Final report for ONE24-441
Project Information
The goal of this project was to build workplace skills of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farmworkers while building community connections. Of the 65 farmworker attendees over the various events including power tools training, chainsaw safety training, workplace advocacy, and safe body movement, 100% built skills and felt more connected to community. The organizing team, comprised of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farmers and farmworkers, believe these style of events will lead to higher worker retention on Maine farms and in turn, a more resilient food system. Overall, farmworkers expressed gratitude to be able to connect to other communities that shared similar identities as them. Outreach activities included connecting directly with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farmworkers on farms via social media, listservs, email, and word of mouth to inform workers of these learning opportunities. Key to the success of this project was that all organizers planning, hosting, and facilitating events self identified as part of the agricultural community that they were training. Feedback received from attendees included that they wanted these events to continue but with a shift to just focusing on community connection as the main focus, especially during this rocky political time.
Objective 1: This project seeks to improve BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farm workers feelings of safety around machinery and tools in their work on farms.
Objective 2: This project seeks to increase BIPOC and LGBTQ+ knowledge and skills related to safe operation of tools including safe body mechanics to apply to their farmwork.
Objective 3: Through this project, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farmworkers will feel more connected with affinity based communities in their chosen field of sustainable agriculture.
Objective 4: Through this project, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farmworkers will feel safer bringing their full self to the work they do on farms.
Objective 5: Through this project farm workers will become more familiar with the resources available to them as a farm workers.
BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people are more likely to experience workplace discrimination which makes them less likely to ask questions and pursue necessary safety training for safe work on farms. Without this training, workers of marginalized identities are at higher risks for workplace injury as well as less likely to pursue long term careers in sustainable agriculture. We believe hosting safety retreats for farm workers of marginalized identities will support more inclusive access to work in sustainable agriculture, leading to a more equitable food system. We believe this work is in line with Northeast SARE’s social sustainability goals named in the outcome statement as well as in line with the institution's equity goals.
By centering farmworkers, the true heart of many farm operations in Maine, the whole food system will improve. Their needs and training requests, and accessing this in safe spaces for farmworkers of marginalized identities, is crucial to labor management stability now and into the future on farms. This project will improve the quality of life for farmworkers and in turn the farm managers they work for. By providing safety training for use of power tools, tractors, and chainsaws, there will be a decrease in potential injuries on farms leading to higher productivity and better net income. The farmworkers targeted through this project are working on sustainably based and/or certified organic farm operations and increasing their feelings of support and self advocacy will improve the industry overall.
Cooperators
Research
Meetings with project partners, including farmer collaborators and other service providers, began in late January 2025 to plan out the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farmer affinity training and connection events for 2025. Building on these relationships a few hosting sites were identified including a BIPOC farming cooperative in southern Maine for hosting the BIPOC farmworker day in May a Wabanaki food sovereignty project based in Waldo county for the BIPOC chainsaw training, and a trans led community based farm for the LGBTQ+ chainsaw day and May day. Strong community connections amongst our organizing group were key in further developing these trust based relationships. Once identifying hosting sites and dates for all events, the organizing team started to plan details including selecting workshop leaders and safety trainers for each day and organizing details such as food and advertising of events. In addition to the day long training events in May and chainsaw safety training in October we hosted a more casual event in August for the sole purpose of community connection and rest, and hosting stakeholder meeting conversations in the fall.
The key data we collected were increased skills around workplace safety and increased feelings of connection to community. At the beginning of this work the organizing team identified these 2 areas as being the most impactful for farmworker resiliency while working on Maine farms. Key learnings included but not limited to chainsaw safety, woods safety, power tools safety, workplace advocacy and orchard planting. Farmers shared feeling more confident in the workplace due to learning these skills in affinity based environments. Key feedback received from the stakeholder groups included the need for connection with other farmworkers of similar identities at this current political time to discuss safety and sustainability strategies.
Our overarching goal for this project was to build Maine food system resiliency by supporting marginalized farmworkers in their experience. To achieve this goal we hosted events that increased their workplace safety and tools skills while building their connections to community. This project was incredibly well received and effective among the 65 attendees to events and we believe we met our goal. The success of this project was due largely to the fact that the organizers identified themselves as part of the farmworker and farmer community and shared the identities of the farmworkers they were supporting and organizing. Moving forward we believe a needed area of study would be specifically on the importance of social connections between farmworkers of shared identities and how this impacts their employment retention within the food system. We believe this work would be helpful for social scientists and other agriculture service providers to understand.
Education & outreach activities and participation summary
Participation summary:
Final report:
No updates beyond the most recent December 2025 report below.
December 2025 report:
This year we carried out all of the workshops and field days proposed in our project. This included two field days in the spring, one specific for BIPOC farm workers and one specifically for LGBTQ+ farmers and farm workers. These days including key learning workshops including tractor safety, workplace advocacy, and small tools safety training. In the summer we held one day focused on rest and connection at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. In the fall we held two full weekends of chainsaw safety training one specific for BIPOC farmworkers and one specific for LGBTQ+ farmworkers. To finish our year of programming we held stakeholder meetings to get feedback on what these communities of farmworkers felt about these programs, needed, and want for any future programming. Throughout the year we successfully outreached through grass roots channels including social media, signal, partnering organizations, and email. These community connection and learning events continue to grow in scale. We partnered with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ led farms to host all these events.
Info from Jan 2025:
Outreach strategy for this project’s events will prioritize reaching out to grassroots BIPOC and LGBTQ+ organized community spaces including but not limited to social media, Signal threads, listservs, Google Groups and organizations led by and for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people. After promoting events through these pathways that are designed for queer and POC people we will then promote the events through more traditional agriculture spaces. We intentionally start outreach to marginalized communities because of the known patterns of our agriculture institutions in Maine lacking representation from farmers of marginalized identities. Furthermore, farm workers are more likely to be in the social network spaces rather than spaces primarily designed for farm managers and owners.
Meetings with project partners, including farmer collaborators and other service providers, are beginning in late January to plan out the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farmer affinity training and connection events for 2025. Some relationships that have developed this far into the grant are specific to potential hosting sites for the BIPOC farmer events including La Finca, a BIPOC farming cooperative in southern Maine, and Niweskok, a Wabanaki food sovereignty project based in southern Maine. We are excited to build on these relationships for event hosting as well as collaborate on workshop facilitator selection and topics of interest.
Learning Outcomes
100% of farmers that attended the events shared that they felt like they learned skills they would implement and 100% of farmers shared that they felt more connected to community due to the event. Key learnings included but not limited to chainsaw safety, woods safety, power tools safety, workplace advocacy and orchard planting. Farmers shared feeling more confident in the workplace due to learning these skills in affinity based environments.
Key feedback received from the stakeholder groups included the need for connection with other farmworkers of similar identities at this current political time to discuss safety and sustainability strategies.
Project Outcomes
Through this project farmworkers built confidence in small tools usage in affinity base spaces which led them to feel more comfortable in their employment and affected their continued work in Maine agriculture. Overall farmworkers expressed gratitude to be able to connect to other communities that shared similar identities as them.