Final report for ENE21-167
Project Information
The original project design was intended to begin undoing systemic racism, addressing past harms, and building an equitable future within agriculture organizations and Maine agriculture overall. Farmers from marginalized communities most impacted by structural inequities, especially BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farmers, face barriers to accessing farming support that is exacerbated by historic and current institutionalized discrimination from Maine agriculture nonprofits and government agencies alike.
This project lasted 3 years and had three components. We believe the combination of these created a comprehensive approach to systems change within agriculture institutions. This project was informed by an advisory team of farmers and farmworkers of color, Indigenous growers, and LGBTQ+ farmers. The three project pieces included:
- Equity consultants
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- Seven organizations in Maine partnered with equity consultants to conduct an organizational assessment and create a plan of integrating equity changes.
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- Cross-organizational equity space
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- To provide more support, there was a monthly facilitated Zoom peer-to-peer space for accountability and learning for Maine agriculture service providers. Monthly attendance ranged from 7 to 15 participants each time.
- Equity Trainings
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- Professional development training was offered widely to Maine agriculture service providers. The specific trainings offered are described in the memo linked bellow and included themes such as decolonization, undoing racism in the food system, bystander intervention, and LGBTQ+ allyship. There were 9 trainings offered in total with 120 participants. While an important component of learning, professional development training alone rarely gets fully integrated into daily practice and should be integrated with the above two components.
Participants increased their awareness and understanding of structural biases within their organizations, programs and services, and developed plans for continued learning and changes that integrate inclusivity and equity. Throughout the project we measured changes in knowledge, awareness, attitudes, behaviors, and skills. We developed a memo sharing the lessons learned.
In MOFGA's experience, we were able to work with a consultant to interview staff, board, and farmers about our work with regard to equity that allowed the consultant to develop 2 full day foundational trainings tailored to our organization on tools that we can use to integrate equity into our work. They also provided us with a road map to be followed in the following year that had us articulate an equity vision, conduct an assessment of our current structures and work, develop equity strategies, and translate those strategies into tactics to be included in individual staff work plans. Over the course of the project we have used the foundational training tools and strategies to make numerous changes to our internal structures, policies, and procedures, as well as the structures and qualities of our external programs and services. Some of those changes included building new community relationships, expanding event and program accessibility to address barriers to entry, providing direct support to those who have been marginalized in our agricultural system, and sharing our platform.
120 Maine service providers and 7 agricultural organizations will use the skills they learn in diversity, equity, and inclusion training to better understand biases, barriers, and the specific needs of farmers and food producers from diverse backgrounds, and in so doing they will be able to provide more inclusive, accessible, relevant, and user-friendly services to 600 farmers.
Problem and Justification:
In Maine there has been an 8% decrease in the number of white farmers and a loss of 573 farms since 2012; in the same timeframe farmers identifying as Black or African American have increased by 76%. Add to that, farmers identifying as Black, Indigenous, People of Color, immigrant LGBT, or disabled currently represent 3,500+ farms scattered throughout the state. Yet, many of these burgeoning populations of farmers are marginalized in Maine, one of the whitest states in the nation, due to systemic racism coupled by a lack of understanding of their unique histories, experiences, and needs for tailored support from our agricultural service providing organizations and institutions.
Partner organizations who work with disadvantaged farmers have described how a lack of inclusiveness and accessibility to tailored assistance and education directly relate to a farmer’s inability to secure financial capital for operations, equipment and infrastructure needed to sustain and grow business, gain technical knowledge to increase productivity, and comply with regulations. They reported that farmers were asking for service providers who could relate to their particular needs; service providers, in turn, were eager to make their practices more relevant, more user-friendly, and more available.
Solution and Approach:
We believed that the future of farming in Maine, if not the entire Northeast, is going to be much more diverse than it has been, and service providers trained in issues of social and racial justice, cultural competency, and diversity skills will be better prepared to equitably support this trend, grow the beginning farmer population, and create a more just and sustainable agricultural system.
