Source: ROGUE FARM CORPS. submitted to NRP
TRANSITIONING OREGON’S FARMLAND: ACCESS, PLANNING, AND ASSISTANCE FOR THIS GENERATION AND THE NEXT (TOF)
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1029287
Grant No.
2022-70017-38177
Cumulative Award Amt.
$743,900.00
Proposal No.
2022-05728
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 15, 2022
Project End Date
Sep 14, 2025
Grant Year
2022
Program Code
[BFRDA]- Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, Standard
Recipient Organization
ROGUE FARM CORPS.
PO BOX 533
ASHLAND,OR 975200018
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Transitioning Oregon's Farmland: Access, Planning, and Assistance for This Generation and the Next (TOF) will support or expand existing programs statewide and establish Oregon's first regional hub for land access with a Farmland Navigator in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The MSWV Navigator, housed at Friends of Family Farmers (FoFF), will provide one-on-one land access support through individualized planning, skill-building, and connections with service providers (legal, financial, real estate, etc.). A statewide BIPOC Farmland Navigator will provide these services for BIPOC BFRs, if desired by the participant. If farmers are not yet ready to seek land, they will build financial and business skills through Rogue Farm Corps' Farm Launch program and Changing Hands workshops. We will develop land access opportunities through Oregon Agricultural Trust's Landholder Education Program for retiring farmers/ranchers and service providers. FoFF will also support land lease and sale connections through their statewide database, Oregon Farm Link. Together, these five approaches--Farm Launch, Changing Hands, Farmland Navigator, Landholder Education, and Oregon Farm Link--along with additional leveraged services, will provide a robust ecosystem of support to move new farmers and ranchers onto the land and assist them in building sustainable businesses.
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
60160303020100%
Goals / Objectives
Rogue Farm Corps (RFC), Friends of Family Farmers (FoFF), and Oregon Agricultural Trust (OAT) are working together to develop a network of place-based, regional hubs to support an equitable, intergenerational transfer of farmland to the next generation of farmers and ranchers in Oregon. Each regional hub will be served by a Farmland Navigator who will help land seekers and landholders navigate educational programs, resources, and service providers to gain access to land or hand off land to the next generation. Through this project, beginning farmers and ranchers will also be supported by a statewide network of business planning and land access services. Our vision is to help beginning farmers and ranchers (BFRs) establish successful and sustainable farm businesses, prioritizing farmers who are Black, Indigenous, & People of Color (BIPOC), women, LGBTQIA+, and/or low-income, through a documented, replicable, regional, and community-led model. Our target audience includes beginning BFRs in their first 1 to 10 years of production who operate or are seeking to start a small farm operation in Oregon.RFC and FoFF help beginning farmers develop a broad range of skills including financial readiness, business planning, and land access. OAT educates ag landowners and retirement-age farmers and ranchers about succession planning and working land easements. We also connect land seekers and landowners through a proven, statewide landlinking database and through intergenerational networking events. Finally, we provide one-on-one guidance and technical assistance to both land-seekers and landowners.The proposed project, Transitioning Oregon's Farmland: Access, Planning, and Assistance for This Generation and the Next (TOF), will support and expand our existing statewide programs and establish Oregon's first regional hub with a Farmland Navigator in Oregon's fertile Willamette Valley (the most agriculturally diverse region in Oregon). The project will serve at least 188 BFRs to begin or prepare to begin their own operations, with at least 25% people of color, at least 50% women, transgender, or non-binary, and at least 50% low-income. We will also educate 400 ag landowners and train 250 service providers to build readiness, knowledge, and connections for succession. RFC, FoFF, and OAT will provide the following programs and services:Farm Launch: Facilitates cohort-based learning on marketing, finance, land access, and business plan development, and provides one-on-one technical support. (RFC)Farmland Navigators: Navigators work one-on-one with BFRs to find land, connect with landholders, and be fully prepared to run their own operations. One Navigator will serve beginning BIPOC farmers statewide, and one will establish Oregon's first regional farmer support hub in the Mid-South Willamette Valley (MSWV). (FoFF)Farmland Navigator Guidebook: We will develop a guide to establishing regional Navigator programs for other regions interested in replicating this model. (FoFF)Landholder Education provides education and support on succession planning, conservation easements, and connecting with successors for landowners as well as technical training for accountants, real estate agents, and other service providers. (OAT)Changing Hands Workshops bring together new farmers and those approaching retirement for succession training and facilitated networking. (RFC with FoFF & OAT)Project Objectives:102 new farmers who are better prepared with financial and business skills to begin their own farm operations72 new farmers who are better prepared to locate land and work with landholders525 landholders and service providers who are better prepared for succession or providing1 Farmland Navigator Guidebook presented statewide, and shared nationally21 new farm start-upsThe Project Initiation Form does not have a field available to list Key Partner Organizations. We are partnering with Friends of Family Farmers (FoFF) and Oregon Agricultural Trust (OAT).
