Progress report for LNE25-491
Project Information
Cultivating Community proposes to provide fundamental farm skills training to 30 farmers in seasonal cohorts to increase their long-term financial viability and sustainability by improving the competitiveness of growing specialty crops for local sale.
While Maine attracts new farmers from all agrarian backgrounds,bringing rich traditions and farming skills, agriculture Maine's climate is dramatically different from other growing regions. We are meeting the clearly stated need from our Community Farm Program participants for marketing and farm business development support to connect with federal/state incentive programs, meet food safety standards, and learn to navigate technology and necessary record keeping. There are no farmer training programs that serve Maine's population center of Greater Portland, that provide land access and hands on skill building.
A total of 30 mixed vegetable farmers will participate in cross-cultural training that improves their competitiveness to produce and market specialty crops. As a result, 15 farmers will transition from subsistence to commercial-scale agriculture by establishing farm stand sales and/or wholesale accounts. This will result in an estimated average increase of $10,000 sales per farm by the third year of the project.
In addition, 75 participants will take part in culturally inclusive workshops with at least 85% increasing farm-skills knowledge and understanding of training program opportunities.
While Maine attracts new farmers from all agrarian backgrounds, bringing rich traditions and farming skills, agriculture in Maine’s climate is dramatically different from other growing regions. We are meeting the clearly stated need from our Community Farm Program participants for marketing and farm business development support to connect with federal/state incentive programs, meet food safety standards, and learn to navigate technology and necessary recordkeeping. There are no farmer training programs currently serving Maine’s population center of Greater Portland that provide land access and hands-on skill building, this project will address this and build a new sustainable model for farmer training that is rooted in over 15 years of successful beginning farmer support.
Cooperators
- (Educator)
- (Educator)
Research
Education
This new training model learns from our past farmer training program that led beginning farmers through 6 years of training and transitioned to an incubation-in-place model for graduates in 1019. It implements a new cohort-based program that responds to community-identified needs that came out of the 2024 planning process and modeled designed after our Youth Leadership program which has successfully welcomed new immigrant high school students for 4 seasonal hands-on, multilingual, cohort-based sessions annually and boasts a graduation rate of over 95%. Our farmer training series also implements strategies to address food security outlined in Maine's Roadmap to End Hunger by 2030 (2019):
- Ensure consistent, easy, & equitable access to healthy & culturally appropriate food
- Ensure food security programs benefit from the lived experience of clients
- Create living-wage jobs that contribute to thriving local economies by investing in small-scale food producers
- Promote personal food self-sufficiency by restoring farmland
- Invest in pilots led by communities disproportionately impacted by food insecurity
Engagement. Participants will be comprised of farmers who grow in individual plots at our 62-acre Hurricane Valley Farm, which is leased to Cultivating Community by the Falmouth Land Trust. We expect to fill all of our training slots, as our current waiting list for land access across urban agriculture and community farm land access programs exceeds 500 people. In addition, we will be building off successful models of cross-cultural and multilingual outreach and engagement in partnership with the Somali Bantu Community Association, and our shared USDA Beginning Farmer Rancher projects and youth leadership programming that engages high school seniors in hands on food system skills. Between our program participants and SBCA's 205 subsistence Family Farmers, there is a high demand for training and market support that focuses on expanding the production of African crops.
Farmers who complete the course will be eligible to mentor future cohorts. By strengthening social networks through mentoring, we will increase the rate of adoption of advanced soil health and production practices and the development of markets for new farmers expanding from subsistence to commercial scale.
Learning. Each season, a cohort of 10-15 farmers will be recruited to participate in a training series offered once per year. These session will provide language support through interpretation and materials transition. Each module will be offered on a quarterly basis for a total of 50 contact hours. Modules will be offered as a weekly evening session, with three weeks between each season, weekend open farm technical assistance hours, and one make-up session per season. Modules, which will be team-taught in-person in a demonstration format, will cover the following topics:
- Spring - Soil health, seedling propagation, growing practices, high tunnel production, and equipment safety
- Summer - Irrigation, pest management, weed management, and nutrient management
- Fall - Food safety, harvesting, crop rotation, cover cropping, and recordkeeping
- Winter - Farm business management, marketing, food safety, and crop planning for next season
Modules will be grounded in proven best practices for mixed vegetable production in Maine's climate, all of which offer farmers the opportunity to honor their holistic connection to the land, protect their shared landscape from environmental contaminants, and distinguish their products in the marketplace.
