Everdale's

A participatory, experience and mentorship based program for new farmers     

Launching February 2008

NEW !!  MENTORSHIP PROGRAM   NEW !!

We are looking for mentors, if interested please click above!

NEW !!  Detailed information about CASS funding for new farmers  NEW !!

Interested in starting a farm based business? Please click here to fill out a survey

FGF will be running again in the Fall of 2008

Please send us an e-mail to be added to our contact list to receive updates

growingfarmers@everdale.org

Farmers Growing Farmers Program Components

Program and Course Philosophy

Course Schedule

Download an application form 

Links, course files and background reading

E-mail questions to: growingfarmers@everdale.org

www.everdale.org

Farmers Growing Farmers (FGF) Program Components:

Farm Business Planning Course

This is the foundation of the FGF program. The course covers all aspects of planning for new, small scale, close-to-market farms. Nine weekly classes with presentations from farmers and local food specialists address the logistics and realities of starting and running a farm business. Class work and homework leads to the development of an energized business plan by the end of the course, which runs from 

Feb 1^st ~ March 29^th.

Mentorship - Click to find out more

You will have access to extensive one-on-one mentorship with farmer mentors that specialize in your interests. Mentoring begins during the course.

Small Capital Grants

Subject to Heifer eligibility, a completed business plan, and full course participation, you can attain up to $4000 in startup capital grants. 

Please see the following files for more information: Funding Options    Passing On The GIft Contract

Land Access

Participants will have support finding the quality farm land they need.

Advanced Farm Planning

To access additional assistance from professionals in your field, we will support your application to federal business planning programs such as the Canadian Farm Business Advisory Service (CFBAS) and the Planning and Assessment for Value-added Enterprises Program (PAVE).

Long Term New Farmer Support

All participants of the FGF program are encouraged to participate in an alumni network to workshop business plans and access further training in farm management and planning.

After developing and starting your farm the course coordinator will provide ongoing support and yearly site visits.

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Program and Course Philosophy

The FGF program is designed as a social and information network that fosters partnership and equality.  Participants, mentors, and facilitators contribute their own knowledge and experience to form a community of learners.  The aim is to break from the conventional notion of teachers producing knowledge for the passive consumption of students within a classroom.  Instead, the program recognizes and activates the indispensable knowledge of established farmers, those new to farming, and others involved in the food system. 

As a partner of Heifer International, who has sponsored this program, FGF embraces their philosophy of “passing on the gift”. FGF asks that participants be open to sharing their experience as new farmers through future FGF activities (class presentations, mentoring, farm tours).  As participants move on and establish a farm business, their experience will become invaluable to those who are at an earlier stage of planning. 

Farm Business Planning Course Schedule    

     ¹ In the event of poor weather, confirm with the course facilitator.  If the class is cancelled, we will re-schedule it for session 11 and we recommend

       reading the relevant chapters, according to that classes topics, in the M.I.S.A.handbook.

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Course Time Commitments

Classes will run from 6:30 – 9:30 pm on Thursdays with Saturday sessions at the beginning and end of the course.  Please ensure you have at least three hours between sessions for homework and research.  The course will be hosted at Everdale, near Hillsburgh (1 hour drive north west of Toronto).  Please let us know if transportation is an issue.  We will organize car pooling where possible.  See www.everdale.org for directions.

Course and Program Fees

The cost of the Farm Business Planning course is $400 per participant.  The tuition is discounted considerably for the February 2008 launch.  Participants will be actively involved in providing feedback to further the development of the course.  The tuition may be recoverable for those who apply for funding through the Canadian Agricultural Skills Service (CASS) before taking the course. 

Program services in addition to the course at this time are for mentoring services.  Read the mentorship page for more information on the mentoring program and paying fee for service.  CASS funding as well as Heifer funding maybe available to you.    Read more on CASS here     Read more on Heifer Funding here

*Contact us if you would like more information about pursuing CASS funding.*

Eligibility Criteria for Participants in the Farm Business Panning Course

·        Committed to starting your own farm business in the next year or two, and have at minimum a general idea of the structure of that farm (general location, crops, marketing strategy, etc);

·         In the spirit of Heifer, course participants are open to sharing their experiences as new farmers through future class presentations, mentoring and/or farm tours;

·        Committed to Ecologically sound farming (though organic certification is not a requirement);

·        Committed to being an active participant in the learning process.

