Examples | How Does it Work? | Entrepreneurship Opportunities | Resources | Learn More

Domitila Martinez (on the right side, standing with arm resting on the bucket), is an independent farmer originally from El Salvador. She has successfully tapped into the wholesale market and sells some of her produce to Whole Foods Markets. Photo courtesy of ALBA website.

The future of entrepreneurial opportunities in agriculture depends on the ability of new family farmers and ranchers to enter agriculture. The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP), a competitive grants program, can play an important role in addressing critical issues facing new farmers and ranchers through supporting educational, mentoring and training opportunities.

The BFRDP is designed to provide support to collaborative networks or partnerships, which may include community-based organizations, non-governmental organizations, and extension and educational institutions that provide beginning farmer and rancher education, training and mentoring.

Examples

Building Farming Opportunities Through Farmer Training and Incubator Programs

 

Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) received a grant under the BFRDP in 2009. ALBA provides educational and economic opportunities for limited-resource, aspiring and immigrant farmers.

Their Small Farm Education Program, primarily conducted in Spanish, typically enrolls 24-36 aspiring entrepreneurs each November. Upon successfully completing course assignments, such as developing a crop plan and business plan, participants can qualify to lease ALBA farmland as early as the following April, when they also have a graduation celebration.

Participants lease land starting at 20% of market rates, and the rates increase to 100% of market over the course of seven years. They also pay fees for equipment and irrigation usage. These beginning farmers operate several small businesses at the 110-acre Rural Development Center, an organic farm located eight miles south of Salinas, California. Completion of the Small Farmer Education Program is a pre-requisite for accessing ALBA farmland.

ALBA Organics provides crucial produce sales and marketing education as it sells fresh produce grown by ALBA farmers. In fact, the first two classes of the Small Farmer Education Program focus on sales and marketing. This early focus on sales makes clear to aspiring farmers that business success rests upon their ability to sell in the marketplace. Sales strategies that farmers use include:

• Farmers’ Markets
• Community Supported Agriculture
• “You-Pick” Events at the Farm
• Direct-to-Retail
• Wholesale / Food Service (ALBA Organics and others)

ALBA encourages farmers to use any strategy that delivers value for both the farmer and the customer. As small-scale farmers, they encourage them to look at ways to maximize their share of the consumer food dollar. For example, selling directly at a farmers’ market will essentially provide 100% of the food dollar for the farmer.

California Farmlink

California Farmlink received a grant in 2009 to assist beginning farmers and ranchers who have solid production skills, but lack financial management skills and legal sophistication needed to navigate the myriad challenges they face.

Through this project, California FarmLink will offer a range of tools and resources including: a state-of-the-art linking program to connect farmers to lease and purchase opportunities; innovative tenure models to help farmers access land; Individual Development Accounts, a matched savings account program; and direct financing.

How Does it Work?

The BFRDP grant program is managed by USDAs National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and is administered through an annual Request for Applications (RFA). There is roughly $18 million available nationwide each year to pursue broad-based strategies to assist beginning farmers and ranchers. Activities to be included in such strategies:

• Mentoring, apprenticeships and internships;
• Assistance matching retiring farmers and ranchers with new farmers and ranchers;
• Other means of assisting beginning farmers and ranchers to acquire land;
• Model land leasing contracts;
• Innovative farm transfer tools and transition strategies;
• Entrepreneurial, financial management and business training;
• Acquisition and management of agricultural credit;
• Risk management education;
• Whole farm training and technical assistance with holistic conservation systems;
• Enterprise diversification and developing new markets and marketing strategies;
• Basic livestock and crop farming practices;
• Understanding the impact of concentration and globalization;
• Environmental compliance

The annual RFA will include all of the specifics that must be included in a proposal. This annual RFA is announced early in the calendar year and they typically provide eligible applicants 60 days to submit a proposal.

Eligibility

Applications may be submitted by a collaborative state, tribal, local, or regionally-based network or partnership of public or private entities. These collaborations may include the following entities:

• State Cooperative Extension Services;
• Federal, State, or Tribal agencies;
• community-based organizations and nongovernmental organizations;
  
• junior and four-year colleges or universities or foundations maintained by a college or university;
  
• private for-profit organizations;
  
• and other appropriate partners.

Inclusion of beginning and/or non-beginning farmers and ranchers as part of the collaborative group is strongly encouraged. Individuals are not eligible for consideration under any category applicable to the BFRDP.

Ready to Apply?

Stay tuned for the next funding cycle and find program information on the USDA website. This website will include the Request for Application information, as well as information regarding projects that have previously been funded under this program.

 

Entrepreneurship Opportunities

The most profitable opportunities for beginning farmers and ranchers are found in developing high-value, niche markets. Such markets require special production practices that allow the farmer or rancher to earn more per acre and/or animal.

Tapping into markets where consumers are willing to pay more for food produced in an environmentally friendly manner, such as organically grown food, grass-fed beef or pasture-raised chickens, offers great potential to get started successfully through profitable markets.

For example, U.S. sales of organic food and beverages have grown from $1 billion in 1990 to $24.8 billion in 2009. Sales in 2009 represented 5.1 percent growth over 2008 sales. Experiencing the highest growth in sales during 2009 were organic fruits and vegetables, up 11.4 percent over 2008 sales.

(Organic Trade Association’s 2010 Organic Industry Survey)

The BFRDP has a special emphasis on supporting training and mentoring programs that focus on establishing beginning farming or ranching opportunities through high value, niche markets.

Resources

For more in-depth information regarding this program, such as how to apply, see the this USDA website,

 

To learn more about the education and incubator program at Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA), visit their website.

Learn More

For more information on the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, contact Traci Bruckner, (402) 687-2103, Ext. 1016 or tracib@cfra.org.