Summarythe collaborative project entitled regional farmer-led education and training hubs for building resiliency and viable farms in minnesota and wisconsinwill be led by land stewardship project…

The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) was awarded a $645,750 Project Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) to operate Regional Farmer-Led Education and Training Hubs. The grant period is from September 1, 2021 through August 31, 2024.

Through partnerships with Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service, Angelic Organics Learning Center, local Soil & Water Conservation Districts, Cultivating Resilience LLC, and farmer leaders from the Red Lake Nation in Minnesota, LSP will offer proven beginning farmer training programs and develop two new regional hubs. Programming will provide education, mentoring, and technical assistance tailored to beginning farmers' varying levels of experience. LSP also plans to collaborate with Red Lake Nation partners to develop a new curriculum building capacity for socially disadvantaged beginning farmers. The goal of this collaborative project is to increase resiliency for beginning farmers with 5-10 years' experience through region-specific, farmer-led education and support across Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Summarythe collaborative project entitled regional farmer-led education and training hubs for building resiliency and viable farms in minnesota and wisconsinwill be led by land stewardship project (LSP), a nonprofit community-based organization with more than 25 years of experience developing farmer-informed and farmer-led programming to support beginning farmers. LSP's grassroots model makes the farmer's voice the primary source of information for all programs and services offered, and has resulted in a set of unique and successful farmer training programs, some of which have been replicated across the country, such as the farm beginnings (FB) program. LSP's farmer-led and community-based approach leads to ongoing innovation in how we engage and support beginning farmers, as the changing needs of farmers dictate the curricula and delivery models of our programs. This project was created to respond to the emerging needs of farmers in four distinct geographic service regions of minnesota and wisconsin, and uses partnerships to provide relevant education, mentoring, and technical assistance to beginning farmers with diverse needs. The long-term goals of this project are to: 1) offer proven beginning farmer training programs for varying levels of farming experience, with enhanced, farmer-informed curricula; 2) develop two new farmer-led regional training hubs to increase resiliency of beginning farmers with 5-10 years' experience; and 3) collaborate with red lake nation to develop a new curriculum and build community capacity to support socially-disadvantaged beginning farmers. The key collaborating partners for this project are: midwest organic & sustainable education service (moses); angelic organics learning center(aolc); soil & water conservation districts (swcd) in three rural minnesota counties; cultivating resilience, LLC; established farmer-leaders from across the region; the 4 directions development (4DD) corporation and community leaders of the red lake nation.