The National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number Grant #2012-49400-19673 funded HMI’s 2015 Beginning Farmers & Ranchers: Women in the NE & Texas program. We recently completed evaluation of the Connecticut program which was coordinated by Deb Legge and Sherry Simpson through Connecticut Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA). Lead instructor for this program was Sherry Simpson. Mentors for the program were Allyson Angelini, Phoebe Browning, and Art Talmadge. There was 96% average satisfaction rating for all sessions and 100% of the participants noted they had increased their network as a result of the training. Thanks to the USDA/NIFA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development program for their support of this program.
Here’s what we’ve learned from our 16 Connecticut participants, of which 13 graduated from the program:
Participant Demographic Information
Of the 12 participants responding
11 are currently farming
The average years of farming was 3 years (range: 1 to 5 years)
The average acres under production was 5 acres under production for a total of 55 acres influenced
The total customers of all participants: Retail – Average 54 (total 324); Wholesale – Average 45 (total 45)
I'm confident production will increase and my land will be healthier Learning from other people's experience it helps to avoid the mistakes, change and improve the way I did before. Reinforced importance of community - I am actively seeking our community relationships. New BWF friends have been supportive, sharing ideas & resources, providing expertise & guidance. More effective in communication, this leads to easier approach to reading consensus and focus on implementation of the plans I have loved the whole process - meeting fellow farmers, making my holistic goal, planning, and visiting. Be prepared, making plans that helps to predict the outcome for the future year. Confidence. A different way of looking at the land (holistically) & I can't put enough value to creating my holistic goal HMI has taught me how to ID, address and monitor problems in my farm business I now have tools that will help me to evaluate & adapt/change/improve what I do & learn every year! It has helped me focus on a future that will be fulfilling and recognize and realize all my goals, not just the financial ones. It has given me tools to really ground my decision making and ways to think about and frame issues & problems creatively. It has helped to clarify my goals and reasons for them. It has provided me with a ton of useful information as well as clarified problem areas I had (such as time management issues). It has really boosted my self-confidence, especially because of going through this training with other women in my situation.
This training reinforces my belief in farming as a sustainable lifestyle that is beneficial not only to my immediate family but to the environment and the community as well. It relieves the anxiety of "fear of failure" as a beginning farmer and confidence and concrete business skills at the beginning stage.
Has been huge! Have gone from a pipe dream to actual production. I also feel several of the topics - especially holistic goal, weak link, & time management are life skill even if I'm not farming.
This was an incredible process!! The value of this goes beyond quantifying. It was well worth my time & effort & resources spent!
Very knowledgeable instructors who always have useful information and answers for beginner farmers' questions.
It was very worthwhile. My approach to farming is changed in ways I would not have imagined. Excellent content.
I loved it! All the information covered was relevant and presented in an interesting way. The instructor, Sherry Simpson, was excellent and very supportive and cheerful. I'm so glad I took this course! Thank you!