Improving the viability of beginning farm enterprises by strengthening Northeastern farm incubator projects

Improving the viability of beginning farm enterprises by strengthening Northeastern farm incubator projects

Summary

While interest in sustainable farming is growing throughout the Northeast, resources, services and support for beginning farmers (BFs) can be piecemeal and sporadically offered. The NYFC reports three major challenges faced by BFs; access to land, access to capital, and access to education. BFs lack opportunities to try their hand at farming with minimal risk, while access to land and capital infrastructure can seem out of reach in the Northeast due to high land prices. The experiential education offered on Farm Incubator Projects (FIPs) can be accessed while earning income from a farm business. The approximately 25 incubators located in the Northeast are a more accessible training model for hundreds of beginning farmers who can’t afford to take advantage of university-based programs or those with high tuitions; especially for socially disadvantaged producers, low-income individuals, immigrants, and refugees. FIP farmers can get the tools and resources they need to be successful, and the increase in demand for these programs in recent years has shown they fill an important role when learning to farm on the family homestead is mostly a thing of the past. FIPs address challenges faced by beginning farmers by providing land access, equipment and infrastructure, and farm-based education. These programs are relatively new and highly specialized, requiring tailored professional development to ensure effective project administration.

As beneficial for BFs as FIPs can be, farmers ultimately enroll in FIPs to become independent business owners. Incubator projects can do a better job of transitioning BFs with the financial literacy and business acumen they need to transition to affordable land. Most incubator projects focus on basic production and marketing skills – Incubator Project Staff (IPS) know how to teach someone to grow and sell a carrot, but may not be as well versed in analyzing detailed financial records and navigating the complex fields of applying for credit and leasing land. Transitioning farmers onto their own operations also requires the capacity to assess farmers’ knowledge base upon entering the program and move them along clear benchmarks towards desired outcomes.

This project will engage approximately 40 IPS from 20 FIPs in comprehensive trainings to develop rigorous evaluation tools and transition farmers off the FIP. Through 4 field schools, follow up online meetings, online resources, and a facilitated community of practice, IPS will learn how to establish goals and clear metrics that lead to improved services. Farmers will access higher quality training and support services through FIPs, making them more likely to achieve their goals and graduate successfully.

Objectives/Performance Targets

40 staff of 20 Farm Incubator Programs (FIPs) develop standardized performance metrics, evaluation tools and data collection methodology related to key program educational components, and use these tools to improve the quality/quantity of educational programs and resources provided to 250 farmers. 20 staff from 10 FIPs use the new tools and methods to document the progress towards independence of 100 farmers via established benchmarks re: sustainable practices, yields, incomes, and access to capital, infrastructure and farmland.

Accomplishments/Milestones

1. 60+ staff and partners of 26 incubators receive notices about this initiative, including specific training and technical assistance (T&TA) agendas and 2-year activity timetables

   We sent outreach materials about this initiative in June and October of 2014 to our national list serve of over 200 farm incubator projects across the country, and then sent targeted emails to 55 individual contacts at 36 incubators projects that we are aware of (some of which may not still be in operation) throughout the Northeast. We also followed up with phone calls to projects within the Northeast that did not respond to emails. All outreach recipients were sent our milestones, links to sign up for the initiative, and an invitation to register for the project orientation. This general outreach was in addition to our specific calls to incubators that will be hosting our field schools and serving on the project advisory committee.

2. 20 incubators apply to the program and are accepted as project participants

   We received applications from 24 participants from 15 incubator projects. We have additional projects that have expressed interest in engaging with the project and anticipate more will come on board as we progress through the project activities.

3. 40+ staff and partners from 20 incubators sign agreements to participate in 2-year program, including field schools, web meetings, implementation, consistent tracking, and reporting

   To date we have received commitment letters from 18 core participants from 10 incubators, and 6 additional participants from 5 incubators who have agreed to engage at a more limited level. This is a total of 24 participants from 15 incubators and we anticipate meeting our performance target by the completion of the project as additional staff and incubators come on board based on continued outreach and project interest in participating in events (webinars, field schools, etc.) as they become available.

