Michigan State PDP Plan of Work

Commodities

Practices

Michigan Initiative 1: Strengthening the Success and Sustainability of Beginning Farmers

Michigan Initiative 2: Building Sustainable Agriculture Capacity with Historically Underserved Audiences

Michigan Initiative 3: Paths to sustainability with farm labor

Michigan Initiative 1: Strengthening the Success and Sustainability of Beginning Farmers 

One of our initiatives will focus on “beginning farmers and ranchers.” The 2022 MSU Beginning Farmer Survey of over 400 beginning farmers stressed that the 3 highest rated ways to learn about farming are from mentors, farm visits and farmer networks. SARE will fund mentor training and mentorship activities. SARE will offer travel scholarships for farm visits and support farmer networks with mini-grants. SARE will work with MSU programs such as the Beginning Farmers DEMaND series, Farm Recordkeeping for the Global Majority, as well as non-profits throughout the state that support beginning farmers. SARE will also support SARE grant applicants working on projects important to beginning farmers, including those to create apprenticeship opportunities and train farmers. 

During the two-year plan of work period, we will offer SARE-funded travel scholarships, and where appropriate, mini-grant support to further educational programming that increases the sustainability and success of beginning farmers and ranchers. 

Activities 

• Funds will be used to support mini-grant projects and programs to: 

• Identify, compile, and promote on-line resources for educators and beginning farmers. 

• Marketing mini-grants to small nonprofits and other organizations with train-the-trainer focus, conference track, peer-to-peer networking, and mentoring  

• Develop and implement on-line and in-person education for the professional development of beginning farmer educators and food hub leaders. 

• Sponsor activities that promote beginning farmer networks, mentorship, peer networks, and regional workshops (trainings for MSUE and other educators to manage networks and working with farmers to fund the direct work of peer-to-peer networking) 

• PDP for educators of beginning farmers and food hubs through meetings and workshops. 

• Funds will be used to support professional development travel scholarships: 

• One regional delegation planning meeting per year. 

• Two educators/year to attend a national or regional beginning farmer conference. 

Expected Outcomes 

• 25 educators will be trained in beginning farmer development topics 

• 20 educators will use new information to answer client questions and address local issues. 

• 20 educators and farmers will develop new contacts and partners for work. 

• 50 beginning farmers will incorporate new knowledge into their production system. 

• 25 beginning farmers will make a change on their farm to increase their sustainability 

Evaluation 

• Post-event evaluations will be conducted to determine change in knowledge and intentions to act on new information. 

• Educators will complete Michigan SARE PDP post-event evaluation 1 - 6 months after workshops to assess short- and intermediate-term outcomes. 

Michigan Initiative 2: Building Sustainable Agriculture Capacity with Historically Underserved Audiences 

Interdisciplinary, multi-organizational collaboration, and coordination are essential to promote sustainable practices among diverse audiences in Michigan’s food and agriculture system. These underserved audiences include BIPOC, veterans, Hispanic and women farmers. The history of systemic racism within US agriculture has impacted circumstances, policies and practices for farmers of color and tribal communities. Understanding and acknowledging these inequities is essential to engaging these groups. With Detroit as a national leader in urban agriculture led by farmers of color, Michigan is uniquely poised to uplift the voices of urban farmers and urban farm educators and to create professional development opportunities for farm educators. In addition, SARE can support urban farm and tribal educators in their work through professional development, mini-grants and travel scholarships.   

While many individuals within Extension, NRCS, and MDARD use SARE resources, many in these groups are unaware or have lost sight of the breadth of SARE and its resources. Professional development to re-engage these groups in mass by targeting their unique needs will strengthen the sustainable agriculture community in Michigan’s Historically Underserved Audiences. 

SARE has an extensive list of sustainable agriculture resources for educators and stakeholders. These resources, while readily available, are not being fully utilized due to language and literacy barriers, cultural impediments, or a lack/loss of knowledge of their existence. Latinx farmers are one of the fastest growing farmer demographics and translation of additional existing SARE materials is a very important way to engage this community.  

Educators would benefit from understanding the unique needs of veterans and veteran families when working with them around sustainable agriculture. Veterans can benefit personally from the financial and wellness opportunities in agriculture. 

Activities 

• Funds will be used to support mini-grant projects and programs: 

• Sponsor activities that promote the understanding and needs of a diverse range of audiences. 

• PDP for educators targeting the needs of historically underserved audiences through meetings and workshops. 

• Deliver an MSU Extension Workshop program to reach a broader educator audience about SARE and SARE resources.  

• That train Extension educators, USDA personnel and others concerning land access specifically generational transfer, farm succession, land access for 1st generation farmers, farmland preservation, regenerative agriculture, and conservation easements. 

• Funds will be used to facilitate urban farm learning opportunities and offer support for farm educators working with urban farmers  

• Funds will be used to plant cover crop demonstration plots at urban farms and hold soil health field days. 

• Funds will be used to support professional development travel scholarships: 

• Three educators/year to attend a national or regional agricultural diversity conference 

• Funds will be used to purchase and distribute SARE resources (books, bulletins, thumb drives, etc.) to educators across historically underserved audiences. 

• Walk-in Clinic working directly with stakeholders to understand their sustainability needs and creating opportunities for interactions and environmental experiences for urban citizens. 

• Funds will be used to advertise the virtual tour of marketing and business structure options that work 

Expected Outcomes 

• 50 educators will be trained in the availability and use of SARE resources 

• 50 educators will use SARE information to answer client questions and address local issues. 

• 20 educators and farmers will develop new contacts and partners for work. 

• 100 farmers will incorporate new knowledge into their production system. 

• 50 farmers will make a change on their farm using sustainable agriculture practices. 

Evaluation 

• Pre/Post-event evaluations will be conducted to determine change in knowledge and intentions to act on new information. 

• Educators will complete Michigan SARE PDP post-event evaluation 1 - 6 months after workshops to assess short- and intermediate-term outcomes. 

Michigan Initiative 3: Paths to sustainability with farm labor 

As part of our regional initiative on “Paths to sustainability with farm labor,” 

Activities: 

• Funds will be used to send a team of educators from our state to a regional NCR-SARE training on the initiative to be held in 2025 at a Midwest location to be determined. State SARE funds will be used to provide travel support to the educators attending the training. Following the training event, we will convene the participating educators from our state to further discuss and plan how we can provide professional development on this labor topic for our state.   

• We will also stay in communication with other states in the region working on this, including participating in further information exchange facilitated through the NCR-SARE PDP program. 

• Before the end of the two-year funding cycle, we will implement one or more state-based professional development programs related to the regional initiative topic for educators and farmers in our state. State SARE funds will be used to partially or fully cover the cost of delivering this professional development program in our state. 

Expected Outcomes 

• 50 educators (Extension, NRCS, MAEAP, agriculture instructors) will continue to enhance their knowledge about farm labor. 

• 25 educators will use this information to answer client questions. 

• 50 farmers and educators will develop new contacts and partners for work. 

Evaluation 

• Pre/Post-event evaluations indicating change in knowledge and intentions to act on new information will be conducted by sponsoring organizations/events. 

• Educators will complete Michigan SARE PDP post-event evaluation 1 - 6 months after workshops to assess short- and intermediate-term outcomes.