Project Methods
We will partner with Insight for Action to conduct a process and outcome evaluation over the three-year implementation period. The evaluation will include retrospective pre-test surveys collected from BFRs, landowners, and service providers following program/workshop participation to assess change in short-term outcomes (changes in knowledge, skills, attitudes, and intentions). BFRs and landowners will also complete follow-up surveys six and 12 months after program completion to assess change in medium-term outcomes (actions and impacts) and to identify facilitators and challenges/barriers toward completing a land transfer or lease. The table below summarizes short and medium-term outcomes that may be assessed.At key implementation timepoints, a sample of BFR and landowners will participate in interviews to explore why and how programs are helpful/useful and what facilitates/impedes progress toward farmland transfer. Staff from RFC, OAT, and FoFF will assist with data collection (e.g., collect surveys, conduct telephone interviews).The evaluator will attend LCTA meetings to share preliminary analysis of survey and interview data, facilitating dialogue with members to make meaning of and contextualize the findings and identify actionable program adjustments. Insight for Action will develop preliminary evaluation results briefs in years one and two and a comprehensive final evaluation report in year three. We will also report measures through REEport and the Results Verification System (RVS).Expected Data TypeContact information and program engagement data (e.g., which program components are received) will be collected from/on individual program participants by the organizations delivering services. For evaluation purposes, the project will collect primary data from individual BFR, landowners, and service providers who participate in Farm Launch, Farmland Navigator, Changing Hands, Landholder Education, and one-off workshops and trainings. Surveys will be collected from BFR and landowners at three timepoints: within one month of program completion and at six and 12 months follow-up. Surveys will be collected from service providers immediately following trainings and workshops. A small number of BFR and landowners will also be invited to participate in one-on-one interviews. These methods will focus on collecting quantitative and qualitative data on: relevant background/demographic information, short- and medium-term outcome data, and process data about the ways in which program and contextual factors support or impede land transfer.Data FormatContact information and program engagement data will be entered into a Google Sheet by the agency staff providing services. Evaluation survey data will be collected in SurveyMonkey and then downloaded into a .csv file for analysis. Evaluation interview data will be collected via Zoom and recorded for transcription with Otter.ai which will produce a Microsoft Word document.Data Storage and PreservationAll data will be stored in a secure, cloud-based platform (i.e., Google Drive). Participant contact information and program participation data will be maintained in perpetuity so the organizations involved in the project can maintain contact with them. Evaluation data will be maintained by Insight for Action throughout the project period and for 6 years thereafter, at which time it will be destroyed.Data Sharing, Protection, and Public AccessMembers of the project team will be able to access and collaborate on data in Google Drive. None of the data will be shared beyond the project team or made publicly available. When data are reported, results will be deidentified to maintain participant confidentiality.Roles and ResponsibilitiesResponsibility for DMP implementation will be shared between the project team and the evaluator. The project team will have responsibility for collecting and managing contact information and program participation data whereas the evaluator will be responsible for collecting and managing survey and interview data for the evaluation. Both the project team and the evaluation team are comprised of multiple members so DMP implementation responsibility is dispersed but consistent and streamlined and will continue regardless of staff turnover.