                                    Please Contact us for more information: growingfarmers@everdale.org

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Links:

New Farmer Links and Resources - a comprehensive list of programs and resources for new farmer training

Course Files:

Funding Options   

Passing On The Gift Contract

Course Outline/Schedule

Wally's presentation

Wally's CSA excel file

Ann Slater's Presentation (in word format) on small farm regulations

Simon Jacques ppt on certification

John Molenhuis - OMAFRA - Financing and OMAFRA programs for small farmers Power point 

David Cohlmyer's accessing land handout -  Coming soon

Don Mills - LFP and partnerships powerpoint

Course Resources and Background reading - organized by session:

Session 1 Introduction and background reading

So you want to be a farmer:  (Produced by Agriculture Canada)

http://agmarketing.extension.psu.edu/Business/PDFs/SoWantFarmr.pdf

Session 2 & 3 Holistic Management
Holistic Management: A whole-farm decision making framwork:

http://www.attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/holistic.pdf

Session 4 Analyzing your Current Situation

"Farming Alternatives: A Guide to Evaluating the Feasibility of New Farm-Based Enterprises" by NRAES

"Exploring the Small Farm Dream" by The New England Small Farm Institute

1000 Stories of Regenerative Agriculture

http://www.newfarm.org/archive/1000_stories/1000stories_archive.shtml

Stats Canada - 2006 Census - Organic Statistics - click to download 

Wally's presentation

Wally's CSA excel file

Session 5 Developing a Marketing Strategy
 

http://www.csafarms.org/csafarms0656231.asp - Awesome CSA startup manual from the Michigan CSA conference mini school.

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/directmkt.pdf - Direct Marketing - ATTRA - a comprehensive resource

Selling Strategies for Local Producers:

http://extension.missouri.edu/explorepdf/agguides/hort/g06222.pdf

Marketing Ethnic Foods - This is an amazing collection of presentation summaries and some great videos from a recent local conference:
http://www.farmstart.ca/conference-follow-up/conference-follow-up-home/

http://www.climateandfarming.org/eghg-f.php - CSA's can counter climate change?  Let your customers know the added values of sustainable agriculture

Session 6 Developing an Operations and Human Resource Strategy
 

Information on and about writing contracts: http://www.hiringacontractor.com/

Session 7 Developing a Financial Strategy
 

Good overview of financial documents for small farms -  http://www.newfarm.org/depts/NFfield_trials/factsheets/pricing/index4.shtml

http://www.newfarm.org/depts/NFfield_trials/factsheets/pricing/index4.shtml  is Part 4 of an amazing series on finances, this ones touches on creating budgets.
http://www.newfarm.org/depts/NFfield_trials/factsheets/pricing/index4.shtml  is Part 3 of that series on cost concepts.
http://www.newfarm.org/depts/NFfield_trials/factsheets/pricing/index2.shtml  is Part 2 on record keeping.
http://www.smallfarms.cornell.edu/pages/projects/factsheets.cfm  contains a bunch of fact sheets for livestock enterprises developed by Cornell University which include budget examples.

http://www.nr.gov.nl.ca/agric/fact_pubs/pdf/fbm/management.pdf - Management Depreciation versus Capital Cost Allowance - government resource

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT101172761033.aspx?av=ZXL000 - This is link to Excel spreadsheet templates for a wide range of financial statements. Most relevant to this course are the "Income Statement 1 Year" and the "12 month cash flow statement"

http://www.cias.wisc.edu/pdf/grwr2grwr.pdf - Study: Financial analysis of 24 farms

Session 8 Land, Financing and Answering Legal Questions

http://www.ssfpa.net/documents/pdf/south_carolina_credit_barriers.pdf - Funding the New Harvest: Overcoming Credit Barriers for North Carolina’s Sustainable Farming Enterprises

http://agmarketing.extension.psu.edu/Business/PDFs/SoWantFarmr.pdf - So you want to be a farmer:  (Produced by Agriculture Canada - good overview of the topic)

www.everdale.org/growingfarmers/Organic Products Regulations.pdf  - Canadian Organic Product Legislation

www.everdale.org/growingfarmers/Canadian Organic Production Systems Standards.pdf  - Canadian Organic Production System Standards

Session 9 Evaluating, Implementing and Monitoring your Plan
Local Food Plus is presenting this session:  www.localfoodplus.com

Writing you business plan - http://www.farmcentre.com/File.aspx?id=b44db8ff-c6e2-43ab-8173-33c28e51619c

Session 10 Reflecting on the Business Planning Process

http://www.sare.org/publications/naf2/naf2.pdf - The New American Farmer: Profiles of Agricultural Innovation:  (200+ case studies of small diversified farms)

Post Course:

Canadian online farm management skills course :  http://www.farmcentre.com/File.aspx?id=7657331a-f604-48fa-8b80-3903446936f0

Agriculture schools and courses in Canada: http://www.farmcentre.com/resources/Courses/

Farm school scholarships: http://www.farmcentre.com/resources/Scholarships/

General Resources

Download the: New Farmer Training Resources in Ontario Pamphlet

http://www.newfarm.org/ - Tremendous resource on all topics.  Great search engine.

http://www.journeytoforever.org/farm_library.html - AMAZING Links to tones of ag resources

www.soilandhealth.org - amazing online library of many agriculture classics and more recent texts.

CSA Resources

http://www.csafarms.org/csafarms0656231.asp - Kansas is got it! - CSA coop and cooperation starting point.

http://www.csafarms.org/csafarms0656231.asp - Awesome CSA startup manual from the Michigan CSA conference mini school.

http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/PDF/csa.pdf - ATTRA - General CSA info

Production Links

http://www.ibiblio.org/farming-connection/  -Sustainable Farming Connection: (A source of excellent links to many topics)

http://www.pasturemanagement.com/index.htm - Livestock and pasture management

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/ - Vegetable MD - online!  Yep diseases and their hopeful remedies

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/postharvest.pdf - Post harvest handling for vegetables

http://www.uvm.edu/sustainableagriculture/HighTunnels.pdf - Low cost season extension in greenhouses

http://www.journeytoforever.org/farm_library/ppp/pppToC.html - Book on Poultry Production

Food Listserves  

http://www.farmcentre.com/Services/Emails.aspx - Weekly newsletters from the CFMBC - Canadian Farm Business Management Council

http://www.foodsecurity.org/list.html - Community Food Security Coalition - Great ear to the ground source - mostly American

hmilistserve-subscribe@yahoogroups.com - Holistic Management topics - great information and discussion - send blank subject and body email to join.

discover-subscribe@gtalocalfood.ca - Discover Local Food Listserve - Run by the Greater Toronto Area Agriculture Action Committee - relevant local info and events

localfoodlist-subscribe@gtalocalfood.ca - Also run by the GTAAAC - local food ideas list

tfpc@toronto.ca - Toronto food policy council listserve

http://www.foodshare.net/links01.htm#2 - Foodshare - Great links to agriculture organizations near and far

Organizations:
http://www.organiccouncil.ca/ - The Organic Council of Ontario

http://www.localfoodplus.ca/ - Local Food Plus Certification

http://www.foodsecurity.org/pubs.html - Community Food Security Organization

http://www.farmstart.ca/ - Great organization with amazing links and resources on line.

http://www.farmstart.ca/ready-to-farm-home/ - Directory of relevant resources for a variety of related topics

http://www.efao.org - Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario

http://www.agriwebinar.com/UpcomingAgriwebinars.php - organized by the CFBMC - online real time talks about current agricultural issues

http://www.farmcentre.com/home.aspx - Canadian Farm Business Management Center - Great website with many resources

Local Food and New Farmer Media Links:
http://www.beyondorganic.com/ - Podcasts

http://kootenaycoopradio.com/deconstructingdinner/ - Weekly web radio show - Deconstructing Dinner - Canadian made

http://www.thegreenhorns.net/trailer.html - Great upcoming new farmer movie

http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/ - Blog about the above film - scroll down to find a long list of online food related movies

http://womensgardencycles.wordpress.com/ - Upcoming film about a cycling community garden tour across the continent

http://www.kingcorn.net/ - Gripping full length documentary about corn and the food system

http://www.angelicorganics.com/ - The Real Dirt on Farmer John - Great movie about Farmer John and Angelic Organics

Great Local Farms:
www.vermiorganics.com  - Worm composting business and 350 acre farm - Starting a CSA - Also field cropping

http://www.coopersfarm.ca/index.php - Goats and Veggie CSA + agro-tourism -mazes - great website

www.fertilegroundcsa.com - Kitchener CSA of Ang Koch

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