Stewarding the Next Generation of Farmers by Providing Professional Development Experiences to Mentors who Train Pasa Pre-apprentices and Apprentices

Commodities

Practices

• Education and Training: mentoring, youth education
• Farm Business Management: apprentice/intern training, labor/employment
• Sustainable Communities: ethnic differences/cultural and demographic change

Project Focus:

This project aims to provide professional development opportunities for farm mentors and educators of aspiring farmers who are participants in Pasa Sustainable Agriculture's registered pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs in vegetable production. The farming communities engaged are two-fold; while the farmers directly served by this project are aspiring farmers enrolled in an apprenticeship program, the service providers themselves are production farmers and educational farm managers who recruit, employ, support, and train the next generation of vegetable farmers in Pennsylvania and the surrounding region.

It is critical for farm mentors to receive support in order to successfully steward the next generation of first-generation, new and beginning farmers, and to ensure that beginning farmers are well-prepared to face the layered challenges of land access and tight margins that impact today's farmers. Pasa's farmer training programs contribute to building a thriving farming community in our region by supporting those who aspire to become farm managers and farm owner-operators with a strong foundation in vegetable production knowledge, financial and business management, and strategies for labor management. Mentor farmers are the backbone of this program. Aspiring farmers acquire the bulk of their knowledge and experience on working farms. Therefore, in order to retain these individuals in agriculture, and ensure that they successfully complete their apprenticeship programs, seek further educational experiences, and move into farm management roles, this project aims to bolster support for mentor farmers who may lack skills related to employee management.

Solution and Approach:

Over three-years, mentor farmers will participate in an annual in-person workshop and a virtual learning series, which will be facilitated by local and national trainers with backgrounds in farm management and agricultural apprenticeship. Trainers will bring relevant perspectives regarding best practices in mentorship, labor management, and fostering healthy working relationships between mentors and apprentices. Learning opportunities will include facilitated discussions and peer-to-peer learning to support ongoing collaboration between mentor farmers.

The majority of participants in the service provider community are already engaged with Pasa as existing mentor farmers and trainers in one of Pasa's apprenticeship programs; this project will provide an opportunity to recruit mentor farmers by providing ongoing and critical professional development to skilled farmers who lack employee management training or experience. Through existing relationships with the service providers, the need and desire for the project has been identified. Project development will be ongoing and include the perspectives of service providers and aspiring farmers throughout, ensuring that the content delivered is freshly relevant to service providers and meets the specific and evolving needs of mentors.