The Farm Micro-Enterprise Development Program in the mid-Ohio Valley: Can extended season high tunnel production increase agricultural self-employment?

The Farm Micro-Enterprise Development Program in the mid-Ohio Valley: Can extended season high tunnel production increase agricultural self-employment?

Summary

High tunnels give growers a competitive advantage in year-round markets by extending the growing season from six months to nine months. High tunnels are affordable to build and there are many cost share programs for famers. However, near Huntington there is not a working model to demonstrate the feasibility of this season extension technology. The goal of this project is to create a learning site and business plan that could serve as a model for other growers in our region. In addition, data collection will reveal profitability in relationship to management and weather conditions. 

Huntington has increased the marketability of local produce through the launch of the Wild Ramp. This year round market has increased demand for local products, especially fruits and vegetables. The Wild Ramp market since 2012, has returned over $650,000 of revenue to approximately 100 farmers. Unlimited Future, Inc. aims to support this growing enterprise by increasing farmer knowledge of business principles and management.

The creation of the model site has been delayed by several factors including soil preparation was more labor intensive and time intensive, change of farmer participant managing production site, and a lack of physical and financial resources, i.e. truck to haul supplies.

Objectives/Performance Targets

1. Complete seasonal data collection to show management practices, weather condition and market sales.
   Data is collected on a regular basis; participants record temperature, time, pest intervention, weather events, and harvest dates. Post-harvest data include sales venue, price, unit and units sold. Farmer participants are all participating in data collection and keeping track of hours spent collecting data. Farmer partners were engaged at the beginning of this grant award for an in-person meeting to discuss grant activities. At this meeting, it was determined that each farmer could create a production plan with regular planting and harvesting, but not be held to the proposed two week continuous planting schedule. Turnips, kale, and romaine lettuce have been brought to the Wild Ramp Farmers’ Market, as a direct result of this project. 

   The data collection cycles have been shifted by a half year, so data collection began in September 2014 and will conclude January 2016. 

   2. Develop farm vendor business training to introduce business management principles and promote financial sustainability. 
   Unlimited Future, Inc. will deliver a Planning for Profit webinar series to assist farmers in making better business decisions. The webinar will consist of three recorded PowerPoint presentations and supplemental resources. The webinars are 30% complete and will be tested in February 2015 with farmer participants. Unlimited Future, Inc. created four webpages to host the supplemental resources for farmers and food businesses. The webpages point farmers to production, marketing, and financial resources to aid in developing their businesses. Local sourcing resources for restaurants and food service will be added in 2015. In addition, Unlimited Future has received a Rural Business Enterprise Grant to host MarketReady trainings and networking events for growers and buyers in 2015.

• High Tunnel After Construction
• High Tunnel on December 9th 2014

Accomplishments/Milestones

The timeline for this project was delayed by six months, due to a variety of challenges both production and administrative.

April 1, 2014- Met with local university extension to discuss project goals. Met with Farmers participating in data collection to review reporting requirement and grant objectives. Farmer partners were concerned that data collection would not show competitive advantage in summer months and recommended to begin in fall 2014. In addition, we discussed the differences in their business models and how it would affect the results.

May 1, 2014- SARE Grant Contract finalized.

June 23, 2014- Met with Barbara Liedl for production assistance for model high tunnel site. We discussed marketable products and potential challenges with high tunnel at model site. Met with farm entrepreneurship training program directors in Charleston, WV. We discussed other agriculture training programs in the region and how the training focus should be consistent with the ultimate goal of creating self-employment opportunity.

August 2014- Present: Unlimited Future, Inc. launched farm business webpages, activity is ongoing.

September 1, 2014- Farmer Partners submitted production plans and began collecting data.

September 2014-Present: Unlimited Future, Inc. began developing webinar series, activity is ongoing.  

October 22, 2014- Visited Kanawha Institute for Social Research and Action, Inc.’s Growing Jobs Program, which uses commercial hydroponics to create jobs for clients reentering the workforce.

November 3, 2014- Changed Farmer partner managing model site from Perennial Favorites, LLC to Adelard Produce a joint effort of two produce growers interested winter growing.

November 13^th, 2014- Attended SARE sponsored training day at Green Edge Gardens to learn more about Season Creation and marketability of winter community supported agriculture.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Unlimited Future, Inc. has leverage funding from SARE to receive grants to continue business training development for farmers and engage Leslie Schaller veteran farm and food business coach. Ms. Schaller from the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks, is creating enhanced training programs, metrics and evaluation methods for Unlimited Future, Inc. Farm Micro-Enterprise Development Program.

Collaborators: