Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the goal of growing alaskan…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the goal of growing alaskan farmers: an agricultural training program for alaska native people and their communities is to train a growing population of beginning indigenous farmers in rural alaska. This goal supports the broader vision to foster food sovereignty across alaska by providing the training and support necessary for alaskan villages to grow their own food. This project is an indigenous-led, hands-on, farmer training program. Calypso farm and ecology center is the lead organization, collaborating with indigenous organizations including: native movement, tlaa deneldel, biclops productions and kawerak, INC. Calypso has been a recipient of two bfrdp grants in the past: 2016 (70017-25347) and 2020 (49400-32435). Both were focused on beginning farmer training in small-scale diversified farming. This current project was developed by beginning indigenous farmers and piloted as part of the 2020 project. This project continues and expands indigenous-led trainings and includes: beginning and advanced training sessions, train the trainer sessions, apprenticeships in multiple locations as well as remote courses through the winter on a range of farm planning topics. The program serves 95% indigenous farmers which are considered limited resource farmers. The majority are beginning farmers with 1-3 years of experience in categories 1 and 2. Our goal is that program participants will be ready to start their farming operations after two years of training and continuing education. 90% of the funding is allocated to community-based 501(c)3 organizations and 10% of the funding is allocated to an indigenous owned film production company.