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 farm collaborative, in…

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 farm collaborative, in partnership with western colorado farmers and technical service providers, will launch a reimagined western colorado-based farmer training program focused on aggregating and deploying resources to prepare beginning and under-resourced farmers with the fundamental skills needed for long-term farm success and viability. Our program will serve beginning farmers at all levels of experience. Over three years, we will 1) run a heavily evaluated version of our current, unstructured apprenticeship program; 2) run two cohorts of beginning farmers with 1-3 years of experience through the pilot apprenticeship training program, 3) link farmers with trainings on finances, marketing, and land access, and 4) provide more experienced beginning farmers with 3-5 and 5+ years of experience an opportunity for growth and expansion of their business via opportunities for 0% loans, financing, guaranteed product purchases, and housing. Farmers with no experience (as well as those at all other levels) will engage with the programming through field days hosted by other farmers and a web-based hub of resources tailored for western colorado farmers, with bilingual resources developed in conjunction with the region's latinx farmers. At the project's conclusion, we will have a robust ecosystem, wherein would-be, beginning, and under-resourced farmers are connected with the region's multitude of farm service organizations and opportunities, as well as each other. Over the course of this project, we will provide at least 1700 beginning farmers with access to resources, provide at least 45 with one-on-one support, and run 12 through our revised apprenticeship program.