With 33,885 beginning farmers counted in the 2017 census of agriculture, ohio ranks sixth among all states, and also houses a sizable but more difficult to quantify number of aspiring farmers

Perhaps because of this large cohort of new farmers, the number of farms and farmland acres in ohio is on the rise, bucking trends nationwide. Despite these encouraging notes, the challenges faced by beginning farmers are significant. Obstacles to beginning farming include gaining production, business, and financial management skills, along with access to farmland, capital, and credit. All impact a beginning farmer's ability to enter farming and to be profitable enough to continue farming. This project will comprehensively address educational, skill-building, and service needs of new and beginning farmers to enhance their ability to acquire land, be successful as producers, and manage viable farm businesses.increasing successful entry into farming and subsequent persistence in farming has the potential to deliver significant positive impacts to agriculture in ohio and across the U.S. Long-term, our food security, rural revitalization, and sustainability goals are intrinsically tied to the success of beginning farmers. The goal of the proposed work is to increase the number of successful beginning farmers who can access land and operate economically viable farms utilizing organic and sustainable production practices in ohio. We will achieve this by helping them master the fundamental skills and knowledge needed for success as land seekers, producers, and small business owners. This project creates new partnerships to (1) increase the readiness of aspiring farmers to begin farming independently by creating skill-building, educational, and networking opportunities; (2) increase farm viability and profitability of established early career farmers to improve their success through education, technical support, and mentoring; (3) increase access to farmland for beginning farmersby addressing the land transfer and farm succession planning needs of retiring landowners and farmers; (4) facilitate the creation of a cooperating ecosystem of beginning farmer service providers in ohio to address the comprehensive needs of ohio's beginning farmers, increasing collective impact ; and (5) evaluate, report, and disseminate results of our work.activities and outputs include farm internships; intensive formal apprenticeships and related instruction; workshops; extended courses; mentorships; technical assistance and coaching; print and web-based resources; and network development.as a result of this work, in the short term, aspiring farmers will increase knowledge and hands-on skills related to production and management, and will assess their interest and readiness to farm; early career farmers will learn new information to make improvements in production and business management; land seekers will learn new strategies for land acquisition; landowners and exiting farmers will take steps towards establishing land transfer and succession plans; and beginning farmer service providers will increase capacity. In the medium term, apprentice farmers will graduate to journey farmer status; early career farmers will make beneficial changes to production and business management, increasing farm viability and profitability; beginning farmers will acquire land; land owners and exiting farms will transfer land and businesses to beginning farmers; ohio will have a robust network of professionals providing services to beginning and exiting farmers; and beginning farmers will increase their ability to access USDA resources and programs and services of other agricultural professionals. Ultimately the number of few farm start-UPS will increase, increasing the number of farms and farmers. Additionally a greater percentage will use organic practices, advancing the protection and enhancement of natural resources, providing greater income for family-scale farms, and helping to revitalize rural communities.