Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This standard BFRDP project will train 300 military veteran and socially disadvantaged beginning farmers (BFs). Trainings will include receiving hands-on skills in production, farm management, harvest, and sales. There would also be workshops about farmland access; USDA and State programs/services for BFs, entrepreneurship, retail and wholesale food marketing, food safety, farm safety, business planning, and financial/risk management. It is anticipated that 200 BFs will start farming or improve their current farms due to this project.This application is from an 1890 Land-Grant, Kentucky State University, in collaboration with The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and community-based organizations (CBOs). Our partners Bluegrass Community and Technical College, Camp Brown Bear, and The Growing Warriors have access, and will recruit, military veteran BFs. Partners Laurel County African American Heritage Cener and the Ag-First Community Cooperative are connected with African Americans and will recruit socially-disadvantaged farmers into the project. Overall, 8%nd 6% of project funds are going to train socially disadvantaged and military veteran BFs, respectively. This project qualifies as exempt from the match.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The project objectives are:Objective 1. Increase beginning farmers (BFs) access to farmland. Provide knowledge about Federal programs for BFs including loans for farmland access and operating costs. Assist BFs to apply for Federal and State programs to finance their farms.Objective 2. Train and mentor BFs to obtain knowledge and skills in agricultural production that will enable them to start profitable farms.Objective 3. BFs will improve business and financial management skills and risk management skills.Objective 4. BFs will become entrepreneurs, adept at selling in direct and wholesale markets. Objective 5: Provide BFs with rehabilitation through AgrAbility.
Project Methods
Objective 1 activities: 1) An annual Winter workshop and webinar on land access using American Farmland Trust's (AFT) Land Access curriculum. Topics covered: financial assessment, land tenure options, finding land, land assessment, how to lease or buy land, how to use USDA programs to finance farmland purchase. 2) An annual Winter workshop on farmland succession and transition taught by David Marrison, Ohio State University (OSU). Topics covered will include farm succession planning, land transfer strategies, communications between parties for successful land transfer, etc.3) BFs completing training will be offered land by the CBOs to start their first farms. KSU's Edwin Chavous will train them about USDA programs for BFs and TA to apply for FSA microloans. TA for leasing and buying farmland will come from a farmland realtor, Stephen Davis. He will find and advertise farmland for lease, sales, including land from nonprofits, land banks, municipality-owned lands, and land from retiring farmers. He will assist BFs to find land, negotiate lease agreements, and provide the support of a relator during land purchase. .Objective 2 activities. 1) An annual Winter workshop about making key farming decisions, e.g., enterprise choice, target markets, income goals, and the corresponding land/ labor/ financial needs. 2) Vegetable production for BFs through hands-on apprenticeships at incubator farms from Spring to Fall every year. 3) BFs will learn about climate smart farming practices including cover cropping to enrich soils, limited tillage, and regenerative farming, .as a part of NCAT's Armed To Farm workshops. 4) BFs will be trained in medium to large scale farming of row crops such as corn and soybeans through the 4-day Tractor School every Summer at the KSU Benson Research and Demonstration Farm. 5) BFs will attend monthly Southern SARE-funded Third Thursday Thing workshops at KSU covering a variety of topics for small and limited resource farms. 6) Annual Winter workshop about Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and food safety will be taught by GAP expert Dr. Avinash Tope, of KSU.Objective 3 activities. 1) BFs will learn from NCAT's Armed to Farm trainings every Summer. Armed To Farm covers whole farm planning, farm income tax returns, financing farms via federal and state programs, and managing five areas of farm risk and risk management plans. 2) The PD will train BFs to complete the USDA NIFA farm/ranch business health assessment and help them write a business plan, and a SWOT analysis. 3) Winter training by the Kentucky Financial Empowerment Commission to covering steps to starting a business, licensing, insurance, and legal risk management, maintaining records, financial statements, how to improve credit scores, and sales using social media.Objective 4 activities. 1) Annual training for BFs using University of Kentucky's MarketReady Training Program covering how to sell to restaurants, schools, grocery and retail stores, wholesale distributors, etc. 2) BFs will learn sales hands-on by building vegetable wash/pack stations at the incubator farms. 3) An annual workshop, by Kentucky Financial Empowerment Commission, about using social media to advertise, merchandise, and sell foods and using smartphones to take orders and payments. 4) An annual webinar about USDA-AMS grants for farmers' market and local food promotional programs.Objective 5 activities. 1 )Workshops, networking, and technical support of physically compromised BFs through the AgrAbility program