Farmland for the Next Generation Training in the Pacific Northwest

View the project final report

Commodities

Practices

• Education and Training: mentoring, networking, technical assistance, workshop
• Farm Business Management: agricultural finance, budgets/cost and returns, business planning, farm succession, financial management, land access, new enterprise development
• Natural Resources/Environment: carbon sequestration
• Sustainable Communities: analysis of personal/family life, employment opportunities, leadership development, new business opportunities, quality of life, social networks, sustainability measures

AFT’s Farmland for the Next Generation Training in the Pacific Northwest is leveraging a collaborative project team, including Washington Farmland Trust and Viva Farms, to develop curriculum and professionally train a cohort of a minimum of 20 land access technical service providers in Washington State in land access, land tenure, and succession planning. Subsequently, land access technical service providers are delivering technical assistance to a minimum of 200 new and beginning farmers and ranchers. This curriculum and training format is unique and in demand, as it comprehensively focuses on topic areas which are not currently readily accessible as professional development opportunities to those serving the state’s stewards of private lands. The project team has recruited participants in this cohort training program who are from agricultural service provider organizations and agencies, including Cooperative Extension Service programs, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Conservation Districts, and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The project team adapted AFT’s national 8-unit land access training curriculum in accordance with the specific needs of farmers and ranchers in Washington in order to best serve their interests in land protection, sustaining multi-generational operations, and stewarding land. Land access technical service providers will become part of a growing network of professionals in the Pacific Northwest region who can effectively deliver technical assistance to help new and beginning farmers and ranchers navigate land tenure and access. The project will be expanded in subsequent phases beyond this grant to other states in the region as AFT and its partners continue to help new and beginning farmers and ranchers meet their goals in accessing land and managing their operations and land sustainably.

The objectives of Farmland for the Next Generation Training in the Pacific Northwest are:

1. Enhance the capacity of a network of agricultural educators and service providers by providing training to 20 new land access technical service providers who will become part of a growing network of land access technical service providers in Washington.
2. Increase land access for new and beginning farmers and ranchers in Washington by supporting land access technical service providers in serving 200 new and beginning farmers and ranchers by helping them assess their goals and financial readiness to lease or buy land, understand ways to identify available farmland, and evaluate farm lease or purchase options.
3. Increase the adoption of sustainability practices in agriculture by training land access technical service providers in delivering technical assistance to new and beginning farmers and ranchers on sustainability concepts.

This project builds off of AFT’s Farmland for the Next Generation curriculum, which is preparing the network of land access technical service providers to assist and mentor new farmers and ranchers to assess their financial readiness; determine their land tenure options; find and evaluate farm properties; and negotiate lease, inheritance and purchase agreements.

To date, AFT has made the following progress on the above objectives and associated project activities and associated methodologies and timelines:

1. Project Activity 1, Adapt national land access training curriculum to best fit regional needs in collaboration with partners. (September 1, 2020 – January 31, 2020): AFT adapted and refined current national land access training curriculum to fit regional needs, collaboratively working with Washington Farmland Trust and Viva Farms. The project team consulted with Washington State University Extension to review materials for alignment with existing Cultivating Success Program curriculum, which focuses on business development training for small and medium-scale farmers and ranchers. The curriculum also includes use of Washington Farmland Trust’s Farm to Farmer website (https://farmtofarmer.org/), which links farmers with prospective land. AFT also recruited additional consultants to the project to bring unique skills and expertise: Ecotrust, who advised on content specific to systemic and institutional barriers to land access for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) farmers; Luke Wiesner, who advised on content related to coaching, mentoring, and other foundational skills for technical assistance; and Common Goodness Project, who advised on content related to working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) farmers. 
2. Project Activity 2, Recruit and select 24 trainees on land access, land tenure, and succession planning. (February 1, 2021 – August 31, 2021): The network of land access technical service provider trainees were selected through a competitive process. The project team identified 170 qualifying prospects and invited them to participate, seeking participants who were staff from NRCS, Cooperative Extension Service programs, Conservation Districts, and conservation NGOs. 61 people applied. Of these, the project team selected 40 participants to reflect the range of service providers needed to create a sustainable support system that can operate in unison as a cohort to provide newly learned services to new and beginning farmers and ranchers throughout Washington. The original proposal was to recruit 24 participants. However, due to the shift to a virtual format, the project team determined it would be appropriate to increase the size of the cohort. This also enabled the inclusion of multiple service providers from the same geography, in order to foster regionally-specific peer-to-peer relationship building and support networks in the future. Of the 40 individuals who were initially invited to participate, ultimately 34 service providers joined the 8-week training.  
3. Project Activity 3, Train trainees (September 1, 2021 - August 31, 2023): The project team provided the selected participants with 24 hours of training, divided into weekly 3-hour virtual sessions over an 8-week period. Each virtual session focused on a different topic, and included a mix of presentation, discussion, and small group activities. Participants were asked to complete up to 1 hour of preparatory work (i.e. reading or reflection) in advance of each session. The eight sessions occurred weekly between February 1st and March 22nd, 2022.
4. Project Activity 4, Support trainees in delivering the training curriculum to new and beginning farmers and ranchers. (September 1, 2022 – August 31, 2023): Upon completion of the 8-week training, participants were surveyed to determine the ways they would most like to receive support in leveraging the training to help new and beginning farmers. Participants identified three core support strategies: quarterly calls for networking and resource sharing; a listserv for cohort communication; and additional training opportunities. In response to these requests, since the completion of the training, AFT has hosted three quarterly networking calls of 1.5 hours each. Between 7 and 10 service providers participated in each call, and participants used the time to share success stories and discuss challenges. AFT has also created a Google listserv to foster cohort communication. Lastly, AFT has been working to develop a follow-up training series. While many additional training needs were identified, the greatest need was for training on trauma-informed technical assistance and lease negotiation. Presenters have been identified, and a three-part virtual training series, to be held in January 2023, will address these topics.