Building on the Mentor Farm Model

Commodities

Practices

• Education and Training: extension
• Sustainable Communities: urban agriculture

UMass Extension proposes to continue and strengthen its successful Mentor Farm program, which has demonstrated strong demand and meaningful impact among farmers and agricultural service providers (ASPs) across high-population-density areas in Massachusetts. Building on three years of intensive work with nine farms, funded by NESARE, the next phase will support two Mentor Farms per year, providing each with learning plans and tailored training. UMass Extension specialists will contribute expertise through site visits, consultations, and virtual meetings, while benefitting from professional development themselves. The program will continue offering free soil testing, plant diagnostics, and stipends to participating farms. Each Mentor Farm will host two on-farm educational events that educate a broader network of ASPs and farmers on focal topics for that farm.

A new component will be the creation of publicly accessible educational materials that synthesize common challenges and effective strategies observed across Mentor Farms. These resources will be disseminated through print, web, and streaming media to reach a wider audience of farmers and ASPs in high-population-density areas. The project will also launch a quarterly regional network of Extension professionals from Northeast states to share experiences and improve practice, addressing the need for stronger cross-state collaboration.

Through this work, UMass Extension aims to deepen trust with growers and help others support them more effectively.

At least 6 ASPs at six participating Mentor Farms (2 each year of this project) will gain science-based farming knowledge that improves management practices, increases productivity and efficiency of farm operations, and grows knowledge among participating employees, volunteers, and trainees.

An additional 24 ASPs (including agency and nonprofit staff, private consultants, and farmers) will gain knowledge from program events that helps them support Massachusetts farmers in high-population-density areas more effectively.

Ten UMass Extension staff and faculty will gain knowledge about working effectively with these farmers and will improve their pedagogy as a result; two of the staff are Agriculture educators who will benefit from additional professional development (e.g. conferences) to increase their effectiveness and develop their professional networks. Ten ASPs from other states will also benefit from increased cross-state consultation and improve their interactions with farmers in their states who are growing in high-population-density areas.

At least 36 additional farmers will gain knowledge relevant to their operations in high-population-density areas through direct project programming and will report likelihood of implementing improvements to their farms.

Additional farmers benefit through interaction with ASPs and use of program publications, and participation in network activities, but metrics beyond web hits are elusive.