Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** since 1996, marbleseed, formerly…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** since 1996, marbleseed, formerly the midwest organic and sustainable education service (moses) has served as one of the critical organizations for promoting and educating farmers on viable sustainable and organic production. Together with our partners, we have successfully educated a community of thousands of diverse new and beginning farmers on sustainable and organic production practices and farm finances. Building off the foundation of the previous bfrdp projects (fearless farm finances, new farmer u events, new organic stewards program, mentorship and direct farmer support), marbleseed seeks to support upper midwest beginning farmers through content and learning opportunities that address business planning, production technical assistance, expanded mentorship, and systems for financing and land access. This current application builds on the success of the previous while expanding reach to socially disadvantaged farmers via incubator farms, new state partners, and other marbleseed programs that directly engage historically underserved beginning farmers.with an estimated 700 million acres of farmland expected to switch hands in the next 20 years across the country, the need to train a new generation of farmers and to provide equitable access to land and capital grows more imminent. Every time we lose several old people in the community, there are no young people coming to replace them. I think that we need to [...] figure out new ways to rebuild the community and to reanimate the person-to-person interaction...basically we need to mentor and transfer knowledge from one person to another (snyder ET AL., 2022, PP. 140). The good news is that, according to the 2017 agriculture census, attrition rates among beginning farmers have gone down and the number of women farmers has increased. This suggests the work done to support beginning farmers and underserved audiences by organizations like marbleseed and our partners is making an impact. The farmer advancement programwill support a continued increase of successful beginning farmers, including underserved farmers, by supporting their learning needs in farm business management, product marketing, professional development, access to land and capital, and mentor relationships with more advanced peers. The project will have a general focus on socially disadvantaged and underserved organic farmers and ranchers, including farmers on leased and or in incubators, where higher concentrations of bipoc and other socially disadvantaged farmers exist in higher concentrations due to their issues around land access and ownership. We involve bipoc and other socially disadvantaged beginning farmers and ranchers in project development and design.