The project provided direct training focused on diversity, equity and inclusion for 120-185 service providers in Maine and internal facilitation for 7 participating organizations. The six trainings were designed to enable providers to understand biases, barriers, and acquire knowledge and skills to provide equitable programs/services to thousands of farmers from diverse populations. The internal facilitation for 7 organizations’ staff and board members involved a foundational concepts training that provided guidance for organizations about how to center equity for all farmers when shaping policy, designing programs, and directly connecting with farmers. Leaders, decision makers, and service providers increased their knowledge and awareness of equity issues and changed behaviors, structures, programs and services to help break down barriers to success for marginalized farmers in Maine. Organizations developed road maps for further learning and action that acknowledges that racism and general discrimination are systemic and that organizations must commit to diversity, equity, and inclusion work for lasting and continued change.
The programming had a large impact across Maine as the trained service providers collectively work with thousands of farm operators, who in turn employ diverse populations of farmworkers. Many continue to implement changes and participate in the structures that were formed during the project, such as regular equity meetings at individual organizations and a cross-organizational equity space for agricultural service providers.
Cooperators
- (Educator)
Educational Approach
In the proposal we planned to coordinate two simultaneous approaches to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion professional development: (1). Comprehensive training for service providers and (2). Internal organization facilitation.
1.Training for service providers: There were 6 trainings proposed and 10 trainings actually offered to 120 service providers. These included trainings on implicit bias, cultural competency, historic and current discrimination in agriculture and transitioning to a racially just food system, history and present day Maine- Wabanaki relations and decolonization, the experiences of and how to support LGBTQ+ farmers, and how to intervene when witnessing discrimination and injustice. An assessment of the BFRN’s racial equity and inclusion training was conducted and those needs informed the topics of 3 subsequent workshops conducted by Cross Cultural Community Services (CCCS). We also planned to have CCCS facilitate a meeting on how to better meet the needs of farmers, but with stakeholder advice decided what was more needed for the success of this project was to work with a facilitator to create a strategic plan for the Maine Farmer Resource Network.
Through the project, agricultural service providers gained awareness and skills in the following areas:
- Understanding and utilizing a racial justice lens through which to analyze farmers’ problems, seek solutions, and define success
- Understanding historical and current patterns of colonization and land justice, and parlaying this into helping marginalized communities access land
- Demonstrating cultural competence in supporting BIPOC, low income, LGBTQ+, immigrants, and people of intersectionality identities
- Acknowledging past and current barriers to the success of under-resourced farming communities as well as the impact of existing inequities
- Practicing more tailored/effective approaches to technical assistance and the myriad of other support services that service providers offer
- Learning how to have courageous conversations about race and how one transitions to become anti racist
- Exploring how organizations can work more cohesively and collaboratively with black, indigenous, and immigrant farmers
- Acknowledging privilege, bias, oppression and systemic racism
As a result of the project, participants were able to:
- Adopt new techniques and using a structural analysis of equity in their work, across all social identities
- Deliver direct support that is more relevant, relatable, respectful, and inclusive to farmers of all identities
- Foster authentic, long lasting relationships with under-resourced and under-connected front line communities
We hope that in the long-term the project will have a ripple effect of collectively working with thousands of farm operators, who in turn employ diverse populations of farmworkers.
2.Internal organization facilitation: Professional consultants guided employees and boards through a process of assessing and exploring their goals around equity. All partners were able to work with consultants but we learned that they all had quite different needs, especially the larger institutions and agencies so we worked with each of them to find a suitable match. For the larger institutions and agencies the consultant worked with leadership teams rather than full staff and board. Consultants developed customized foundational concepts trainings to guide each organization in how to include equity considerations for all farmers when shaping policy, designing programs, and directly connecting with farmers. Leaders, decision makers, and service providers increased their cultural competence and were more able to help break down barriers to success for marginalized farmers in Maine.
Through this project, we proposed that 315 agricultural organization staff and Board would gain awareness and skills in the following areas, however we only tracked participation of 120 staff:
- Acknowledging privilege, bias, oppression and systemic racism
- Addressing past harms, and implementing an equity lens to all programming
- Using a structural analysis of equity tool in their work across all social identities
Participating organizations and staff members used their new knowledge, awareness, skills, and attitudes to:
- develop equity statements
- increase the number of program scholarships provided to a more diverse farmer population and/or create more sliding scale and free programs
- revise their support programs to reflect the diverse needs of all farmers and farmworkers.