Progress 09/15/23 to 09/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience: During this reporting period we prioritized Oregon beginning farmers and ranchers in their first 10 years of production, with a focus on BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, low-income, and veteran producers. Most of the BFRs are specialty crop producers, many are organic, and many are considered urban. This project also works significantly with retiring farmers, landowners, and service providers, some of whom are producers themselves. Changes/Problems:Farm Launch Business Planning Program for Beginning Farmers: In Year 1, participants mostly did not do the assigned homework in between weekly sessions. In Year 2, we moved to have participants complete tasks during the weekly cohort sessions, which led to a much higher business plan completion rate. Changing Hands Land Access learning & networking events for landseekers & landholders: Though holding Changing Hands at the OSU Small Farms Conference allowed us to reach a wide geography of farmers and not interfere with other farmer-facing winter events, it was more difficult to make land matches because the conference draws from a wide geographic range. Landseekers and landholders found it more difficult to find appropriate land matches. We will be moving this back to regional workshops in Year 3. One-on-one land access technical assistance: In the course of Year 2 of this project, we came to realize that establishing a regional hub was not as critical to our participants' success as originally anticipated. Most interactions with participants are proving to be most desired via phone and virtual 1:1 meetings. The most valuable resource for farmers and landseekers has been having access to a comprehensive, generalist knowledge base regarding all aspects of land transactions. This broad understanding of the various processes, challenges, and opportunities involved in land acquisition and leasing has proven to be more impactful than regional-specific networks. Therefore we are moving the Navigate program to a fully statewide offering. Though we willmaintainregional focus areas to allow for some in-person visits, we will lay the groundwork for regional organizations to partner with us to provide on-the-ground support as needed. We are continuously struck by how little time farmers and landowners have to work on their land access or transition journeys. We have consistently observed many participants struggle to dedicate or find sufficient time to these critical tasks, which has highlighted the need for additional support. This leads us to believe that there is significant potential for expanding one-on-one technical assistance, both for landowners and landseekers, to better assist them in navigating the complexities of land access and transition. The need for support and outreach to farmland holders has become more apparent the more we provide services for farmland seekers. For a land match to work it is important that both parties know what they have to offer, what they are looking for, and how to come to a fair, legal, and mutually beneficial agreement. We have begun doing more outreach and developing educational materials for farmland holders in order to cultivate more equitable land opportunities for landseekers. Personalized support for landowners would allow us to better address the unique challenges and concerns each landowner faces, offering tailored guidance to help them navigate the complexities of transferring their land and ensuring the long-term sustainability of their operations. Workshops for landholders & service providers: Service providers expressed greater interest than expected, leading us to discover additional presenters and uncovering previously unknown resources for farmers. An unexpected challenge has been finding ways to balance providing free workshops with ensuring strong attendance. Virtual events, in particular, have proven to be less impactful in terms of engagement, although we recognize their potential for broader reach. Additionally, virtual registrants frequently request recordings, suggesting a preference for asynchronous access. This feedback showcases the need to consider how we design and deliver the workshops moving forward and maximize both impact and participant engagement. Stacking events geographically and chronologically: Moving forward the TOF partner organizations plan to work more closely to strategically plan events in terms of their timing and geography. For example, we hope to have in a particular region of Oregon, both landholder education events and landseeker events or TA outreach shortly preceding our Changing Hands land connections events. This way we can have some of the same participants who have recently received initial education around these topics attend the Changing Hands land connections networking event, making it more likely that they will be able to form promising connections towards land access and transfer. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Training & Technical Assistance for beginning farmers, landowners, and service providers: Rogue Farm Corps ran the third annual iteration of the Farm Launch program for pre-and early farm operators to write their business plans. Program Director Geoffrey Van worked with individuals and runs a weekly cohort, providing support to help participants develop a business plan and advance their farming goals. Program participants met online as a group with RFC staff every week from Oct 16, 2023, to March 25, 2024 (20 weeks total) for 1.5 hours for a total of 20 sessions and 30 hours. 11 out of the 14 cohort members completed a useful draft of their business plans. Those who did not report that they made progress on their plans and have the tools to complete their plans when they are ready. Integrating work time into class time to eliminate homework, which some participants hadn't been able to manage in past years, led to a much higher completion rate for draft business plans by the end of the program. Sessions included presentations and discussions on the following business planning topics: Business Goal Setting, Labor, Products & Services, SWOT Analysis, Hiring Employees, Farm Insurance, Using Spreadsheets, Farm Viability, Marketing Planning & Strategy, Operations, Sales, Bookkeeping, Balance Sheets, Profit & Loss Statements, Cashflow Budgets, Business Plan Formatting & Presentation, Land Access, and Loan Readiness. At each session, participants were also given time to work on their draft business plans and ask questions of each other, the RFC staff, and outside presenters. 