Performing Department
Human Environmental Sciences
Non Technical Summary
The Missouri Beginning Farmers Blend Experiential Learning to Grow Their Farm Project through a collaborative effort of MU Extension, Brain Injury Association of Missouri and the Franciscan Farm aim to fill in the missing gaps for beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, military veteran farmers and farmers with disabilities and brain injury. The project will offer experiential learning for beginning farmers through workshops, Grow Your Farm course, Farmer Learning Circles, Farm Walk Abouts, technical one-on-one assistance and an internship program. We anticipate knowledge gain and behavior changes with adoption of new practices for 175 beginning farmers. Missouri's Project logically matches our Management Plan as described and outlined within the narrative.Through experiential learning of "doing, reflecting, applying", beginner farmers, limited resource farmers, veteran farmers and farmers with disabilities will learn to reflect in a deeper and meaningful way about their farming experiences through the five steps of adult learning. Beginning farmers will increase their knowledge (short-term outcomes), learn new ways to apply that knowledge (midterm outcomes), develop their skills and clarify their values with entering, establishing, building and managing successful farm enterprises. Collaborating with one community-based organization (CBOs) and one nongovernmental organization (NGOs), University of Missouri Extension will affect 60 new beginner farmers to the program and 115 recent graduates of the Grow Your Farm course by providing them with the tools needed to make informed decisions about their operations, and enhance long-term sustainability for 175 participants.?
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
The Missouri Beginning Farmers Blend Experiential Learning to Grow Their Farm new standard program objectives are:1. Pilot an experiential learning model to the Grow Your Farm course to include farmer self-directed group learning.2. Test a technical one-one-one assistance program for beginning farmers with disabilities and brain injury.3. Design and implement an internship program.The Project's activities to reach the three objectives include:· 3 Understanding the ABCs of USDA workshops· 3 Grow Your Farm, eight week classes· 12 Selling Local Foods workshops· 9 Farmer Learning Circles· 16 Farm Walk Abouts· 12 Farmer internships with mentoring opportunities· Technical one-on-one assistance customized to meet the need of each beginning farmer with a brain injury or disabilityThrough experiential learning of "do, reflect apply", beginner farmers will learn to discern in a deeper and meaningful way about their farming experiences through the five steps of adult learning. Beginning farmers will increase their knowledge (short-term outcomes), learn new ways to apply that knowledge (midterm outcomes), develop their skills, gain confidence and clarify their values with entering, establishing, building and managing successful farm enterprises (long-term outcomes).Collaborating with one community-based organization (CBOs) and one nongovernmental organization (NGOs), MU Extension will bring 60 new beginner farmers to the program along with 115 graduates of the Grow Your Farm course by providing them with the tools needed to make informed decisions about their operations and enhance their sustainability.The Program will utilize the newly revised Grow Your Farm course to continue to bring basic direction and business concepts to those desiring to begin farming.Recent graduates and new graduates will join self-directed Farmer Learning Circles (FLC) and Farm Walk Abouts (FWA) facilitated by MU Extension which will link specific agricultural content to participants' knowledge allowing them to work together to experiment and solve problems.MU Extension will scale up existing outreach programs coupled with providing technical one-on-one assistance and resources to address the priority areas using a multi-faceted approach to facilitate regional outreach initiatives and training opportunities to achieve the overall goal of the BFRDP - to assist beginning farmers in owning and operating farms.We anticipate participants will move through each initiative and training activity of the proposed program to gain detailed information, from learning about USDA programs for assistance to learning how to write a business plan to gaining hands-on training through Farmer Learning Circles, Farm Walk Abouts and mentoring.
Project Methods
"Experiential Learning" refers to learning by doing. It gives the opportunity to use or gain knowledge in a different way than solely reading textbooks or listening to lectures. It is through hands-on "involvement" that we truly learn -- we take terms and theories and see how they play out through interaction and hands-on experience with people and places.Through experiential learning, Missouri beginning farmers will learn how to reflect in a deeper and more meaningful way about their experiences. It will help them increase knowledge, learn new ways to apply that knowledge, develop their skills and clarify values with entering, establishing, building and managing successful farm enterprises.Experiential learning in Missouri will include beginning farmer work-related activities such as internships at the Franciscan Farm and job shadowing though Farm Walk Abouts. Educational activities such as the eight-week Grow Your Farm (GYF) course and Selling Local Foods workshops, participating in Farmer Learning Circles, attending ABCs of USDA workshop about USDA agency programs, and participating in technical one-on-one assistance.Though MU Extension has been able to help through training workshops and outreach efforts, there is much still to be done to assist beginner farmers who lack general farm management skills and knowledge of government agriculture programs.The GYF course has been offered for 10 years across the state predominately in the urban/rural fringe areas of St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield. Graduates of the GYF course learn vast amounts of information and most will have a draft business plan or a written plan with a direction for the farm. However, these graduates tell us that they essentially want a bit more "hand holding" to get them through the next phases of starting their farm.This Project seeks to do just that by offering specific experiential learning opportunities and utilizing the five steps in which adults learn. The activities outlined, when taken in sequence, will provide additional knowledge blended with farmer directed activities. However, beginning farmers can "jump in" at any point.The project will take on a regional flair piloting in a seven-county area around the urban/rural fringe of St. Louis - Jefferson, Ste. Genevieve, St. Francois, Washington, Franklin St. Charles, and St. Louis Counties along with St. Louis city. Due to beginning farmer comments and surveys, activities outlined for the project are appropriate, simply because they are asking for these types of activities.Recruitment for beginning farmers will be existing markets such as Facebook pages, websites, MU Extension press releases, radio interviews, and word of mouth. BIA-MO and Franciscan Farm have their own promotional contacts to add to the mix. Graduates of the GYF course will also be contacted.