Non Technical Summary
While many beginning farmer and rancher support programs provide needed resources and support to fill these gaps, beginning farmer programs are limited in the Phoenix area with no currently active programs on the FarmAnswers.org website. There are federal level programs available through the USDA Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Loan program and the local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office, but past programs offered through the University of Arizona (U of A) Extension office have diminished significantly. As one local NRCS staff stated, "Resources are out there but it does require some digging." On top of this, in the case of newly arrived immigrant farmers, a lack of language skills and cultural understanding causes many of these aspiring refugee and New American growers to have difficulty accessing the knowledge and technical assistance from university extension programs and other resources such as FarmAnswers.org. The resources, business trainings and other resources provided by local organizations, lack available interpretation, should newly arrived immigrants even be able to find them, and ongoing technical support is difficult for refugee farmers to access. There are available urban farms and community gardens where refugees can farm, but year-round beginning farmer support is not available in the greater Phoenix area outside of IRC in Phoenix.IRC in Phoenix's New Roots Beginning Farmer and Rancher program (New Roots Phoenix) fills this gap by serving beginning refugee, immigrant, and women farmers in urban and suburban Maricopa County, Arizona. The goal of the program is to increase the number and financial success of socially disadvantaged beginning refugee and women farmers in the greater Phoenix area by providing them with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to create thriving agricultural businesses.Participants will be recruited for New Roots Phoenix through the IRC in Phoenix's comprehensive case management and referral process, focusing on incoming refugee clients and former refugee clients. Incoming refugee clients will be recruited during initial intake process with the IRC in Phoenix and other refugee resettlement agencies in the Phoenix area. IRC in Phoenix holds positive relationships with the larger resettlement community in Phoenix, and is regarded as a trusted educational resource and conduit to opportunity for the refugee and broader community in general. Since other refugee resettlement agencies do not have a farming program, this program will be serving refugee clients beyond those arriving and resettling through the IRC in Phoenix.

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
902	6099	3080	10%
604	6299	3010	25%
503	5399	3010	10%
205	1499	3010	25%
401	1499	3010	10%
712	1499	3010	10%
503	1499	3010	10%

Knowledge Area
712 - Protect Food from Contamination by Pathogenic Microorganisms, Parasites, and Naturally Occurring Toxins; 902 - Administration of Projects and Programs; 503 - Quality Maintenance in Storing and Marketing Food Products; 604 - Marketing and Distribution Practices; 205 - Plant Management Systems; 401 - Structures, Facilities, and General Purpose Farm Supplies;

Subject Of Investigation
5399 - Structures, facilities, and equipment, general/other; 6099 - People and communities, general/other; 1499 - Vegetables, general/other; 6299 - Marketing, general/other;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics; 3080 - Sociology;

Goals / Objectives
Goal: 150 socially disadvantaged beginning farmers in the Phoenix area start or improve their farm businesses through access to appropriate productive resources, knowledge, and markets.Objective 1: Provide 150 new and existing beginning farmers with access to land, production and harvest infrastructure, and business resources on New Roots Phoenix's training farms.Objective 2: Provide training and technical assistance in production and marketing skills to 150 socially disadvantaged beginning refugee and women farmers.Objective 3: Assist 70 beginning refugee and women farmers to access new market opportunities.The project objectives and approach were developed out of expressed and observed needs of beginning farmers in the Phoenix area. Recent surveys conducted with existing program members provided essential insights supporting the creation of the proposed project. Compiled survey results and showed that farmers want educational trainings and/or workshops on the following topics: markets for specific types of vegetables (ex: where they can sell specific Asian varieties), irrigation information, seasonal planting information, and information on how to produce more within a limited space. Also, farmers were interested in having access to high quality materials in both their native language and English. Lastly, farmers stated the following key goals: food security for their families and friends, extra income for their families, health benefits for themselves and their families, and mental health benefits, linking these important benefits to the further development of their farm enterprises.

