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Program reaches out to citizens interested in farming careers
Missouri
A new educational program, to begin in October, will help landowners who want to get into farming for the first time and help current farmers interested in starting new enterprises.
Farm Beginnings, a program offered by University of Missouri Extension, will connect people considering a farm career with successful farm operators and business experts, said Randy Saner, MU Extension livestock specialist in southwest Missouri.
"The classes will include a lot of basics on starting and operating a successful farm business, but one of the greatest offerings is that participants will be taught and mentored by farmers who are out there making a profit," Saner said.
The program will follow a college-semester format. Participants learn as a class, attending a series of meetings and tours that build up to a final project and a graduation event. The first class will start on Oct. 22, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., at the Howell County Extension Center, West Plains, Mo. Meetings continue through February.
Most sessions will focus on business planning and the process of selecting enterprises that can be profitable, based on an individual's skills and resources.
"Too often, folks start a farming enterprise because it's something they enjoy, such as having a hobby garden and trying to turn it into a commercial operation, or getting into a new livestock business because they think they might like working with llamas," Saner said. "Farm Beginnings isn't about hobbies. It's about careful business planning and selecting an enterprise that can turn a profit."
Planning is a big part of the program. "Most of our presenters are actual farmer-mentors, people who have been successful at the enterprises they will discuss with the class," Saner said. "And every one of them is a major planner."
The Farm Beginnings program was developed and refined in Minnesota, which also has a growing number of landowners who either haven't been directly involved in farming or who are several generations separated from production agriculture, said Debi Kelly, project manager of the Missouri Alternatives Center on the MU campus. Kelly secured a grant to introduce the program to Missouri.
"With the continued growth of people moving into rural fringe areas around major cities, Extension receives more questions from people who want to make a living, or at least create a profitable business, on their acreage," Kelly said. "Farm Beginnings is designed to help answer those questions."
"We will limit the class size to 20 operations, though there will be more than 20 people in the classroom as I'm stressing that two people from each family participate," Saner said. "Farming takes a lot of work and family commitment. I think participants will be more successful if both spouses, or a parent and an adult child who will be involved in the operation, are both part of the learning process."
A fee of $500 per operation includes courses and one set of materials. Ten scholarships of $100 are available based on need. Participants will be required to make a $55 down payment and can make additional payments during the program period. "We want to make it as easy for people as possible," Saner said.
While the first Missouri Farm Beginnings class will be based in south Missouri, Kelly and others plan to duplicate the sessions throughout the state as interest grows.
For more information on the first Missouri class, contact Saner at 417-256-2391 or e-mail saner@missouri.edu. For general information the program, contact Kelly at 573-882-1905 or e-mail kellyd@missouri.edu, or browse the MAC website at http://agebb.missouri.edu/mac/fbp/index.htm.
The Farm Beginnings program is presented in partnership with University of Missouri Extension, Land Stewardship Project, North Central Sustainable Agriculture and Education Program and the North Central Risk Management Education Center.
Date: 9/22/05
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