How verified: Benchmarking tool score Result 5. Farmers increase income each year for at least 2 years. Producer action: Implement, Topic: Local, regional, and direct marketing Estimated Number: 96, Actual Number: 72 How verified: 1:1 TA meetings, Farmer and market sales records Related Outputs: Provided 1296 hours of 1:1 technical assistance in marketing topics to 52 farmers Delivered 34 workshops in marketing attended by 44 farmers Objective 3: Result 6. Farmers access improved production and harvest resources Producer action: Implement, Topic: Organic production Estimated Number: 110, Actual Number: 105 How verified: Incubator farm site and participant records, ETO database Related Outputs: Made 8infrastructural improvements including high tunnels/season extension, expanded and improved irrigation infrastructure, supply storage sheds, fencing, and broke ground for 4 new farm plots at farm incubator and training sites Prepared 11 training farm sites across 3 locations for access by 105 farmers Objective 4: Result 8. Farmers keep records on crop production and income/expenses Producer action: Implement, Topic: Financial records and analysis Estimated Number: 102, Actual Number: 44 How verified: 1:1 TA meetings, Benchmarking tool score Related Outputs: Engaged 53 farmers in 1:1 technical assistance meetings on recordkeeping Engaged 67 farmers in planning conversations using their own data Objective 5: Result 7. Refugee and immigrant aspiring farmers establish new farm businesses Producer action: Implement, Topic: Urban farming Estimated Number: 19, Actual Number: 40 How verified: ETO, program records Related Outputs: Facilitated 2 farmer-to-farmer trainings to help more mentorship and local collaboration. Elaboration on accomplishemnets exceeds allowable space in REEport - for more narrative updates, please refer to RVS or ask the PD.

    Publications


      Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22

      Outputs
      Target Audience: Audience Emphasis African American Asian or Pacific Islander Hispanic or Latino Immigrant producers Limited resource producers Specialty crop producers Urban producers Participants Served Record the total number of unique participants who participated in your program: Total Number of Participants: 85 Enter the actual cumulative number of participants who as a result of your program: Started Farming: Target - 0, Actual - 12 Helped prepare to start farming: Target - 0, Actual - 12 Improved farming success: Target - 120, Actual - 61 Changes/Problems:The emphasis on infrastructure development and individualized production and marketing technical assistance this reporting period has reduced staff capacity for planning workshops and delivering 1:1 technical assistance. Now that many sites have been upgraded, we plan to hold more group workshops in the coming winter and make time to meet with farmers to review their growing season and provide needed input on plans. Farmers did not demonstrate improvement in food safety practices as expected according to our farmer skills evaluation tool. It is worthwhile to note that we provided fewer trainings on food safety than we have in past years. IRC developed an on-farm food safety curriculum based on the Produce Safety Rule geared to nonliterate English language learners through a Food Safety Outreach Program grant in 2018. During that year, farmers enrolled in the program demonstrated considerable improvement in on-farm food safety skills. Given our observations this year and the number of new farmers enrolled, we plan to revisit that curriculum and dedicate more TTA to food safety in in the coming year to improve practices. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Delivery Total Meetings: 360 Total Meeting Participants: 1583 Total Webinars: 0 Total Webinar Participants: 0 Total Website Visits: 0 Total Online Course Participants: 0 Meetings 9/24/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 9/30/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 4 10/1/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 10/4/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 10/5/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 10/5/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 10/7/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 10/19/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 10/22/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 10/25/2021: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 7 10/28/2021: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 1 10/29/2021: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 1 11/4/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 11/9/2021: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 8 11/18/2021: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 2 11/18/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 11/23/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 11/23/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 11/23/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 11/29/2021: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 1 11/29/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 11/29/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 11/30/2021: Tukwila, WA -- Number of Attendees 1 11/30/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 12/6/2021: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 4 12/10/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 12/15/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 12/15/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 12/17/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 12/17/2021: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 5 1/4/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 1/5/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 4 1/12/2022: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 2 1/13/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 1/14/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 1/19/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 1/21/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 1/26/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 8 1/26/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 3 1/27/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 1/28/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 1/28/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 1/31/2022: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 1 2/2/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 3 2/2/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 2/2/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 2/2/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 2/2/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 2/2/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 2/2/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 2/2/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 2/4/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 2/9/2022: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 3 2/9/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 2/10/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 