Project Methods
I.• Staff will maintain existing land agreements and manage the shared areas of the incubator sites. They will also establish management plans with aspiring farmers in order to incrementally hand over site management needs, such as garbage disposal and upkeep of the grounds immediately bordering their production space. Staff will evaluate land holdings on an annual basis for their compatibility with program needs and identify other possible land sites if necessary.• Project staff will conduct semiannual assessments of cultivation and harvest tools on farm sites, work with farmers to purchase needed supplies, and replace worn out items as needed.• Project staff will gauge wash and pack needs at each site from year to year, and redevelop appropriate infrastructure through coordinating work days.• New Roots Phoenix will recruit new farmers who are interested in utilizing project farmland and resources land through its internal screening process of recent clients, as well as through working with local partners who are in contact with aspiring farmers.• Using an internal referral process, New Roots Phoenix staff will make referrals of at least fifteen farmers to IRC in Phoenix's internal Microenterprise Lending Department. Staff will follow-up on progress related to these referrals.II.• IRC in Phoenix Staff will facilitate linguistically and culturally appropriate trainings through the Microproducer Academy Training Program, developed in partnership with the Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED Solutions) through a 2014-2017 BFRDP project. A set of eight field-based workshops will serve the entering cohort each year, along with any participants who require or request to repeat any or all of these courses. All lessons utilize hands-on and participatory techniques that engage learners in discussion, practice, and application of concepts. The IRC in Phoenix will provide language interpretation through this project. Topics include:• Crop planning and production for market• Pest management and crop rotation for each season• Proper water use and arid lands and native plant species crop production techniques• Proper post-harvest and handling practices• Business planning and marketing techniquesThe production knowledge provided to farmers will be geographically specific to the Phoenix area. These trainings will focus on appropriate crop selection and production methods specific to the Sonoran desert. The production techniques (i.e. climate smart agriculture) will be tailored to the local setting but the knowledge of these techniques will be useful beyond the Phoenix region. The marketing techniques and business development knowledge can be adapted to other geographical regions, communities, and/or agricultural systems as needed, regardless of climate and will be information that farmers will use well beyond the life of the program and beyond the initial geographic setting.• Program staff will follow-up training sessions with a weekly schedule of "Technical Assistance hours" offering participants one-on-one technical assistance for specific production, harvest and business management issues. IRC will work closely with U of A Extension, Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH), and NRCS to address farming issues, and facilitate interpretation or other translation of concepts and practices to farmers. Program staff will also provide ongoing technical support on a weekly basis to all farmers engaged at market sites run by the program. This technical assistance time will also facilitate the evaluation of program outcomes as described in Plan for outcomes-based reporting, as this one-on-one time spent with farmers will enable staff to observe directly the farming and marketing competencies of each participant.• New Roots Phoenix staff will work with existing farmers and the IRC in Phoenix resettlement case workers to reach out to aspiring and beginning women farmers in the refugee community to organize women farmer groups for extra social support. Groups will facilitate relationship building between women who are farming on the same land or are of the same language group, and interested women will be able to participate in women-only meetings run by staff and volunteers from the refugee community. For this new initiative, New Roots staff will develop a process for these informal support groups based on similar groups in other IRC programs around the country that encourages the discussion of topics brought to the meeting by the participants themselves, and helps them become more self-managed over time.III.• New Roots Phoenix staff will continue to develop its existing relationships with corner stores and farmers markets, and build new relationships with retail venues interested in working with program participants. Working with markets within the refugee community connects small-scale farmers, and the retail outlets themselves, to local customers in their own neighborhoods. This gives participants the ability to generate greater revenue and cultivate business skills that will ultimately allow them to scale up to regional marketplaces and expanded production.• Staff and partners will facilitate market linkages for farmer participants who are ready to sell their produce. At direct marketing outlets, New Roots Phoenix will provide technical assistance for these growers both to reinforce the teachings in the trainings and help growers and staff better understand areas for improvement. At indirect market outlets, New Roots Phoenix staff will make proper introductions between the grower and the vendor and work to facilitate clear communication with respect to the initiation of the process.• Staff will work with farmers and partners to create a "training farm stand" and will set up and manage the newly created "stand" at farmer's markets which New Roots Phoenix operates, or will work to open such a farm stand at markets run by partner organizations. One of the biggest obstacles to moving a beginner refugee farmer to a new level of independence is getting them to sell their crops directly to a vendor or consumer. The development of a "training farm stand" intends to give hesitant growers practice in produce display, money management, conversation and relationship development in a setting that helps them learn through direct practice.• With the help of more advanced beginning farmers and project partners, staff will connect with small business leaders and engage them and other partners to participate in presenting at a mini-business symposium in year 2. This event will connect growers with buyers and provide trainings on more complex issues like: insurance, land procurement, price fluctuation and market volatility, and specialty certifications (i.e. organic). Outreach to business partners will take place over the phone, in person, and other locations throughout the Phoenix valley. Farmers will be surveyed for topic specifics and the workshops will be centered on their responses. Farmers will be also invited to the training farm stand and/or mini symposium based on their business goals. Personal invitations and community-based information sharing will be used to invite farmers to the symposium. IRC in Phoenix staff will also create flyers/handouts to have at farms and other gatherings. The concepts and skills learned at the symposium will allow program participants to gain more independence and handle their businesses without as much help from the IRC in Phoenix.