Evaluation. Participants will be surveyed at the beginning and end of each session as well as at the conclusion of the program. Short-term measures include the number of farmers trained along with self-reported increases in knowledge and skills (pre-and post). Long-term measures of success include the adoption of a scalable and replicable training curriculum; new acres in cultivation; new wholesale accounts established; an increase in profitability, financial independence, and self-sufficiency; and investment in own equipment and/or land.
Milestones
- Evaluation (Spring and Summer, 2025) Project begins. Job announcements are posted for new staff hiring with the goal of having new staff begin their roles by May 15th.
Complete, hiring was delayed but we successfully hired Gloria Mangoni as Farmer Training Manager to lead the project, beginning in September 2025.
- Evaluation (Summer and Fall 2025) Curriculum, evaluation and reporting tools are finalized, training materials are prepped and cohort recruitment begins.
(In progress) Evaluationa nd reporting tools have been finalized and successfully implemented during the end-of-season checkout at Hurricane Valley Community Farm, including a 1:1 season evaluation to assess participant needs, successes, and training priorities. All 34 families participating gained awareness of upcoming training opportunties and provided input on curriculum, workshops, and fielddays.
- Engagement (Ongoing): 75 farmers annually learn about soil health, growing practices, food safety certification, and farm skills through a minimum of three hands-on workshops conducted in partnership with the Liberation Farms, Cooperative Development Institute, and University of Maine Extension.
In process, successful field days, workshops, and tours included soil health, participants attending the Common Ground Country fair and sessions on cover cropping and nutrient management. The visit to the fair was such a success that staff and farmer trainees are collaborating to host a market booth in 2026 to sell produce and increase awareness of training opportunties. An estimated 200 community members participated in a garlic planting field day, with 75 receiving hands-on instruction and over 25 farmers joining to plant over 5,000 cloves of garlic, which will be harvested and shared by Community Farmers.
- Engagement (January 2026): Curriculum updates are finalized with support from the advisory committee. Recruitment for the spring training cohort begins. For the first year, recruitment will begin in Spring 2026. Applications will be reviewed based on criteria that will be developed to determine interest, experience, availability, and need, with prioritization to current farm participants who have expressed interest. This milestone will be evaluated by staff by comparing the number of applications with the selection of a full cohort of 10-12 slots plus three mentors.
In process. The advisory committee has committed to their engagement and met to provide input on program structure, workshop timing, and prioritization, and farm infrastructure needs for successful implementation. Participant interest was included in the end of season checklist and
- Learning (Spring cohort launches May 2026; Repeated May - July 2027 and 2028): The curriculum will cover hands-on soil health practices, seedling propagation, growing practices, high tunnel production, and equipment safety and will include a field trip to a partner farm. This cohort will launch farmer training with 10-15 participants. This milestone will be evaluated by staff based on a registration list of participants and a package of curriculum materials as well as pre-and post-participation surveys.
The following have not begun.
- Learning (Summer cohort launches August 2026; Repeated August - September 2027 and 2028): The curriculum will cover irrigation, pest management, weed management, and nutrient management and include a field trip to Common Ground, hosted by the Maine Farmers and Gardeners Association and a partner farm.
- Evaluation (September 2026; Repeated September 2027 and 2028): Training cohort surveys will be reviewed and evaluated. The 75 farmers who participate in workshops will also all contribute to program development through surveys that will be analyzed by staff and the Advisory Committee. Changes will be adopted into each subsequent year's workshops, support, design, and curriculum based on participant feedback, needs, and skill building.
- Learning (Fall cohort launches October 2026; Repeated October - November 2027): Curriculum will cover food safety, harvesting, crop rotation, cover cropping, and recordkeeping and will include a field trip to the Farmer to Farmer Conference, hosted by the Maine Farmers and Gardeners Association and a partner farm.
- Learning (Winter Cohort launches January 2027; Repeated January - February 2028): Curriculum will cover farm business management, marketing, food safety, and crop planning for next season. Training will be held at Cultivating Community's office in Portland, ME.
- Learning (Annually in winter and spring) 1:1 technical assistance will be provided for farmers who are identified through surveys as wishing to sell at farm stands in partnership with the Maine Federation of Farmers Markets, including support to apply for FNS approval, market development, record keeping and marketing.
