Toolkit to Create a Great Farm Mentorship

The Toolkit to Create a Great Farm Mentorship is a shared drive of resources for farm educators who want to start a mentorship program. Highlights include the full SARE grant proposal, signup forms, training agendas, evaluation surveys, program results. The video tour of the toolkit would be a smart place for educators to start if they are interested in farmer mentorships. Resources in the Beginning Farmer Mentee Resources and the Aspiring Farmer Mentee Resources folders would be useful for both farmers and educators. The toolkit includes numerous ready-to-use files but is completely open source to allow educators to easily download and edit items as needed. The toolkit was developed as part of the Michigan Sustainable Farm Mentors Program that connected 42 beginning and aspiring farmers with nine mentors. Beginning farmers are paired for one-on-one time with an experienced farm mentor and a peer for about 5 hours each. This time can be used to describe their farms and to discuss topics like financial viability, environmental sustainability, soils, work-life balance and community connections or any questions the new farmer has. It is available at https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/toolkit-for-starting-a-great-farm-mentorship-program and through Creative Commons at https://www.oercommons.org/courses/toolkit-to-create-a-great-farm-mentorship