13 of the 14 Farm Launch participants also met with RFC staff outside the group meetings for individualized technical assistance, meeting them where they were with the questions and challenges facing them in their business planning process. Staff provided 26 hours of 1:1 TA. RFC also connected program participants with more specialized resources and service providers as needed. In the cohort space, participants learned together about the various aspects of building a business plan, increased their financial skills and readiness, and gave and received peer-to-peer support and feedback. Demographic Info for the Farm Launch Cohort: BIPOC: 36% LGBTQIA+: 36% Veteran: 7% Disability: 14% Female: 50% Non-binary: 21% Farm Launch Impact: · 93% of participants either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: · "I feel better prepared with financial and business skills to begin or expand a farm operation than I did before Farm Launch." · 100% of participants made progress on their farm business plan · 79% of participants completed a draft business plan · 4 new farm businesses were launched since starting Farm Launch · 3 additional existing new farm businesses were greatly assisted in their business development · 2 farm launch grads received $15k Agwest new producer grant (see more info in testimonials) On February 17, The TOF partner organizations collaborated on a land access track at OSU's Small Farms Conference in February in Corvallis, OR. This included 3 workshops: One for landseekers on searching for land, one for landholders on leasing land, and one "Changing Hands" workshop for landseekers and landholders to learn good communication skills and network with each other for potential land match opportunities. These three workshops reached a total of 110 landowners and landseekers. RFC conducted an additional half-day Changing Hands Land Connections workshop session in June in the Rogue Valley which reached 31 participants. These Changing Hands workshops taught communication and "pitch-writing" skills and then moved into facilitated networking to create potential farmland access connections. They provide landholders and beginning farmers with the tools and opportunities they need to communicate what they are seeking in land access or land transition and network in-person with others who could become a land match for them. Demographics of Changing Hands Participants in 2024: BIPOC: 26% LGBTQIA+: 15% Veteran: 6.5% Disability: 4% Female: 50% Non-binary: 9% Changing Hands Program Evaluation: · 81% Changing Hands Workshop participants feel better prepared to work with landowners/landseekers · 49% of participants met a landholder/seeker who represented a potential land connection or match Oregon Agricultural Trust (OAT) continued to focus efforts on educating landowners, retiring farmers, and agricultural service providers on succession planning and working lands easements. During the reporting period OAT led 25 educational events which reached 477 landowners and retiring farmers, plus 8 educational events which reached 327 agricultural service providers on how to help landowners with succession planning and working lands easements. Friends of Family Farmers (FoFF) continued to provide farmland seekers in Oregon with 1:1 technical assistance via the Navigate program. The Land Access Navigators served 38 farmland seeker participants in Year 2 of the project with a total of 254 1:1 land access coaching sessions. Navigate participants reported gaining knowledge across all 9 land access topic areas and all reported taking at least one action towards securing farmland with 25% of respondents completing a written lease agreement during this time period. With input from the advisory council, partners, and participants, the Navigate program has shifted away from a regional hub model towards a statewide technical assistance model to be able to serve farmland seekers around the state, since most of the demand has been for virtual and phone consultations. Demographic info for 2024 Navigate Participants: 45% Black, Indigenous or Person of Color 16.7% Immigrant or Refuge 66.7% First Generation Farmer 27.8% LGBTQIA2S+ 61.1% Low Income FoFF, OAT, and OSU Extension staff collaborated to lead 2 educational presentations for farmland owners on the topic of leasing farmland, which reached 40 landowners and helped better prepare them to lease their farmland. FoFF's Oregon Farm Link website hosted 102 land listings and 128 landseeker listings during Year 2 and completed a resource library overhaul including moving all resources to a modern, updated and searchable online database. Overall in Year 2 the project helped launch 11 new farm businesses and helped 8 new/beginning farm businesses secure land access. Professional Development & Project Guidance: The TOF Advisory Council met 4 times in the period and provided input on program refinements and future directions. The Advisory Council participated in a visioning session for the future of land access in Oregon. The TOF partner organizations organized four Community of Practice meetings with advisory organizations Intervale, Kitchen Table Advisors, and California FarmLink. These sessions used the Challenge Clinic format to help one TOF partner org at a time analyze a challenge in their work. In addition TOF partner organizations had a total of 8 one-on-one sessions with advisory organizations for additional professional development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of Year 1 of the project were shared at the Oregon Community Food System Network's Farming for the Future convening on May 30, 2024. Evaluation survey reports from each program element are shared with all project partner organizations as well as our Advisory Council. Feedback and reflections from