2005 Annual Report for ENC04-083
A Tri-State Expansion: Educator Training using the Farm Beginnings Model
Summary
At the request of educators in Illinois, Missouri, and Nebraska, the Land Stewardship Project's Farm Beginnings program will be designed as a "train-the-trainers" program in order to replicate this successful training model. Farm Beginnings staff and leaders will train educators to select steering committees, recruit and train mentors, prepare promotional/media materials, identify beginning farmers, and determine a launch date for the beginning farmer training program in each pilot state. On-site educators will assess and build their community's readiness for a beginning farmer program, build support for and initiate a site-specific program, and encourage the replication of the model in other communities.
Objectives/Performance Targets
Current Work
1) Increased community awareness/support of beginning farmers and their needs
2) Community educators understand their region's readiness to start beginning farmer trainings
3) Educators, farmers, lenders, agency staff given the tools and skills to initiate and support beginning farmer trainings.
4) Needs assessment tool developed for use in four communities
5) Training in FB curriculum and program conducted for four new sites
Accomplishments/Milestones
An intensive on-site training (in Minnesota) for participants from the three Farm Beginnings pilot states of Missouri, Nebraska, and Illinois was held in November, 2004. This training included a comprehensive overview of the history and current programming for the FB program. This training also included an introduction and overview of the specific course, including individual classes, tours and mentorship pieces. The training also provided time for individual states to work in their own groups to begin the planning for the community assessment and development piece of their FB course.
The 2 1/2 day on-site training was followed up by topical conference calls with multiple participants from each site. These calls centered on the specifics of the community assessment (including development of steering committees, farmer participants, etc.), as well as the specific course topics and delivery of those class sessions.
A site visit was conducted by FB staff in each of the four new FB communities. This site visit included review and final planning stages for the upcoming FB course.
In the fall of 2005, Farm Beginnings courses were launched in four new communities, including Nebraska, Missouri, Central Illinois, and Stateline Illinois.
Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes
Farm Beginnings courses were successfully launched in four new sites (Nebraska, Missouri, and two courses in Illinois). The classes began in October and/or November of 2005. Currently (March, 2006), the class portion of the FB course is just being finalized, and participants in each course will soon move to the farm tour/visit portion of the FB course.
The four new FB courses reflected the diversity that has occurred in the Minnesota FB program. This diversity is reflected in many areas, including gender, age, geographic base, interest and background.
The following represents the numbers of participants in each course:
Nebraska - Twelve families
Central Illinois - Seventeen families
Stateline IL - Thirteen families
Missouri - Ten families
The course is now entering the farm visit and mentoring stages of the program.