Workplace Safety Training for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ Farmorkers Engaged in Maine Sustainable Agriculture

Project Overview

ONE24-441
Project Type: Partnership
Funds awarded in 2024: $30,000.00
Projected End Date: 11/30/2027
Grant Recipient: Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
Region: Northeast
State: Maine
Project Leader:
Ryan Dennett
Email
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association

Commodities

Not commodity specific

Practices

  • Education and Training: workshop
  • Farm Business Management: labor/employment

    Proposal abstract:

    Building on 2 years of
    affinity-based programming and 50 years of farmworker organizing,
    MOFGA and collaborators will host 3 retreats for BIPOC (Black,
    Indigenous, People of Color) and LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
    Transgender, and Queer) identified farm workers based on Maine
    farms. These retreats will provide safety training on chainsaws,
    tractors, body mechanics, and power tools to encourage more
    inclusive engagement in these workplaces. The retreats will also
    provide community building opportunities in identity based spaces
    to increase feelings of confidence and comfort in farm workers
    bringing their whole selves to their work in Maine agriculture.
    BIPOC and LGBTQ+ spaces will be provided as separate days with
    QTBIPOC farmworkers encouraged to engage in both spaces.
    Farmworkers who engage with these retreat and training spaces
    will be evaluated through survey and qualitative conversations on
    how connected they feel to agriculture spaces, how safe they feel
    bringing their whole self to work, and how familiar they feel
    with resources available to them as farm workers. This project is
    designed by and for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC farmers.

    Project objectives from proposal:

    Objective 1: This project seeks
    to improve BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farm workers feelings of safety
    around machinery and tools in their work on
    farms.  

    Objective 2: This project seeks
    to increase BIPOC and LGBTQ+ knowledge and skills related to safe
    operation of tools including safe body mechanics to apply to
    their farmwork. 

    Objective 3: Through this
    project, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farmworkers will feel more connected
    with affinity based communities in their chosen field of
    sustainable agriculture. 

    Objective 4: Through this
    project, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ farmworkers will feel safer bringing
    their full self to the work they do on farms. 

    Objective 5: Through this project
    farm workers will become more familiar with the
    resources available to them as a
    farm workers.

    Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.