Recipient Organization
KANSAS RURAL CENTER, INC.,THE
307 E 24TH ST
NORTH NEWTON,KS 671178062
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The Kansas Rural Center will manage this statewide project through an established network of collaborators--Southwest Kansas, Douglas, and Sedgwick County Extensions; community-based organizations (CBOs)--Common Ground Producers and Growers, Kansas City Young Farmers Coalition, Central Kansas Young Farmers Coalition, Kansas Farmers Union; Kansas Black Farmers Association; and national networks--Farm Beginnings Collaborative, Women Food, and Ag Network. The long-range goal is to develop a robust, comprehensive statewide Beginning Farmer and Rancher (BFR) program that includes business planning, in-depth education on sustainable agriculture practices that increase biodiversity and resiliency and help mitigate climate change, information on accessing land and capital, and support and coping strategies for the physical, mental, and financial stresses. Activities include four regional BFR listening sessions, one BFR networking and education conference, and four advisory committee meetings to create a Kansas-informed curriculum to serve 150 farmers in 2021-22, plus detailed program evaluation.Primary objectives are to 1) develop a Beginning Farmer/Rancher curriculum that focuses on land access and business preparedness; 2) gather input from 150 beginning farmers, farm training experts, and CBOs working with 25% socially disadvantaged populations to enhance connections and provide needed resources for aspiring and BFRs to improve success; 80% will report learning to improve farming practices. The success of these outcomes will improve the economy and food security of the region.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
KRC will develop a robust, comprehensive statewide farmer/rancher training program that includes business and financial planning and management, in-depth education on sustainable agriculture practices that increase biodiversity and resiliency and help to mitigate climate change, information on accessing land and capital, and support and coping strategies for the physical, mental and financial stresses that accompany farming and ranching to help to address the barriers that beginning farmer and ranchers face. KRC will provide the basis for increasing opportunities for small and mid-sized beginning farmer/ranchers to produce food for their communities in an economically viable way that contributes to farm and community health and sustainability by enhancing essential collaborations and building innovative activities crucial to a beginning farmer and rancher program. Increasing access to locally-grown food supports food sovereignty and increases food systems' security within communities and regions, particularly in underserved, limited resource, and socially disadvantaged (including immigrants) populations. KRC's training program will increase food security and equal access to healthy, locally-grown food across Kansas, in both rural and urban areas. The program will emphasize regions where food insecurity is high, and access to healthy and locally-grown food is limited.KRC Goals built on the assumption that this BFRDP Simplified Standard Grant will be completed by September 2022:Goal 1. KRC will sustain and enhance essential collaborations and innovative activities relevant to a beginning farmer and rancher program. KRC will initiate, develop, and be prepared to launch a fully developed Beginning Farmer and Rancher Training Program that can be delivered face-to-face or virtually to at least 12 beginning farmer/ranchers each year to start and then grow and will lead to future program success.Goal 2. Long-range, KRC will increase the number and improve the success of beginning Kansas farmer/ranchers through equitable education, mentoring, and technical assistance to provide knowledge, skills, and tools to enhance informed decisions, livelihoods, andsustainability for farmer/ranchers and healthy food for communities, especially those with access challenges.Objective 1: The Kansas Rural Center will develop a Beginning Farmer/Rancher curriculum that focuses on access to land and business preparedness. KRC will build the curriculum on the existing framework of Farm Beginnings Collaborative and Farm Answers materials (both having previously funded BFRDPs).Objective 2: The Kansas Rural Center will gather input from 150 beginning farmers, farm training experts, and organizations working with socially disadvantaged populations to enhance connections and provide needed resources for aspiring and beginning farmers to improvesustainable farming success.
Project Methods
Discuss how and where the activities will be provided and the appropriateness of the approach for the target audience. KRC will facilitate four advisory committeemeetings (held quarterly). Due to the advisory committee members' physical distance, all committee meetings will be virtually through KRC's Zoom video conferencing. Materials for review, BFR feedback surveys, and other communications will be sent to committee members ahead of each quarterly meeting, as necessary. The committee meetings approximately 2 hours each) will be used to gain further input and suggestions from the committee to modify the curriculum or necessary educational and evaluation tools that need to be developed.Beginning farmer feedback sessions will be held quarterly (see timeline) with a minimum of two meetings held in person with the option of hosting the remaining two virtually or as hybrids, as needed. KRC will co-host the physical meetings in Southwest Kansas (Garden City) and Emporia, Kansas (between Wichita/KC metro areas). These meetings will elicit feedback from BFR on the struggles they face and gaps they need to be filled to help their farms become more prosperous. The listening sessions will be hosted in collaboration with the KRC partners such as the Kansas Farmers Union, Central Kansas Young Farmers Coalition, Kansas City Young Farmers Coalition, etc.KRC's will hold a one-day Beginning Farmer Conference in Hutchinson, Kansas in February of 2022. This event will include a beginning farmer feedback session, panel from farmers who have been in production for 5+ years, an overview and Q&A session on FSA/KDA/USDA programs for beginning farmers, a land access discussion, and demonstration of FarmTender's land linking website, etc.How will the beginning farmers and ranchers be recruited for this training?KRC will recruit beginning farmers and ranchers utilizing our extensive contact list of farmers and ranchers across Kansas and collaborating organizations (see letters) to help us build and disseminate program info. KRC will feature the project in newsletters, websites, and social media channels. The KRC Rural Papers newsletter will be mailed to 1,700; emailed to 3,500. KRC will reach out to Kansas universities and colleges and community colleges with agriculture, horticulture, or animal husbandry programs and will work closely with our allies at K-State Research and Extension across the state. KRC will also request notification support from conservation districts and NRCS and FAS offices. KRC will target beginning farmer and rancher organizations. We will work to reach socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers through all these channels and organizations that have a constituency that includes socially disadvantaged people interested in farming or ranching. KRC will publish information in Spanish and English.We will rely heavily on sister organizations such as Kansas Farmers Union and Kansas Young Farmers Coalitions.Evaluation and Dissemination PlanThe Kansas Rural Center Beginning Farmer and Rancher project will be extensively evaluated to demonstrate the effectiveness of services, the accomplishment of objectives, and compliance with federal regulations. This vital evaluation component is based on a logic modeland includes innovative evaluation strategies that seek to determine best practices, including valuable lessons learned; therefore, we areincluding both process evaluations (developing and monitoring indicators of progress towards the objectives) and outcome evaluations (to determine whether the goals were met). Drawing on best practices, the evaluation will:• Ensure that project objectives are met within proposed timelines and budget;• Collect valid quantitative and qualitative data, conduct formative and summative analyses, and prepare reports to measure and document project results;• Identify and address problems impacting services and objective accomplishment, thereby improving project effectiveness in addressing participants' needs.Internal evaluation will include collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data to assess progress toward and accomplishment of objectives and effectiveness of services. An External Evaluator will review the overall summative impact of the goals, objectives, andoutcomes to be achieved by criterion such as--is the project intentional, coherent, based on theories and knowledge of learning and human development; reflective of developmental and demographic profiles of the BFR to be served; and is the curriculum developed responsive to the needs of individuals, and communities, including socially disadvantage BFR, to be served?Quantitative data will include concrete figures such as the number of curriculum and tools developed; number and names of advisors, numbers of beginning farmer/ranchers served by the regional face-to-face or virtual workshops; numbers served at the BFR conference, including numbers participating in break-out sessions by title and presenter.Qualitative data will include comments from satisfaction surveys, and participant interviews, and focus groups. KRC will also collect qualitative assessments of service implementation from others impacted by or involved with services, such as farmer/ranchers attending workshops and advisory team participation in curriculum development, review, and support. Formative data to be collected will include demographic data for participants, types, and participants' results need assessments, classes, numbers, and time for all services. The same data collected for formative evaluations throughout the year will be used for conducting annual summative evaluations that focus on the two project objectives.Data Collection The following data will be collected to monitor whether the project is developing in a manner that meets its objectives, goals, and evaluation measures. This project has varied targeted audiences of at least 150 (baseline numbers from on 2019 KRC town halls held throughout the state) who will receive BFR information and give feedback. Audiences will include new and beginning farmers, including 25% socially disadvantaged, KRC staff and board members, and advisory team members. Regular collection, summary, and analysis of data to conduct quantitative and qualitative evaluation will facilitate (1) benchmarking of progress toward process objectives of hiring contracted advisors, hosting BFR sessions/conference; and (2) the degree to which services accomplish project outcomes by creating a beginning farmer and rancher training program that will serve all Kansas and include socially disadvantaged farmer/rancher targeted supportincluding equitable funding source info, bilingual tools, beginning farmer rancher and socially disadvantage farmer input to the development of the curriculum.Data Management and Analysis. The data described above will be collected digitally and on paper, then transferred password-protected digital storage on Microsoft cloud and external storage hard drive. PD/PI Ryan Goertzen-Regier will be in charge of storing data, and Co-PIBonfy will have access as well. Each participant's names will be confidential, and only raw data will be shared as project information is disseminated.Dissemination Plan. In addition to evaluation and data collection, documentation will include project photos, videos, digital and printed curriculum. The project results will be disseminated in social media, KRC's publications, including Rural Papers reaching 3,500+ Kansans including 328 media outlets such as Morning Ag Clips, High Plains Journal, Progressive Farmer, Daily Yonder, Midwest Messenger, and Kansas Country Living. The final curriculum will be shared with other Farm Beginnings Collaborators (representing Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, SE Missouri, SW Indiana, NE Kentucky, and NE Iowa).