2/11/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 2/15/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 2/16/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 3 2/17/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 2/19/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 11 2/19/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 2 2/19/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 2/19/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 2/19/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 2 2/19/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 4 2/22/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 2/23/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 2 2/23/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 2/23/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 2/23/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 2 2/25/2022: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 3 3/1/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 3/2/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 3/3/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 3/4/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 6 3/4/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 3/5/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 9 3/5/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 2 3/5/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 3/5/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 3/5/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 2 3/8/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 3/9/2022: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 4 3/9/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 3 3/9/2022: Sandy, UT -- Number of Attendees 7 3/10/2022: Tukwila, WA -- Number of Attendees 1 3/10/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 3 3/14/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 3/15/2022: Sandy, UT -- Number of Attendees 2 3/16/2022: Sandy, UT -- Number of Attendees 7 3/17/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 6 3/17/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 3 3/18/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 16 3/19/2022: Sandy, UT -- Number of Attendees 11 3/19/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 29 3/23/2022: Sandy, UT -- Number of Attendees 7 3/25/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 3/25/2022: Sandy, UT -- Number of Attendees 2 3/29/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 3/29/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 3/31/2022: Tukwila, WA -- Number of Attendees 1 4/1/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 4/1/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 4/2/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 2 4/2/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/6/2022: Tukwila, WA -- Number of Attendees 3 4/7/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 4/7/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/7/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/7/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/8/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/11/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/11/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/12/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/12/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/14/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 4/14/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/15/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 4/15/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/19/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 11 4/19/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/20/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 4 4/21/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 4/21/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 4/21/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 4/21/2022: Sandy, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/22/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/22/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/23/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 8 4/26/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 10 4/26/2022: Sandy, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 4/27/2022: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 4 5/3/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 10 5/3/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 5/3/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 5/4/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 3 5/5/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 5/6/2022: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 6 5/7/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 8 5/10/2022: Kent, WA -- Number of Attendees 3 5/10/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 9 5/10/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 2 5/11/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 4 5/11/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 5/12/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 5/13/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 5/16/2022: Sandy, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 5/17/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 10 5/18/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 4 5/18/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 5/18/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 5/18/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 1 5/18/2022: Draper, UT -- Number of Attendees 16 5/19/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 4 5/20/2022: Tukwila, WA -- Number of Attendees 6 5/20/2022: Tucson, AZ -- Number of Attendees 1 5/20/2022: West Valley City, UT -- Number of Attendees 6 5/20/2022: Sandy, UT -- Number of Attendees 16 5/21/2022: Sandy, UT -- Number of Attendees 29? Additional meetings can be found in RVS--the full list containedtoo many characters to be accepted by this form. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All three project sites have shared updates on their efforts and activities with local county agencies and farmer support organizations during meetings. Nothing formal about the project results have been shared to date. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Provide agricultural production and food safety technical assistance, Deliver on-site production and food safety workshops, Develop farmer-facing short instructional videos and disseminate to farmers in the program and other partner organizations, Provide 1:1 technical assistance in marketing and recordkeeping Deliver workshops in marketing topics Make infrastructural improvements to training farm sites including fencing, irrigation, season extension and wash/pack stations, and soil amendments. Maintain 12 training farm sites across 3 locations for access by beginning farmers Engage farmers in planning conversations using their own data Assist farmers who are advanced in relevant areas of competency to lead instructional workshops for their peers.