- develop a road map for continued learning and actionable steps to make their organizations more equitable
As the host organization to this project, MOFGA provided the following:
- Coordination of consulting for 7 partner organizations
- Worked with trainers to develop larger cross organization trainings
- Maintained periodic check ins with all partner organizations
- Maintained continuous contact with accountability partners and receive feedback from farmers of marginalized communities
- Measured and tracked outcomes in awareness, knowledge, skills, attitudes of providers, and experiences of the farmers they serve
- Developed a memo of best practices and program adaptations sourced from participating organizations and service providers for replication by other Northeast service organizations.
Milestones
Service providers are recruited to the training program through the Beginning Farmer Resource Network of Maine (BFRN) by direct invitation to all members
185
190
March 31, 2021
Completed
March 08, 2021
7 anti-racism and equity organized trainings were provided this year in May, June, July, September, and October (3-part) to Maine service providers through Beginning Farmer Resource Network of Maine (BFRN) as well as the newly formed Farm and Rancher Stress Assistance Network in the Northeast. From this direct invitation recruitment strategy, as well as encouraging these recipients to share the training registration information with co-workers and other agricultural organizations they collaborate within Maine, 190 people participated in the trainings.
Agricultural organizations accept invitations for their staff and boards to participate in facilitated DEI training through an open invitation via zoom presentation and follow up email to the 25 organizations of the BFRN.
185
185
March 31, 2021
Completed
March 31, 2021
MOFGA invited the Maine Farmer Resource Network to participate in this project through an announcement at our quarterly network meeting and follow up emails.
Seven organizations accepted the invitation to participate in facilitated DEI training with an equity consultant. Matches between organizations and equity consultants have been made and formalized with contracts. The 5 nonprofit organizations have begun engagement with their consultants. It took longer to find a good fit for the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension because of the size of those institutions. The number of people impacted by these relationships is 185, which includes the majority of staff and board at each non profit organization (5) and a steering committee at the larger agricultural institutions (2).
Service providers participate in a Pre-Training Assessment administered by Cross Cultural Community Services during which they determine the racial equity and inclusion training needs of the cohort and establish baseline data about knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and practices/skills as well to measure progress against.
185
185
July 30, 2021
Completed
March 31, 2021
Prior to all training offered through this grant, a pre-training assessment of BFRN was conducted the project manager. The assessment showed us, among other demographics, the following about the service providers reached during this grant: 1) they are 99% white and largely heterosexual; 2) they do not identify with having a disability; 3) they have achieved a high level of education; 4) 70% see a need for diversity, equity, and inclusion training in their workplace. Participants in the assessment expressed that their organizations need to improve supporting specifically Black, Indigenous, people of color, immigrants and refugees and LGBTQ+ communities. Only 21% of MFRN service providers had attended anti-racism and cultural competency training before. While 70% felt comfortable talking about their own privilege, only 58% felt comfortable talking about privilege and bias with co-workers and 21% felt comfortable talking about issues of social justice with farmers.
7 Agricultural organizations utilize professional facilitation to increase their awareness and understanding of structural biases within their organizations, programs and services, and develop a plan for continued learning and changes that integrate inclusivity and equity. Participants complete post-facilitation assessments that measure changes in knowledge, awareness, attitudes, behaviors, and skills at the end of 2021, 2022, 2023.
185
185
December 31, 2021
Completed
December 31, 2023
As noted in last year's update, we adjusted the timeline of the project to first offer training and then, in the second year of the project (2022), focus on these deeper relationships with equity consultants and organizations.
Since our last report, All 7 organizations completed their relationships with equity consultants. These relationships included equity assessments for each organization, the formation of an equity stewardship team with staff, foundational training conducted by the consultant, and suggestions of work moving forward. In a process designed by the advisory board, all organizations completed a pre-equity consultant survey. A similar post equity consultant survey was completed. Beyond this survey, Bo Dennis conducted in depth interviews with each equity stewardship team at the organizations who completed the equity consultant relationship. Some of the questions asked in the qualitative interviews included:
- What were the outcomes and impacts on your organization working with your consultant both internally and externally?