collaborating organizations and the Advisory Council has helped the project evolve and refine the work to be more effective. To reach landowners and landseekers for the Land Access & Transfer workshop track at OSU's Small Farms Conference in February, outreach was conducted through print and digital ads in the Capital Press (the Northwest's agricultural newspaper) as well as through social media posts. In addition we used our general organizational email newsletters, RFC's farmer training program alumni list, RFC's farmer network list, the Oregon Community Food System's Farming For the Future workgroup list, and asked organizational partners to forward to their farmer networks. Similar outreach strategies were conducted for June 2nd's Changing Hands session in the Rogue Valley, prioritizing regional outreach partners. To reach beginning farmers for our Farm Launch business planning cohort, we primarily used email and social media outreach. Emails went out to RFC's full mailing list, RFC's beginning farmer training program alumni, our network of host and teaching farms, farmer facing email listservs throughout the state, and Oregon Community Food System Network lists, and asked organizational partners to pass to their farmer networks. Social media boosted posts targeted people interested or engaged in agriculture in Oregon. We received 34 applications for 15 spots in the program. To recruit beginning farmer landseekers into FoFF's Navigate land access program, we have disseminated information through monthly e-newsletters, emails to community engagement lists, and posts across our organizations' social media accounts. Staff have also presented information to groups of service providers and producers in various industry spaces including the OSU Small Farms Conference, Clackamas Community College's Small Farms School, and the Oregon Community Food Systems Network's Farming for the Future Working Group. We have also relied on our partners to help with outreach through disseminating information to their lists at our request. To reach landowners and service providers for OAT's educational events focused on succession planning and working lands easements, we continued to create new partnerships with other industry groups who share the common goal of succession planning awareness and farmland preservation. These partner industry groups often have built-in audiences or networks that come to their events, so their existing outreach strategies are often quite effective What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, several steps will be taken to further support participants and improve the project. RFC will continue to lead the Farm Launch cohort for 2024-25, as well as host 2 Changing Hands workshops. RFC will also maintain the monthly TOF meetings and quarterly advisory council meetings, while planning for geographic stacking of events with TOF partners. RFC plans to dedicate additional time to financial training with mentor TA organization Intervale and continue professional development through Farmer's Edge. FoFF will create additional resource guides and expand landholder education events in various regions of the state. They will also focus on the writing of the Navigator Guidebook to further support their program. OAT will continue to provide landholder and ag service provider education, provide outreach about their succession advising program, and develop new partnerships and curriculum that support landholders and retiring farmers plan for the future of their business and land. The TOF partners will be working on integrating our outreach and marketing efforts with the help of a branding consultant firm, as well as working more closely together to strategically plan our education, outreach, and network events for maximum impact in specific regions of the state. The TOF partners will continue to work with Insight for Action to gather and summarize all project survey data, as well as look at holistic project results from all three years. These steps will build on the current success of the project and enhance the support available to landowners, landseekers, and beginning farmers.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Securing access to appropriate farmland, developing necessary business skills, and acquiring capital for land access are major barriers for beginning farmers and ranchers in Oregon, especially socially disadvantaged farmers. During the first two years of this project, we successfully developed the Navigate program, which has provided land access technical assistance to 56 beginning farmers and ranchers. Additionally, we facilitated two cohorts of Farm Launch, offering intensive business planning courses to 27 new farms. We also created land access communication and networking opportunities for 108 landseekers and landholders. Furthermore, we delivered educational programs on succession planning, working lands easements, and leasing to 944 landholders and 749 agricultural service providers. As a result of this work, 84 new farmers are now better equipped with the financial and business skills needed to start or expand their farm operations. Additionally, 113 beginning farmer landseekers are better prepared to locate land and engage effectively with landholders and 964 landholders are better prepared for succession or providing leases. Over the course of the first two years, the project helped 16 new farm businesses start up in Oregon and 8 beginning farmers secure access to appropriate farmland. As the average age of farmers in Oregon is 59, new entry into farming is becoming increasingly critical. With increased skills and opportunities in land access, business planning, and financial management, beginning farmers and ranchers will have a better rate of success in establishing viable and lasting businesses in Oregon. And as landowners in Oregon increase their understanding of succession, working lands easements, and leasing, as well as have opportunities to network with beginning farmers, they will make more farmland available to beginning farmers and ranchers entering the field. By fostering the next generation of farmers, we can help maintain a vibrant and resilient agricultural sector.

