Sustainable production and marketing using the cooperative model for a student-managed school farm cooperative

View the project final report

Commodities

Practices

• Education and Training: participatory research, youth education
• Farm Business Management: business planning, marketing management

The OSU CFAES Center for Cooperatives will collaborate with the Agriculture Business Management program at Ohio Valley Career and Technical Center (OVCTC) on the project, “Sustainable production and marketing using the cooperative model for a student-managed school farm cooperative,” to enhance and examine the impacts of a student cooperative learning program.

Rural communities need innovative young entrepreneurs and effective models to develop them. In rural, Appalachian communities, economic opportunities are limited. For example, Adams County, Ohio ranks in the worst 10% of U.S. counties on an index combining unemployment, per capita market income, and poverty rates. Adams County has approximately 1,350 farms with average cash receipts of $28,798 per farm. As of 2016, there were only 502 private sector employment opportunities and the county’s median household income was $34,709.

The goals of this hands-on cooperative approach are to:

• enhance students’ knowledge of
  1. business management, particularly co-op management;
  2. agricultural marketing and related concepts like regulatory compliance;
  3. sustainable farm production practices; and
  4. agricultural enterprises in their region.
• develop students’ skills in strategic planning, project management, and communication;
• improve the school farm’s financial health; and
• develop tools to implement similar training programs for young agricultural entrepreneurs.

Approximately 25-35 students will receive training annually.

Outreach activities will raise awareness of the model among educators and the agricultural community in Adams and surrounding counties.