- What barriers are you currently facing in implementing equity and justice principles in your work?
- Who engaged with the project? All staff or just leadership?
Key noted changes at each organization were used to inform the project memo which can be viewed here. This memo combines interview findings, evaluations, and observations.
As of January 2023, 4 out of the 7 organizations have completed their relationships with equity consultants. These relationships included equity assessments for each organization, the formation of an equity stewardship team with staff, foundational training conducted by the consultant, and suggestions of work moving forward. The remaining 3 organizations in progress with equity consultants include the 2 large state institutions and 1 non profit organization. These relationships have proven more difficult due to more embedded issues of institutional power structures as well as organization turnover.
In a process and survey designed by the advisory board, all organizations completed a pre-equity consultant relationship. Those that have finished this relationship were given a similar post equity consultant survey. Beyond this survey, Bo Dennis conducted in depth interviews with each equity stewardship team at the organizations who completed the equity consultant relationship. Some of the questions asked in the qualitative interviews included:
- What were the outcomes and impacts on your organization working with your consultant both internally and externally?
- What barriers are you currently facing in implementing equity and justice principles in your work?
- Who engaged with the project? All staff or just leadership?
Some key findings from the post survey as well as these interviews include:
- Benefit of having an external equity consultant to hold them accountable to integrating equity changes
- Ongoing impact of established internal equity stewardship teams to bring the work forward post equity consultant
- Importance of staff and key leadership having a shared language and understanding of the organization's stance on issues of racial justice
- This project sparking momentum and solidarity amongst agriculture service providers
- Fear of turn over at the organization affecting momentum
- Challenges onboarding new staff to the equity journey of the organization
- Challenges of time and capacity for staff to fully integrate equity changes into their work plans
By January 2022, all seven organizations were matched with professional equity consultants and had begun their work together with project design and starting to conduct organizational assessments. We adjusted the timeline of the project to first offer training and then, in the second year of the project, focused on these deeper relationships with equity consultants and organizations. Because the relationships took considerable time to establish, offering the training first provided an opportunity for organizational staff to build a shared language. We noted the milestone as in progress because we did not issue a post-facilitation assessment at the end of 2021 because the equity consultations are just beginning. We proposed issuing a mid-year assessment to complete the milestone.
In the spring of 2021, Bo Dennis met one-on-one with all of the organizations’ leadership, along with with a large number of equity consultants, in order to make the best matches. Equity consultants and organization leads then independently started relationships and signed contracts, which this SARE grant reimburses. Prior to engaging with the equity consultants, executive directors of the organizations completed a pre-survey to establish a baseline. Each contract agreement includes an equity assessment of the organization, foundational training for board and staff, and collaborative development of a road map for continued learning and actionable steps to make the agriculture organization more equitable. Each organization is of a different scale and varying position in their current commitment to equity, so exact details of process are specific to that relationship, while all agreeing to the outcomes.
Service providers attend six 3-hour workshops administered by Equality ME (1), Wabanaki REACH (2) and Cross Cultural Community Services (3) during which they learn about decolonization, land justice, racial justice in America’s food system, racial bias, LGBTQ+, economic justice, and disability considerations. Trainings lead to an understanding of power and privilege, and how they create bias and pervasive systems of oppression. Participants complete customized evaluations after each workshop to measure these changes.
185
190
March 31, 2022
Completed
October 31, 2021
The following trainings were offered in 2021. In total there were 190 participants.
Supporting LGBTQ+ Maine farmers: This workshop included a LGBTQ+ 101 training provided by EqualityMaine, a presentation specific to supporting queer farmers, and a farmer panel featuring LGBTQ+ farmers from Maine sharing their experiences. There were 40 participants. Thanks to the training, 72% of attendees stated that they had increased their confidence in identifying and talking about issues such as homophobia and cissexsim as a result of this workshop. Action steps attendees committed to included: integrating gender pronouns into intake forms, expanding representation of farmer presenters to include queer growers, calling out discrimination in the workplace, and other ways of signaling allyship within an organization.