Publications


    Progress 09/15/22 to 09/14/23

    Outputs
    Target Audience:During this reporting period we targeted Oregon beginning farmers and ranchers in their first 10 years of production, with a focus on BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, low-income, and veteran producers. Many of the BFRs are specialty crop producers. This project also works significantly with landowners and service providers, some of whom are producers themselves. Changes/Problems:RFC will be moving one Changing Hands workshop session to OSU's Small Farms Conference in Corvallis instead of running it as our own conference. We hope this will help this workshop access a larger network of farmers and landholders. The conference typically hosts about 800 attendees annually. We also hope this will help to avoid some of the conflicts with the many other farmer-facing workshops, conferences, and events during the winter season. The shorter session format will also allow us to try a shorter, networking focused session, as well as have two other separate sessions specifically for landholders and landseekers, facilitated by OAT and FoFF. Feedback from past Changing Hands workshop attendees was very positive about the networking portion of the event, suggesting that we could run similar events multiple times per year. We will also be facilitating a Changing Hands workshop in the summer, likely in the Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon. This will also be experimental timing but we plan to make it a shorter afternoon/evening workshop to make it more accessible to busy farmers in the growing season. RFC's Farm Launch programming will be shifting slightly from 60-minute weekly cohort sessions to 90-minute weekly sessions. This will eliminate the need for participants to do homework outside of the class sessions as much of the extra time will be devoted to participants working on their farm business plans, with opportunities for support from RFC staff and other participants. Our hope is that this will make it possible for more of the participants to complete their initial farm business plan draft during the program. FoFF experienced a shift in our program startup timeline to accommodate the program development that needed to happen before we could launch the Mid/South Willamette Valley Hub. We began the hiring process immediately after the award announcement and were able to bring our MSWV Navigator on staff in January 2023. Then we standardized intake practices, adapted the application, created eligibility criteria and a scoring rubric for the new Hub, and created tracking procedures to make sure both Navigators were providing the same services to their target populations. This process was necessary but slowed our projected timeline. The MSWV Hub launched fully in April 2023 when farmers were already well into the spring planting cycle. This may have depressed our application numbers and reduced the time participants were available to meet with program staff. We have learned from the MSWV Navigator experience that participants have the most energy and time to devote in the off-season, which is roughly October through February in Oregon. The MSWV Navigator program was in development during this time period in the 2022-23 off-season and now has full capacity to work with participants heading into the 2023-24 winter period.For next year, if participant spots are not filled for the Mid/South Willamette Valley Hub we will consult with the advisory council and expand the geographic range from which farmers can apply. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training for beginning farmers, landowners, and service providers: RFC brought together beginning farmer landseekers with landholders in Oregon via two in-person Changing Hands events in February - one in Bend and one in Salem. These events together served 27 landseekers, 14 landholders, 9 service provider attendees, and an additional 19 registrants who were not able to attend due to weather by providing them with resources and referrals from the events. The events included training on leasing land, how to communicate about your land needs, and intentionally facilitated networking among the attendees. Event attendees received referrals to FoFF and OAT programming as appropriate to their situation. RFC's Farm Launch taught the basics of farm business planning to 13 new farmers through a 6-month long program that included 16 online cohort sessions with instruction, presentation, guest speakers, networking, discussion and peer-to-peer learning. Topics covered included identifying farm goals, mission, & vision, employees and insurance, marketing, production/operations, bookkeeping/accounting/budgeting, ways to find land, and understanding financing opportunities. One-on-one technical assistance on individual business plans was also provided. FoFF successfully launched the Mid to South Willamette Valley (MSWV) Navigate Hub for farmland access in April after hiring the new regional Navigator earlier in January. The combined efforts of the original Navigator and the MSWV Navigator have brought 28 active participants into the program in the first year. FoFF staff provided a total of 171 one-on-one land access coaching sessions to Navigate participants during this time