      Impacts
      What was accomplished under these goals? IMPACT STATEMENT: IRC's New Roots program worked with 85 socially disadvantaged new American farmers over this project period, well over halfway to our goal to provide 120 farmers with tailored production and business support by the end of three years. New Roots staff in 3 locations have delivered over 700 hours of individualized production and marketing technical assistance, delivering 67 hands-on workshops, and producing 10 training videos. This has led to 24 farmers improving their climate-adapted farming practices and 31 improving their food safety practices, and 26 improved their marketing practices according to IRC's observation-based farmer skills assessment tool. Targeted support has also led to 15 farmers beginning to use better recordkeeping practices and 43 farmers to add a new marketing venue. The New Roots project also invested heavily in training farm infrastructure this year, enabling 69 socially disadvantaged beginning famers to have access to improved production, harvest and packing resources. Thanks to marketing support, 23 refugee and immigrant aspiring farmers established new farm businesses, 43 asses a new market venue, and 38 increased their income compared to last year's revenues. While IRC does not have access to each farmers revenue records, we are able to capture revenue that comes in via markets that we manage. Looking at these numbers, we see that New Roots farmers collectively generated almost $350,000 in sales across all market avenues, including almost a 50% increase in revenue by farmers in some locations. RESULTS: Objective 1: Outcome 1: 84 farmers implement new farm-specific climate change risk and mitigation strategies Producer action: Implement, Topic: Organic production Actual Number: 24 How verified: 1:1 TA meetings, Benchmarking tool score, Annually Outcome 2: 108 Farmers implement new food safety practices Producer action: Implement, Topic: Vegetables Actual Number: 31 How verified: 1:1 TA meetings, Benchmarking tool score, Annually Farmers attended workshops on topics including crop planning, interplanting, succession, seeding and transplanting, rotational production techniques, irrigation setup and maintenance, produce quality and food safety, and business development. Staff in Tucson delivered IRC's MicroProducer Academy (MPA) course, an eight-session introduction to farming in the United States. Ten farmers graduated the program, four of whom had begun making produce sales on their own but sought additional support, and another six who wished to begin farming. Related Outputs: Provided 240 hours in agricultural production and food safety technical assistance to 47 farmers Delivered 47 on-site production and food safety workshops to 49 farmers Developed 10 farmer-facing short instructional videos with 36 views to date (most are still in editing stage) Objective 2: Outcome 3. 57 Farmers add a new market venue Producer action: Implement, Topic: Local, regional, and direct marketing Actual Number: 43 How verified: ETO, project records, Annually Outcome 4. 102 Farmers demonstrate improved skills for marketing their produce Producer action: Implement, Topic: Marketing plans and strategies Actual Number: 26 How verified: Benchmarking tool score, Annually Outcome 5. 96 Farmers increase income each year for at least 2 years. Producer action: Implement, Topic: Local, regional, and direct marketing Actual Number: 38 How verified: 1:1 TA meetings, Farmer and market sales records, Annually 68 farmers received 1:1 technical assistance in marketing this year. During the project period, New Roots SLC expanded wholesale partnerships with 4 Whole Foods Markets locations, a local salsa company, and the Adobe office in Lehi, UT, and a local non-profit community center to provide opportunities for farmers to sell into aggregated markets. New Roots SLC established a new wholesale partnership with the University of Utah Health's Food Pharmacy, and two local farms who purchased from farmers to supplement their CSA and farm stand offerings. New Roots facilitated an aggregated CSA that offered four pickup locations to the 180 members enrolled during the 2022 season. The Seattle team assisted the development of new CSA market for one farmer and connected other farmers to new farmers markets and market stands. This team built an additional wholesale market outlet which allows producers to submit a fresh sheet with their product availability each week and have their produce aggregated for buyers. The next step with this new arrangement is to explore cooperative development. In Tucson, New Roots staff were able to connect five farmers to a new market this year, including a local produce aggregator and distributor that sells to restaurants. Staff also made connections to Tucson CSA for two farmers, opening an opportunity for them to make larger quantity sales. Additionally, staff were able to conduct research into other market options that should come to fruition in the coming year. Related Outputs: Provided 320 hours of 1:1 technical assistance in marketing topics to 68 farmers Delivered 20 workshops in marketing attended by 42 farmers Objective 3: Outcome 6. 110 Farmers access improved production and harvest resources Producer action: Implement, Topic: Organic production Actual Number: 69 How verified: Incubator farm site and ETO database records In Salt Lake City, New Roots installed a perimeter fence on their 5-acre Redwood farm site, and new flooring in their walk-in cooler. At the 13-acre Wheadon farm site, staff improved temporary deer fencing, installed and expanded irrigation to newly cultivated areas of the farm, built two 20' by 60' high tunnels, and improved food safety and sanitation infrastructure such as more permanent in-field hand washing stations and stainless-steel sinks in the wash station. These improvements have supported farmers in meeting Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) sanitation requirements. In Seattle, New Roots staff have improved their Horseneck Incubator Farm by installing 2 wash and pack stations, irrigation, fencing, and a season extension hoop house. The project has also secured additional acreage for next season, the exact amount to be determined this winter. Finally, in Tucson, staff were able to connect to a new city water meter at the Literacy Garden Farm incubator, which qualified the site for a reduced 'community garden' water rate. New Roots also added an additional wash bin and two additional screened drying tables to the wash station, adding capacity, and built a 20'x 20'shade structure over the wash and pack station, enabling more farmers to harvest and process all their produce in the shade, vastly improving long-term produce quality and resulting in improved market opportunities. Related Outputs: Made 14 infrastructural improvements including fencing, irrigation, season extension and wash/pack stations, and soil amendments to training farm sites Prepared 12 training farm sites across 3 locations for access by 65 farmers Objective 4: Outcome 7. 102 Farmers keep records on crop production and income/expenses Producer action: Implement, Topic: Financial records and analysis Actual Number: 15 How verified: 1:1 TA meetings, Benchmarking tool score, semi-annually Related Outputs: Engaged 58 farmers in 1:1 technical assistance meetings on recordkeeping Engaged 56 farmers in planning conversations using their own data Objective 5 Outcome 8. 19 refugee and immigrant aspiring farmers establish new farm businesses Producer action: Implement, Topic: Urban farming How verified: ETO, program records,Annually Actual Number: 23 Related Outputs: Formed 1 group of farmers into a community of practice for peer troubleshooting assistance

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