- Evaluation (Beginning April 2025): Staff begin pre-launch activities, including finalizing job descriptions that lead to the recruitment, hiring, and onboarding of staff. This milestone will be evaluated by the Executive Director and project leader in the form of the creation of a pre-project timeline and checklist.
Completed.
- Evaluation (December & January 2026, 2027) Annual review and analysis of survey results, meeting to get feedback on year 1 from Advisory Committee and adapt curriculum and program design as needed. Final evaluation project evaluation will be completed in October of 2028. Our goal is to continue resource development to ensure longevity and program sustainability throughout this project, and to launch an ongoing training program.
In process.
Milestone activities and participation summary
Educational activities:
Participation summary:
Learning Outcomes
Performance Target Outcomes
Target #1
15
Transitioning from subsistence to commercial-scale farming.
$10,000 per farm over the project term.
Farmers' income will be more stable, and they will increase their business planning, food safety, and marketing knowledge.
Too early in the project to have verified results.
Too early in the project to have verified results.
Too early in the project to have verified results.
Target #2
75
increasing farm-skills knowledge and understanding of training program opportunities.
Year over year increase in on farm production as practices are adopted.
Increased vegetable production, adoption of sustainable growing and food safety practices, and increased food security of participants and number of people benefitting from food produced on our training farm.
We are still in the beginning phase of this project and finalizing our curriculum development and training schedule but are confident in our ability to reach our performance target goals over the project term. Due to a delay in hiring, the fall milestones were pushed to winter, but we have made significant progress in Hurricane Valley Community Farm's participants' awareness of upcoming training opportunties, held consultations, tours, workshops and field days, conducted a needs assessment survey to understand training priorities, connected with other training programs as we finalize materials, and collaborated on planning with farm partners and service providers.
Additional Project Outcomes
Last fall, we mobilized 13 farmers to participate in a field trip located over an hour far away from their homes and farms during the height of the growing, harvesting, and marketing season, while also addressing childcare responsibilities, language interpretation, and transportation needs, which presented significant logistical challenges and had previously been barriers to participation. Despite these barriers, once farmers arrived at the site, they were energized by the breadth of learning and marketing opportunities available at the Common Ground Fair. The fair offered a rich mix of hands-on learning, peer exchange, and marketing exposure that transformed the trip into a meaningful family-centered experience. Children were able to spend time in the kids’ area, while interpretation support during workshops ensured that farmers with limited English proficiency could fully engage with the content.
One particularly impactful moment occurred during a MOFGA-led workshop on cover crops. With interpretation support, and, in some cases, assistance from their own children, farmers were able to better grasp complex soil health concepts in a more accessible and culturally relevant way. Reflecting on this experience, one farmer shared: “My mind is blown seeing how different plants can feed the soil in different ways,” reflecting a new understanding of how cover crops contribute nitrogen and improve soil health.
Another farmer explained, “Cover crops are like a food pantry for the soil. Each plant stores a different kind of food, and together they help the soil grow better crops and higher yields.”
The instructor for this cover cropping session will be providing an on-farm workshop at Hurricane Valley Farm, planned for the 2026 growing season. Building not only knowledge but trust in Maine's agricultural service providers and their expertise.
One Hurricane Valley Community Farmer, in his third season, was highly motivated to grow his business. With support from Cultivating Community staff, we successfully identified an ideal parcel of farmland, navigated the leasing process for 3 acres, and connected him with a mentor from our Advisory Committee who is providing hands-on instruction and support. He also participated in Produce Safety training, and our staff supported his NFS application in partnership with the Maine Federation of Farmers' Markets to be able to accept SNAP EBT and expand his markets. With these accomplishments, and his growing confidence in his new farm, this farmer applied to be a Braiding Seeds Fellow, and was accepted, giving him access to a $50,000 stipend to help support building his new farm; a menu of professional development opportunities, including 1:1 mentorship, workshops, farm finance and business plan support; cohort gatherings; and individualized coaching.
Land access continues to be the primary challenge for farmers to grow their business. Over 80% of farmers at Hurricane Valley Community Farm surveyed in 2025 wish for more land for vegetable production than is currently available to them. To help meet the need for additional land access support including TA with leases, land search, legal guidence, business plan development and assistance with resourcing new farm infrastrucure, Cultivating Community has partnered with Maine Farmland Trust and Land for Good to create Land Access navigator roles and with support from the USDA, Maine Community Foundation, and Sewall Foundation, will be hiring for this position in early spring of 2026.