Wabanaki REACH 3-day decolonization training for conservation communities. 47 participants. This training was particularly impactful for service providers that work at land focused organizations in considering how they are engaged in continuing colonization.
Anti-bias trainings with Cross Cultural Community Services. 103 Participants. This 3-part training series addressed race, white privilege, equity, how to confront discrimination and bias in Maine and practicing courageous conversations about race.
In addition to the trainings listed above, a Cross Organization Equity Cohort has formed to help digest and reflect on these trainings. Meetings are held monthly with all of BFRN service providers being invited. On average 10 people representing various organizations attend each month. These are currently facilitated by Bo Dennis but in 2022 this will change to a collectively held facilitation space to encourage cross organizational leadership. While not originally in the project design, this has proved effective in building relationships and accountability for integrating equity work. The goals of this group are to:
- Help with internal accountability of organizations to move racial equity and social justice work forward, especially after larger trainings
- Provide space for staff to connect across organizations in order to build collective momentum in the agriculture service provider community for equitable systems change. Participants share ideas and talk about what each home organization is working through.
- Promote wider organization staff attendance to SARE PDP funded training, once training is scheduled.
7 Organizations practice skills for centering equity in the organization in a foundational core concepts training. Outcomes to the benefit of farmers include organizations and resources more approachable for and of service to disenfranchised farmers.
185
185
October 31, 2022
Completed
December 31, 2023
All organizations have completed their relationships with equity consultants. Each relationship includes foundational core training. Impacts from these training sessions are summarized in the final project memo. This memo summarizes needed structures, changes, and perspectives in order to center and support farmers who have been marginalized.
Cross Cultural Communication Services facilitates 2 meetings between stakeholders (BIPOC farmers and BIPOC-led farming organizations) and service providers to explore how the groups can work together to improve the success of farmers.
50
50
23
December 30, 2022
Completed
December 31, 2023
This goal shifted instead to provide facilitated conversations with the Maine Farmer Resource Network (MFRN) around the values and impact of agriculture service providers in Maine and service providers' commitments to equity and racial justice. Bo Dennis facilitated 1 meeting in 2022, and an additional 2 meetings with MFRN in 2023. Through this facilitation, the network of service providers created renewed shared goals for the network and defined 3 strategic planning goals moving forward to better support the diverse ecosystem of Maine farmers. These recommended shifts included:
- Expanding access to the network
- Having more intentional content
- Shifting meeting forms to reflect capacity for engagement across the network
More details about these shifts can be read in the MFRN strategic planning 2023 memo created as a result of this facilitation.
Organizations reshape their policies and cultural norms to embrace diversity and equitable access through discussions within their own staff and board.
185
120
October 31, 2023
Completed
December 31, 2023
All 7 organizations have completed their relationship with equity consultants, clear changes to policies and cultural norms continue to happen, as highlighted in the post equity consultant survey and qualitative interviews conducted. This information is captured most comprehensively in our final memo created for the project reporting to be shared out more widely with all participants and other organizations interested in engaging in similar work. Below are some of these examples, and in many cases each one listed is happening at multiple organizations.
- Formed an ongoing staff equity stewardship team that meets regularly to implement suggested changes from the equity consultant and lessons learned from all staff trainings
- Developed a salary and compensation report for increased transparency for all staff
- Improved staff recruitment process and increased focus on staff wellness
- Integrated an equity lens into technical assistance processes for farmers
- Began asking for feedback from farmers about their demographics as well as experience working with the organizations
- Website changes
- Included pronouns and changed other language in email and openings for events
- Pairing land acknowledgments with tangible land justice commitments and actions
- Created more inclusive building infrastructure such as gender neutral bathrooms
Service providers demonstrate interpersonal skills with farmers, including being able to identify and address social inequities and being able to choose appropriate interventions to create equitable environments, policies and practices.
120
December 29, 2023
Completed
December 31, 2023
Through the combination of training, equity consultant partnerships, and spaces for service providers to connect with each other about their learning, evaluations show that service providers learned and enacted changes to better support farmers. While marked “complete” for the purpose of this reporting, we see this as ongoing work and organizations must commit to the key change components noted in our final memo to continue this milestone.
