Great Lakes Farmers Program
Background
Farmers in the Great Lakes are a unique and dynamic community that produce fruits and vegetables and are a very important part of the Michigan economy. More than a 1,000 farms are operated by hispanics (USDA NASS 2017) and more than 49,135 migrants and seasonal farmworkers work in agriculture (Michigan Update Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Enumeration Profiles). In addition, farm managers are emerging as farm owners and replacing the aging farmers generation. Despite the success of La Cosecha program to train farmers of different skill levels, new farmers still face many challenges: the Covid-19 pandemic negatively impacted all farmers, and invasive species and climate change will impact their crop production. Michigan orchards are surrounded by forests that need to be preserved for future generations. Farmers requested from our team to address these new challenges. Therefore, a strategic plan needs to be implemented.
This project is a partnership with Michigan State University (Entomology, Migrant Student Services, School of Packaging, and Extension) and Telamon Corporation for the following objectives: a) provide training in Forest Carbon Management and Climate Change mitigation; b) conservation programs (NRCS); c) increase fruit and crop production and diversification; d) provide the training in business, marketing and access to the food systems (hubs); e) train in safety practices including (GAPs), pesticide education; f) gain access to the USDA programs; g) provide essential training in packaging; and h) establish a mentoring network.
Approach
To meet the objectives we will use cultural, linguistic and technical approaches. A series of workshops (outputs) to train people new to farming (Figure 2). Each workshop will be performed annually. Additionally, mentoring one on one and establishing farmers connections are the critical points for success.
Recruitment: The best way to recruit individuals that are new farmers to attend workshops is by establishing relationships with local community and reaching out via cellphone or text message during the evenings and/or weekends, dissemination of information utilizing local businesses. In addition, we have a WhatsApp group chat to provide news and communicate training dates. Additionally, we have built a large network of new farmers (more than 300 farmers and their families) in the area.
Expected Outcomes
We expect that farmers will be able to make right decisions about crop production and improve both sustainability and food safety. Lessons learned in our model system will be applicable to other groups of beginning farmers around the country. We expect that about 97% of our target audience take the workshops, received one on one training, participate in the network of farmers network, expand markets, crop diversification and increase the sustainability of underserved farmers in the Great Lakes
region.
Target Audience
Beginning Farmers and Ranchers in the Great Lakes region.
Acknowledgments
We appreciate the valuable support from the USDA for the NIFA BFRDP Award # [2023-49400-40895] Michigan State University
PD: Dr. David Mota-Sanchez Michigan State University (MSU) Co-PDs: Luis Alonzo Garcia Migrant Student Services, Dr. David MacFarlane MSU. Sarah Perry, Angelica Solorio-Mendez Telamon Corporation. Team: Eva Almenar, Juan Pedro Solorio, Omar Posos-Parra (MSU). Mariel Borgman, Benjamin Werling, Benjamin Philips, Florencia Colella, Ana Heck, Philip Tocco MSU Extension. Antonio Castro-Escobar MDARD. Dr. Esteban Valtierra COLPOS. BFRDP Award # [2023-49400-40895 ] Michigan State University
