Grant ID Number: ENE08-107
Grant Recipient: Beth Holtzman, University of Vermont Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Burlington VT
The needs of new and apprentice farmers include specific issues like access to land, credit, capital, markets, business support, and financial planning. The project manager will use focus groups to teach agricultural professionals about the needs of beginning farmers, to encourage more responsive service delivery to this group, and to train up a corps of providers who can develop programming that supports this group. Of the 40 agricultural service providers participating, 20 will make their programs more responsive to the needs of beginning farmers; six will work with farmers to develop new programs that address needs identified by the focus groups Follow-up surveys will be used to evaluate improvements in farm operations.
