Farm Foundations Short Course for Beginning Farmers of Specialty Crops

Project Overview

EDS24-066
Project Type: Education Only
Funds awarded in 2024: $49,995.00
Projected End Date: 03/31/2026
Grant Recipient: University of Arkansas
Region: Southern
State: Arkansas
Principal Investigator:
Heather Friedrich
Email
University of Arkansas
Co-Investigators:
Dr. Jennie Popp
Email
University of Arkansas

Commodities

Not commodity specific

Practices

  • Education and Training: short course
  • Farm Business Management: farmers' markets/farm stands
  • Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems, sustainability measures

    Proposal abstract:

    The goals of this project are to reach aspiring and beginning
    farmers with a series of in-depth short courses that are based on
    the Center for Arkansas Farms and Food, Farm School curriculum.
    Seventy-five unique participants will be reached through six
    short courses over two years. Participants will be trained at the
    CAFF Farm School field and classroom facilities, in Fayetteville
    AR, on sustainable specialty crop production methods and business
    practices for local food markets.  The project will leverage
    existing resources including a tested farmer training curriculum
    based on experiential learning methods, farm training facilities
    and instructor experiences, a strong state-wide CAFF following
    with over 3000 Facebook followers and 1000 members in the CAFF
    database, and established relationships with successful local
    farmers and farm support organizations. At project completion,
    participants will have increased knowledge, skills and confidence
    to increase their farm production with organic and regenerative
    methods and increase their distribution through sales or
    donations. Pre- and post-course assessments will determine
    changes in knowledge and confidence and an end-of-project
    evaluation will assess the impact of the trainings.

    Project objectives from proposal:

    The overarching goal of this project is increase the
    accessibility of the CAFF Farm School content by repackaging
    select modules into an intensive short-course format.

    Based on this goal, our specific objectives include:

    1. Reach 75 farmers/aspiring farmers in six short courses over a
      two-year timeline
    2. Improve the knowledge and confidence of participants in
      specific specialty crop production and business topic areas
      through pre and post tests.
    3. Show a measurable increase in the amount of produce sold or
      donated by participants through an end-of-project evaluation.
    Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.