Agripreneurship

1
Agripreneurship

• Growing new farmers for the future

2
Agripreneurship Incubator Committee Members

• Jennifer Fahy, Farm Aid
• Heather Friedrich, University of Arkansas
• Emily English, Arkansas Food Policy Council and
  Ark. Farm to School
• David Davies, Winthrop Rockefeller Institute
• Ben Burkett, Federation of Southern Co-ops
• Keith Richards, Southern Sustainable Agriculture
  Working Group (SSAWG)
• Michele Halsell, University of Arkansas Applied
  Sustainability Center,
• Connie Falk, New Mexico State University
• Zelina Bazan, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
• Joe Wilson, Northern Missouri Pecan Growers
• Ron Rosati, Alfred State College, NY

3
Purpose

• To create a farming incubator infrastructure and
  supportive community that enables new and
  existing producers to develop successful farming
  systems and marketing enterprises that are
  adapted to local ecological and social
  characteristics.
• This program takes a holistic, comprehensive
  approach to creating successful new farmers by
• identifying participants,
• providing experience-based production and
  business-management training,
• and financing new enterprises
• in collaboration with regional, state, and local
  partnerships.

4
Incubator Program Overview

• A federal program is created to finance
  establishment of new and strengthening existing
  farming incubator/training facilities across the
  country.
• Examples of incubators include
• The Intervale in Vermont ww.intervale.org
• Minnesota New Farmers
• ALBA in California
• Nuestras Raices in Massachusetts
• The Farm School in Athol, MA
• MOFGA in Maine
• Aflred State College in New York
• Berea College in Kentucky
• Farm Transition Network, North Carolina
• New Entry Sustainable Farming, Tufts Univ.

5
Institutional partners to create the program

• Kathleen Merrigan, USDA
• Neil Hamilton, Drake Univ.
• Janie Hipp, USDA
• Henry Bahn, USDA
• Michelle Obama
• NGOs and Foundations
• Walmart Stores Foundation, Kellogg, Gates, Pew
  Charitable Trust, etc.
• Identify potential legislative sponsors

6
Siting of new incubators

• New incubator sites should be co-located, where
  feasible, with marketing and aggregation hubs in
  the regional food system empowerment zones.

7
Action Steps

• Contact appropriate conference organizers to
  present this proposal.
• Write a small grant to fund a researcher to
  inventory and evaluate existing farmer incubator
  programs and facilities to determine best
  practices. This research should also examine
  existing funding streams at USDA that fund pieces
  of this program.
• Convene conversations with key USDA personnel.
• Discuss the option of convening a national
  meeting on farming incubators, and invite all
  existing incubator directors and managers.
• Explore the option of creating a national
  association of farming incubator professionals,
  and a farming incubator website.
• Study graduates of incubators to evaluate
  attributes of successful farmers.
• Write case studies of farming incubator
  organizations.
• Map existing incubator sites.

8
Overall Incubator Program Requirements

• Phased Planning Process
• Planning / Feasibility Grant
• Implementation Grant

9
Planning Grant Required Components

• Partnership Plan
• Land Acquisition Plan
• Recruitment Plan
• Mentorship Plan
• Training / Certification Plan
• Infrastructure
• Business Sustainability Plan (for the incubator)
• Metrics

10
PGRC (cont.)

• Regional Characteristics Specified
• Tailored to Regional Considerations
• Climate
• Soils
• Markets
• Urban/Rural/Suburban
• Crops
• Infrastructure
• Population
• Water

11
Partnership Plan

• Must discuss proposed partnerships that could
  include, for example,
• FFA
• FCS
• 4-H
• FSA
• CES
• NGOs
• Landlink
• Corporate
• LGUs
• Existing incubators

12
Infrastructure Plan

• Equipment
• Housing
• Irrigation
• Cooling
• Storage
• Transport (Vehicles, Loading dock)
• Packing/ Processing
• Front office

13
Training Plan (for sustainability)

• Determine Entry Requirements
• Production
• Tractors, Irrigation, systems management,
  horticulture, livestock, carpentry, alternative
  energy, planting, harvesting, etc.
• Business
• Marketing, finances, budgeting, feasilibility
  analysis, personnel, mgmt, etc.
• Ecology and environmental training