Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
Practices
- Education and Training: technical assistance, demonstration, farmer to farmer, mentoring, on-farm/ranch research, participatory research, study circle
- Farm Business Management: budgets/cost and returns, agricultural finance
- Production Systems: organic agriculture
- Sustainable Communities: partnerships, employment opportunities, social capital, social networks
Proposal summary:
The number of small U.S. farms is falling, and the average age of farmers in rising. At the same time, says ATTRA (Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas), the number of young people interested in sustainable agriculture is increasing – more than 10,000 people visited ATTRA’s internship database in 2003 in the Western states alone. These trends have prompted a group of Oregon farmers to develop a program to cultivate interns. Tom and Maud Powell of Wolf Gulch Farm, Kris Hoien of Spirit Gardens and Michael Moss of Boones Farm and Siskiyou Crest Goat Dairy rely on interns as a source of labor. They will use their Western SARE Farmer/Rancher grant to develop a curriculum for interns, a handbook for producers and ag-support professionals and a Web site featuring the material. They’ll also hold a half-day conference on intern training and management