period. Oregon Agricultural Trust facilitated 39 educational events (32 landowner events and 7 service provider events) on the topics of succession planning and working lands easements, delivering 76 instructional hours to 470 landowners and 422 service providers. Professional Development for Project Staff: In the first half of 2023, OAT, FoFF, and RFC participated in a 6-part educational series taught by Sam Smith of Vermont's Intervale Center. Designed specifically for this project and goals, each meeting was 3 hours long and covered the following topics: business management, financial management, business planning, soft skills, succession planning, and the Intervale model. Besides conveying best practices, common pitfalls, and other resources on the aforementioned topics, Sam also shared relevant templates and sample business plans and financial spreadsheets for use in our programming. RFC then spearheaded the organizing of a new Community of Practice for the farmer technical assistance providers at RFC, FoFF, and OAT. The advisory organizations involved are Kitchen Table Advisors, California FarmLink, and the Intervale Center. The Community of Practice met 2 times for 1 hour each during this reporting period using the Challenge Clinic format. In this format, one learning organization brings a problem or question related to their technical assistance work with farmers, and the rest of the community helps them think about it in new ways. Silvia Cuesta, FoFF's BIPOC program Navigator staff, attended trauma-informed client management training to address concerns outlined in our application about the difficult nature of navigating racial bias in land purchase/lease situations. Both FoFF staff Navigators have begun extensive financial evaluation training. This will help the farmers in the Navigate program evaluate and strengthen their business and finance plans, plan for sustainable growth, and create a viable land access plan. They have both also completed the Farm Commons "Guiding Resilience" training which teaches service providers how to coach their participants into legally resilient business practices and agreements. This helps to prevent unexpected legal concerns in the future and sets the farmers up for success. Other training has been added as needed for individual topics. Andrea Kramer, OAT's Education Director, attended professional development training focused on providing one-on-one ag consulting. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?To reach landowners and landseekers for RFC's Changing Hands events in February, outreach was conducted through print ads in the Capital Press (the Northwest's agricultural newspaper), the Bend Bulletin, and the Redmond Spokesman. We also put out information through social media posts and a paid online ad campaign through Capital Press. In addition we used our general organizational email newsletters, RFC's farmer training program alumni list, RFC's farmer network list, the Oregon Community Food System's Farming For the Future workgroup list, and asked organizational partners to forward to their farmer networks. To reach beginning farmers for our Farm Launch business planning cohort, we primarily used email and social media outreach. Emails went out to RFC's full mailing list, RFC's beginning farmer training program alumni, our network of host and teaching farms, farmer facing email listservs throughout the state, and Oregon Community Food System Network lists, and asked organizational partners to pass to their farmer networks. Social media boosted posts targeted people interested or engaged in agriculture in Oregon. We received 33 applications for 15 spots in the program. To recruit beginning farmer landseekers into FoFF's Navigate land access program, we have disseminated information through monthly e-newsletters, emails to community engagement lists, and posts across our organizations' social media accounts. Staff have also presented information to groups of service providers and producers in various industry spaces including the OSU Small Farms Conference, Clackamas Community College's Small Farms School, and the Oregon Community Food Systems Network's Farming for the Future Working Group. The original staff Navigator also attended farmers markets to talk directly with farmers and attended the Back to the Root Conference to broaden awareness of the program and services. To reach more landholders in spaces more comfortable to legacy farmers, we mailed program materials to OSU Extension offices, Soil and Water Conservation Districts and Land Trusts in target areas. We have also relied on our partners to help with outreach through disseminating information to their lists at our request. To reach landowners for OAT's landowner and service provider audience, we collaborated with other industry groups who share the common goal of succession planning awareness. These efforts were amplified with collaboration including other industry professionals who shared knowledge and time including reaching an audience base that OAT wouldn't necessarily have access to without this collaboration. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?RFC will continue to convene monthly project team meetings and quarterly advisory council meetings in conjunction with Oregon Community Food System Network. RFC will continue to organize a community of practice for our TOF technical assistance providers that will meet six times in the next reporting period. The project will also send staff to the Farm Viability Conference in April for professional development. RFC will reach 80 farmer landseekers & landholders through a Changing Hands land access conference track at OSU's Small Farms Conference in February in Corvallis and an additional half-day Changing Hands session in June, likely in the Rogue Valley. These events will provide landholders and new farmers with the tools and opportunities they need to communicate what they are seeking in land access / land transition and network in-person with others who could become a land match for them. The Farm Launch business planning 2023-24 cohort will meet online 20 times October '23 - March '24 for 90 mins each, serving 12 farm businesses. Farm Launch participants will learn about all the elements of a business plan, have time to work on their own business plan, and give each other feedback on their business plan ideas. Farm Launch participants will also meet one-on-one at least 3 times each with Geoffrey Van, Future Farms Program Director, to gain individualized support with their business planning process. FoFF will continue to operate the Navigate program and make adjustments to processes based on survey and advisory council feedback. To increase the number of participants and help them find land appropriate to their goals, FoFF staff will continue outreach to government agencies, natural resource managers (SWCDs, watershed councils, etc.), and partner service providers. To increase the number of participants who find land in the program we will continue outreach and education to landholders as well as seek out the necessary professional development for the Navigators to meet the needs of a wide variety of participants. As the opportunity arises, we will create resources that are useful to our participants and publish them to our website for the public to use. We will also add to the Navigate Guidebook as the current Navigators recognize patterns, develop procedures, and set norms through their experience and professional development. OAT will continue similar programming as the previous fiscal year where appropriate, establish additional curricula that would interest landholder and service provider audiences, and support the new one-on-one succession counselor to be hired in the coming fiscal year.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Securing access to appropriate farmland, developing necessary business skills, and acquiring capital for land access are major barriers for beginning farmers and ranchers in Oregon, especially socially disadvantaged farmers. During the first year of this project, we established a new farmland access hub in Oregon's Willamette Valley, provided land access technical assistance to 28 beginning farmers and ranchers, provided an intensive business planning cohort for 13 new farms, provided land access networking opportunities for 42 land seekers and landholders, and provided education on succession planning, working lands easements, and leasing to 470 landholders and 422 agricultural service providers. Because of this work 32new farmers are better prepared with financial and business skills to begin or expand their own farm operations, 55 beginning farmer land seekers are better prepared to locate land and work with landholders, and 470 landholders are better prepared for succession or providing leases. Over the course of the first year, the project helped 5 new farm businesses start up in Oregon. As the average age of farmers in Oregon is 60, new entry into farming is critical. With increased skills and opportunities in land access, business planning, and financial management, beginning farmers and ranchers will have a better rate of success in establishing viable and lasting businesses in Oregon. And as landowners in Oregon increase their understanding of succession, working lands easements, and leasing, as well as have opportunities to network with beginning farmers, they will make more farmland available to beginning farmers and ranchers entering the field. Other progress on the project includes collecting resources for the creation of a land access Navigator Guidebook. FoFF staff have developed intake process standard operating procedures, eligibility and outreach materials, an improved program application, a scoring rubric and process for prioritizing candidates, a description of services and expectations contract, intake form and progress tracking spreadsheets. Program evaluation metrics and methods have been developed and refined with Insight for Action. The Navigator Guidebook will eventually let other regions launch similar Navigate programs and build upon the work and success of this regional model. Oregon Agricultural Trust staff have been working on a service provider referral list to share with partner organizations who provide farmer technical assistance. The first year this work has involved cleaning up, adding to, and vetting existing service providers on the list in order to create a list to share broadly. Currently, the referral spreadsheet that has been shared with OAT's network of peers is a work in progress.

    Publications