East New York Farms direct urban and regional grower development

East New York Farms direct urban and regional grower development

Summary

East New York Farms! will work closely the growers that sell at our farmers market to collectively impact the way in which we provide food to our unique East New York community. Our years of experience have lead us to the conclusion that individualized assistance in production, and marketing will make the greatest impact on our community and serve as a strategic template for other peer groups in the region. We propose a two pronged approach that will a) work with urban growers to better utilize their limited city growing spaces to grow culturally specific crops for the neighborhood and fill the gaps left at our market and b) help our growers increase sales and solidifying their ability to serve East New York residents by improving business planning and marketing. By supporting both hyper-local and regional market vendors we will be able to close the gaps in our ability to provide community members with much needed, fresh, affordable, culturally appropriate food and serve as an example for other local urban food hubs.

We will pursue two main strategies- 1) Increasing urban production through Crop Planning Assistance and the production of a neighborhood specific Gardener Handbook; and 2) Increasing grower sales through local markets and better marketing strategies.

Objectives/Performance Targets

For the objective of working with urban growers to better utilize their limited city growing spaces:

Spring 2013: We conducted individual crop planning sessions with 16+ gardeners. Each gardener received their own Crop Planning Handbook (which will go to inform our Gardener Handbook) that included a blank and filled out crop plan for their garden, tip sheets on topics like succession planting and information sheets developed through previous SARE grants detailing production techniques for high demand ethnic crops at our farmers market (hot peppers and bitter melon).

Summer/Fall 2013: We conducted 7 workshops and 2 supply giveaways that support the new innovations that gardeners are learning to implement with their crop plans. Each workshop will included information specific to growing in East New York using techniques that ENYF has adapted over the years. Each attendee received related supplies: for example, trellis netting and posts at the Trellising workshop, supplies for fall crop planting (seedlings, seeds, row cover) at our Planting for Fall workshop, cover cop seeds at our Cover Crop workshop and seed garlic at our fall general meeting. At each workshop gardeners received draft tip sheets that will be included in next season’s Gardener Handbook. We were anticipating partnering with another organization for one of the workshops, but the follow-through, from their end, did not occur. We did our best to cross-promote the event and offer support and supplies, but it is unclear if it took place.

We did not make follow-up calls to participating gardeners about their fall planting schedule because of time constraints. Outreach for the Planting for Fall workshop took place via announcements at our monthly meeting, emails, and fliers posted at gardens around the neighborhood.

Winter 2013: Based on receipt tracking at our two farmers markets’ cooperative tables, the growers who received crop planning assistance received a breakdown of what they sold. We have yet to conduct follow up crop planning sessions.

For the objective of helping our growers increase sales and solidifying their ability to serve East New York residents by improving business planning and marketing:

Spring 2013: Our Markets & Outreach Coordinator worked with GrowNYC’s New Farmer Development to develop marketing and business planning to growers through two visits to our farmers market  

Summer 2013: In July, we hosted small group and 1-on-1 business improvement support. These independent and small group sessions were held at our Saturday farmers market so that it was convenient for vendors to step away from their market stands to receive business advice. 

Accomplishments/Milestones

Crop Planning Sessions: We conducted the anticipated amount of individual crop planning sessions (13) and were able to work with at least11 new gardeners.We conducted two bilingual group sessions for Spanish speakers at a local garden, which was an unexpected addition to our program. Some urban farmers who had committed to attending sessions and are good candidates for improving production techniques did not, and we are anticipating conducting more outreach to them specifically next season. People seemed to appreciate the Crop Planning binders and we were able to really hone in on the most useful information sheets to include in them.

Workshops: We conducted all of the production related workshops we hoped to, two of which were taught by community gardeners that we have trained as instructors. Our Fall Planting workshop, which we held at our farmers market, included many new gardeners, and was one of two workshops held at our farmers market this season, with the goal or drawing in interested gardeners in a different setting than our more garden-based workshops. We ended up running short on many supplies for the first time; we provided cover crop seed and garlic seed to over 38 gardeners and had to order more in a hurry. We distributed over 80lbs of cover crop, 40lbs of garlic (purchased and saved seed), 13 bales of hay (for mulch), 2 gallons of seaweed and kelp fertilizer, 500 feet of row cover, and more. Distributing supplies, for the most part, in a workshop setting insured that gardeners had the best information as to their use. For gardeners who picked up supplies (like cover crop or garlic seed) we were able to also include our clear planting tip sheets that had been developed for our workshops, and are destined for our handbook.

Sales at our farmers market: 9 out of 13gardeners who received individual crop planning sessions sold at our farmers market cooperative table collectively earning close to $700.00. Three gardeners increased sales compared to what they sold last season. Four gardeners who attended the Planting for Fall workshop, which included elements of crop planning and resource sheets, ended up selling at the cooperative table after the workshop as well. We were hoping to get a few more gardeners, who had received planning support to sell at market. We think there is a possibility of increased sales and food for the community over time, as almost all of those gardeners have included cover crops in the crop plan which can boost soil fertility and eventually increase production.

Business Support for growers at our Saturday farmers market: Growers who attended our business planning sessions stated that the small group size discussions and individual conversations with our GrowNYC partner we useful. There were 5 vendors in attendance at the small group session. Some growers, who we felt would really benefit from the sessions, did not attend, however, all of our growers who have their own stands at the market did have 1-on-1 conversations with our GrowNYC partner.

• Post Harvest Handling Workshop

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Gardeners with East NY Farms! are starting to look at the whole year as the growing season, opposed to just the spring and summer months. This season we gave out more cover crop and garlic seed than ever, and held our first summer seedling giveaway for fall planting.  One gardener told me that she didn’t need more help with crop planning next season. She sold at her own table this season (not at the cooperative table) and incorporates cover crops into her rotations, as well as spring and fall vegetable planting.

• 2 Gardeners sell at their own table

Collaborators: