Mentorship
FGF Mentorship Program
The Farmers Growing Farmers mentorship program is designed to provide expert advice to new farmers in need. We continue to develop our roster of mentors. Participants of the course are responsible for identifying what they need to learn and work with each other as well as the course coordinator to determine a plan of action. FGF recognizes farmer to farmer mentorship as a key success stratgey in starting and running a farm business.
Interested in receiving mentorship, but you are not part of the FGF course?
Download the Mentorship Learning Action Plan form. Fill it out and email to growingfarmers@everdale.org
Mentorship Program Details
Mentorship occurs in the following ways:
-farm visits (of the mentee and mentor)
-phone calls
-group mentorship (mentees can pool their hours and organize collectively)
-through email
For:
MENTEES (those receiving mentorship) | |
Content: | Content: |
Mentor Expectations | Mentee Expectations |
| Apply to be an FGF mentor: | |
| Download a mentorship log in excel | Download a Mentee mentorship log |
MENTEES (those receiving mentorship)
Mentorship for FGF participants
As part of the business course you are entitled to 5 hours of mentorship services, these hours are intended for use in developing your business plan and are available to you until April 5th.. If you are a recipient of the FGF Gift you have up to 30 hours of mentoring available. Please work with the course coordinators to find a mentor. Before you request mentoring please fill out your Mentorship Learning Action Plan (LAP) to identify your knowledge gaps and the focus of your mentoring inquiries. This plan will give you direction in consulting with your mentor and to find a mentor whose strengths match your needs.
All FGF mentees must track their mentorship hours in their mentee log. Mentees are primarily responsible for tracking their mentorship use to know how many hours they have used and have left.
UPDATE: Mentors who are traveling: Mentors are compensated at the hourly rate for their time during travel plus an additional hour of mentorship for their travel expenses.
Recipients of the Gift:
Recipients of the gift are not responsible for the additional hour (the travel hour) which compensates mentors for their travel expenses. The mentees Gift hours will go towards the total actual time taken by the mentor. If a mentor spends 4 hours on your farm and 1 hour to get there and 1 hour to drive back, then the time total is 6 hours of mentorship. They will be paid for an additional hour by FGF as part of the Gift, however this 'travel hour' does not come out of the 30 hour gift.
Participants paying fee for service:
If a mentor is traveling on your behalf, you are responsible for the mentors total time plus 1 hour to compensate for their travel expenses.
-evaluate the best use of their mentoring hours (ie whether it should be a farm visit or phone call?) and complete their mentorship learning plan and have a clear idea of their questions for mentors
-discuss with mentors the total amount of their time taken for each email, phone call or farm visit. This is to be clearly recorded by both mentee and mentor in the logs provided
-provide feedback to the course coordinator about how the mentorship program is going.
-forward e-mails to growingfarmers@everdale.org from mentors who provide information that could be of use to other new farmers. These emails will be compiled into a FAQ page. (Please pass along any and all great tips, tricks and pieces of information as well that you come across and think others could benefit from.)
-be respectful the mentor's personal time constraints and obligations when asking for their help/time
Participants with common interests can pool their mentorship hours to pay for a full or half day mentorship session in which multiple participants attend If you are interested in organizing a group mentoring session please consult with Harris to assist you in setting it up. Examples of group mentoring could include in-depth farm tours, meeting at Everdale to workshop farm plans with multiple farmers, seminars on specific topics – the possibilities are endless!
Let the Harris know if you have arranged a farm tour (or other meeting) with a mentor in which others could be invited along, as the more sharing that happens the smaller the cost in mentorship hours per person.
Contact Harris in class or at growingfarmers@everdale.org once you have worked on your learning plan and identified key areas that require mentorship. Choosing of mentors happens in consultation with you and takes multiple factors into account such as mentor strengths, your learning needs and geographic proximity.
The mentorship program can pair you up with mentors in two ways:
1) On a per need basis – this type of mentorship happens with specialists who are not available for ongoing mentoring or are not located in your region.
2) To help connect you to your local farming community – this type of mentorship intends to establish relationships that will have mutual benefit and be long lasting.
Once a mentor is chosen it is up to you to contact them and make the arrangements you need using your LAP as a guide. Each mentor must be familiar with the FGF mentorship program and the hourly payment + mileage reimbursement they will receive before you contact them for mentorship, ask Harris if you are unsure. It seems to work well to contact mentors initially by e-mail to arrange a phone call. Then all you need to do is call! Please be mindful of the time you choose to call (chores, sleep, meals etc).
Recommendations for the call:
Before calling, think about the following:
- Potential dates and times to have a meeting and what kind of meeting you would like to arrange. Is it an in depth phone call? A farm visit?
- Let the mentor know the focus of your interest, as identified in your learning plan.
The call:
Identify yourself as a participant in the FGF program who is looking for mentorship. It is always a good idea to ask if it is a good time to call. Explain a little about your business plan and the area(s) in which you are looking for advice. Gage the farmer’s response. They will likely be enthusiastic. Then seek to establish a meeting time. Let the farmer know your request, whether it is for a farm tour of your farm or their farm, a longer phone call, meeting up for coffee, farm tour, etc.
All of the mentors who have been contacted so far have been really enthusiastic. Maintaining positive relationships with our mentors is essential to making the program successful. In the unlikely event of a disagreement or confusion, avoid feeling the need to solve the situation and defer the conversation for Harris to pick-up. Keep Harris up to date with how things are going and what improvements could be made.
**Be sure to clearly discuss the total time required of the mentor for the phone, email or visit. This is to be recorded for your own purposes, as well as periodic checking in with the course coordinator.
What to do after each mentor meeting:
Log the time taken of the mentor in your log. It is important to ask them how long they have taken to answer your request. Mentors may research and prepare for the conversation, this is part of the mentorship time taken to be recorded.
If your mentor interaction was by email, please send a copy of the conversation to growingfarmers@everdale.org to be compiled into a FAQ resource and log the time indicated by the mentor in the email (if they didn't indicate any length of time, find out how long it took them). Email responses can take mentors considerable time.
What if I am paying fee for service?
If you are not a recipient of the FGF Placement Gift and would like to access mentorship services you will can prepay for the mentorship time you need. We ask that you purchase a minimum of 5 hours ($125) of mentorship services (Each hour is $25). Please make cheques out to: Everdale Environmental Learning Center. If you require fewer hours contact the PC.
MENTORS |
Content: |
| Mentor Expectations |
| Register as an FGF mentor: |
High Speed: Download a Mentor Information Form - Word |
| Dial-up: Download a Mentor Information Form - Excel |
| Download a mentorship log in excel |
| Example of a completed mentorship log |
Interested in becoming a mentor?
We are looking for expert farmers and local food specialists who are excited to work with new farmers of all ages. We are developing our list of mentors in accordance with the needs of our current and future participants. Mentorship is a key component of the FGF program to build knowledge and support networks for new farmers. FGF has ~ 10 gifts a year (from Heifer) for 3 years to provide to eligible new farmers who are in financial need. Each recipient of the gift will receive up to 30 hours of mentorship and a grant for capital spending up to $4000. As well, each gift recipient will sign a pass-on contract which states that in exchange for the gift they will be making commitments in sharing knowledge and information with their local community.
If you are a farmer interested in becoming a mentor please email us at growingfarmers@everdale.org or call 647-367-1816.
-determine the amount of time they have available for mentees (FGF has no minimum or maximum time requirements for mentors).
-discuss and communicate clearly with mentees the time that they are taking in response to the mentees’ requests.
-track their time spent mentoring in a log provided by FGF.
-submit their logs to FGF every 2 months or after each 10 hours of mentoring.
-provide feedback to the course coordinator about how the mentorship program is going.
-forward and share the information they send in email in response to mentee questions to mentorship@everdale.org to be compiled anonymously into a questions and answers internet resource.
-let FGF know if they will be away or would like their name removed from the list.
We are currently establishing our mentorship roster. FGF will have an independent roster from the EFAO. The focus of FGF's roster is on farm business planning. To sign up, fill out the 'Mentor Information Form' listed above. If you have difficulty with this form, please fill it out, print and send it to Everdale. If you are unable to fill this form out online please email growingfarmers@everdale.org with your contact information and we can mail or fax the form to you.
After you have sent us your Mentorship Information Form, we will enter the information into our mentor roster and skills database. This allows us to match mentors to the specific needs of our participants. Once a match is made, you will be contacted by the mentee to arrange a meeting. Duration and location of the meeting are at the discretion of the mentee and mentor. We would really appreciate your feedback!
Mentoring rates: UPDATED
FGF will pay $19/hr for the mentor’s time; this includes: time spent researching, writing emails and travel time. Mentees will be responsible for the total time the mentor takes with them. If traveling to meet a mentee mentors are asked to add an additional hour to their time spent with the mentee to compensate for travel expenses. If the mentee is a FGF gift recipient ( 30 hours of mentoring and a $4000 grant) FGF will pay the additional hour for travel expenses. If the mentee is not a recipient of the gift, the mentee is responsible for that hour. Either way, if the new farmer is a gift recipient or not, their hours are entered the same way in the mentor log. Mentees who are paying for mentorship prepay to FGF in 5 hour installments to the FGF program. Neither mentors nor mentees need to exchange money at any point when mentoring is happening under the FGF program.
Once you have submitted your Mentor Information Form, we will contact you to confirm and clarify any details as well as introduce you to the payment system. Mentoring for the FGF program happens on a contractual basis. Each time log submitted to FGF is to have a corresponding invoice, invoicing FGF for the total onthe log. All aspects of contract work apply. Mentors of FGF are under no obligation to: accept the work, travel on behalf of FGF and can decline mentee requests at any time. You do not require a GST number to work on a contractual basis, however, if you are charging GST be sure to include your GST number and a registered business number.
Mentors are responsible for reporting the mentoring that they do. Mentors are required to track their time on their mentorship time log which you can download above. We recommend that mentors submit their logs (by fax, email or land mail) monthly, after which cheques will be mailed to them. This system is a work in progress. Your feedback and patience is greatly appreciated.
Please submit your logs with an invoice multiplying hour total hours by $19 + GST (include your GST number ). Mentors without GST numbers please contact the program coordinator as soon as possible. We will add GST (which Everdale can get back) to your log totals.