HMI is excited to report on the data we have collected from our Beginning Women Farmer Training Program in Massachusetts which began in November 2012 and ran through May of 2013. This program was part of HMI’s Beginning Women Farmer Program funded by the USDA/NIFA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. 15 women were accepted into the program for the 2012-2013 program year and 13 graduated. The State Coordinator position was shared by Devon Whitney-Deal and Kristen Wilmer of Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture. Program mentor was Katie Campbell-Nelson of University of Massachusetts.
The data below demonstrates that a high level of knowledge and attitude change occurred and that the women completed or modified numerous farm plans (actual behavior change) which resulted in many benefits. 80% or more of the participants developed a whole farm goal, a financial plan, and a grazing plan.
Also of note, an extremely high percentage of participants reported increased satisfaction with aspects of farming including higher quality of life (80%), better communication (89%), improved time management (89%), increased ability to determine profit (100%), and improved ability to make complex decisions (100%).
The top ten post-session impacts realized by participants are:
Clearer sense of what farm is managing towards (100%)
Better ability to determine resources available for management (91%)
Improved decision-making (82%)
Improved understanding of your farm’s eco-system (82%)
Improved ability to articulate goals and objectives of business to others (73%)
Improved ability to determine appropriate management practices to remediate an environmental issue (73%)
Changes in how you prioritize expenses (73%)
New record keeping systems (73%)
Improved ability to incorporate social, environmental, and financial information into land plan (73%)
Enhanced Understanding of Your Farm Finances (64%)
There was an 86% satisfaction rating for the program mentor and a 94% satisfaction rating for the state coordinator. In 9 out of the 10 sessions 82% or more of the participants noted knowledge change. That knowledge change varied depending on content of sessions, but was as high as 84%. Overall satisfaction with sessions were 89% or higher for 9 out of 10 sessions with 86% of the participants satisfied with the program overall.
Of the 15 participants, 11 completed the final survey from which we were able to gather the following information.
The average years of farming was 4 years (range: 0 – 10 years)
The average acres farmed was 4 acres under production (range:.25 – 14 acres)
The average age of the farmers was 39 years old (range: 23 – 58)
The race the participants reported was: 7 Anglo; and 4 left the query blank
The total customers of all participants was 456