All Maine farmers who have interacted with a service provider during the project period receive an annual and post training assessment in which they report on their interactions with service providers, including such things as the degree to which the services were more relevant and accessible, and if they resulted in positive experiences.
120
123
December 29, 2023
Completed
December 31, 2023
Each organization conducts surveys of their own seeking feedback from farmers and other stakeholders. One of the questions on the pre and post survey was if and how organizations are asking farmers about their interactions with service providers. Through this project, organizations made a commitment to start asking farmers about their experience. For some organizations, this feedback from farmers needed to start one step back to understand who was interacting with their programming, before asking about their experience. Some direct examples came from a new University of Maine Cooperative Extension demographic survey and Maine Farmland Trust land stewards asking a question about support needed from the organization while on site visits. Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association Organic Certification launched a similar demographic and experience questionnaire in 2023.
Based on end user feedback, service providers make adaptations to their services, cultural content, and engagement techniques, and may consider adding such things as childcare, transportation, meals, and interpretation as needed. All of the new practices/strategies will be reviewed by our trainers and advisory committee; ultimately a best practices/strategies publication will be developed and distributed to other northeast organizations to replicate.
185
186
January 31, 2024
Completed
December 31, 2023
The best strategies document noted above are included in the final memo here which can be shared with other Northeast agricultural organizations hoping to implement equitable systems change.This document outlines the impactful combination of project components which included equity consultants, a cross organizational equity space, and professional development training. The following are key factors for progress in integrating equity into agriculture institutions to better support farmers.
- Power and systems thinking
- Importance of leadership buy- in
- Accountability
- Professional development training
The following elements posed challenges consistently across agriculture organizations trying to implement equity and justice work in their support of farmers. In order for effective change to be made, these will need to be comprehensively addressed:
- Organizational staff consistency and capacity
- Existing within oppressive systems while working towards change
- Time needed for unlearning and restructuring
- Institutions vs non profits implementation
7 organizations participate in Pre-Training Assessments that will measure baseline knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and behaviors prior to facilitation engagement.
120
120
August 01, 2021
Completed
January 28, 2022
All seven organizations completed a pre-equity consultant relationship survey as designed by the advisory team of this overall project and then, upon beginning the relationship with their matched equity consultant, did a more thorough assessment.
Milestone Activities and Participation Summary
Educational activities and events conducted by the project team:
Participants in the project’s educational activities:
Learning Outcomes
A post-training evaluation was sent to all who participated in a service provider training. These were collaboratively designed by the project advisory team to ensure they tracked measurable goals and definitive action steps, moving beyond just knowledge gain but to true implementation of concepts learned. Goals included gained confidence in talking about a subject, ability to apply an equity lens to their programmatic work and farmer interactions, and tangible action steps they will take. Key areas of growth included:
Understanding the history and current patterns of colonization and how these intersect with agriculture
The impacts of heterosexism and how to better support LGBTQ+ farmers
Institutionalized discrimination against people of color in the food system
Identifying service providers’ own biases and how this influences their work
The importance of integrating an equity lens into all work with farmers
The Cross Organizational Monthly Equity Space continues to be offered and is facilitated by Bo Dennis. This averages 12 participants each month coming together to digest new equity materials presented as well as reflect on any current pressing issues of justice and farming coming up in their daily work. This will be continued in 2023.
Performance Target Outcomes
Performance Target Outcomes - Service Providers
Target #1
120
120 Maine service providers and 7 agricultural organizations will increase understanding of biases, barriers, and the specific needs of farmers and food producers from diverse backgrounds, resulting in farmers of all identities feeling supported by agriculture service providers and more comfortable accessing resources and services to ensure their farm’s success.
600
123
338
- 7 Consultations
- 10 Online trainings
- 1 Study circles/focus groups
- 24 Webinars/talks/presentations
To verify the number of service providers who will take action to education/advise farmers we counted the number of project participants who participated in the program and work directly advising or educating farmers.
To verify the number of farmers who were educated or advised by service providers, we counted the number of service provider/farmer consultations that were reported to us.
We did not set out to verify the scale of farms in these consultations so that information was not gathered.
Performance Target Outcomes - Farmers
Target #1
0
0
n/a