4. 20+ incubator staff and partners from 10 incubators attend project orientation meeting at NESAWG pre-conference session to provide feedback and finalize benchmarks

   NESAWG session had limited interest from participants – due in part to an exceptionally busy conference season and limited program resources – so we cancelled it in favor of a webinar-based orientation call which took place on Nov. 12^th. We had 13 participants on the webinar from as many organizations, exceeding our target goal for organization attendance, but not for individual staff. We expect that each incubator project only felt the need to have one staff person attend. We received excellent feedback from incubator staff on the two outcome survey drafts we circulated for feedback in advance of the webinar and also were able to answer questions regarding program logistics.

5. 40+ incubator staff and partners form 20 incubators participate in 4 field schools over 2 years that primarily address farmer transition and incubator and farmer metrics (as described)

   Our first field school has been scheduled for May 7-8^th, to be held at the New American Sustainable Agriculture Project (NASAP) – Cultivating Community – just outside of Portland, ME. Participants have received a “Save the Date” notice and registration will become available before the end of January. NASAP has offered to bring in its consultant that supports their financial training work with their refugee project audience and we are currently recruiting additional presenters and developing an agenda and schedule for the meeting.

6. 20 incubator staff and partners use tracking materials to establish baseline metrics on multiple project elements (programs, admin., farmer outcomes)

   Tracking materials – including separate incubator and farmer outcome surveys – have been circulated to participants for feedback and were discussed on our orientation call on Nov. 12^th. Surveys have been created in Form Assembly and are waiting for the incorporation of participant feedback from our orientation before they are circulated to incubator staff who will attempt to gather baseline data prior to the end of January.

7. 20 incubator staff & partners together with 100 farmers develop farming transition goals and developmental benchmarks with farmers to track over project period & beyond

   This milestone will take place at our first field school in May – which means a slight extension of the timeline from our original goal of March, 2015.

8. 40 incubator staff & partners participate in web forums, technical assistance exchanges, to help implement multiple tracking metrics and farmer transition planning steps.

   Web forums have yet to be developed. Our first webinar, “Teaching Financial Literacy to Beginning Farmers” was attended by 12 project participants from 7 of our core participants and was subsequently viewed online by all beneficiaries. Our next webinar, “Recordkeeping for Incubator Farms and Farmers,” is scheduled for January 8, 2015. As of this report, 22 participants have registered from 20 different organizations.

9. 40 incubator staff & partners use organized online and informal meetings and communications for shared learning and peer-based networking (Community of Practice)

   Our first meeting took place on Wednesday, Nov. 12^th and was a brief orientation to the project, target milestones, and participant expectations. New Entry staff also created an email contact list of participants and shared it with the group so they could be in touch with one another individually or as a group.

10. 20+ incubator staff & partners contribute content to be posted to centralized resources clearinghouse

    Participants were notified on our first conference call that we are seeking shareable resources to be posted to our centralized clearinghouse.

11. 50+ incubator staff & partners access and use downloadable manuals and toolkits, interactive forums, webinar recordings, and FAQs organized by topic area

    Over 200 resource materials are available on our website in a searchable database. FIP staff have been notified that they have access to these resources, although we have not yet measured their utilization at the time of the annual report.

12. 20 incubator staff & partners apply tools, skills, and other shared experiences to incubator and farmer development activities

    Not yet begun

13. 20 incubator staff complete and submit tracking data and project reports on agreed-to schedules that show progress in multiple domains

    Not yet begun

14. 20 incubator staff with some farmers develop and circulate case studies and success stories demonstrating qualitative changes to projects and farmers’ transitions’ to independence

    Not yet begun

15. 20 incubator staff submit final evaluation data and reports summarizing metrics

    Not yet begun

16. 20 incubator staff prepares final summary report describing project, goals, strategies, and outcomes; circulates widely

    Not yet begun

• Beneficiary Form – 2014
• Template – Basic Farmer Outcome Survey
• Incubator Farm Outcomes Tracking Survey

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Nothing to report yet.

Collaborators: