Stateline Farm Beginnings® 2012-2013
Stateline Farm Beginnings® is a farmer-led training and support program designed to help people plan and launch sustainable farm businesses. Since 2005, graduates of the program have launched more than 35 new sustainable farms in our region!
Through Farm Beginnings®, you can:
- Tap the knowledge of some of the most innovative and skilled farmers operating in the Midwest.
- Develop lifelong friendships and networks with other beginning farmers.
- Learn critical farm management skills such as creative financing and innovative marketing strategies.
- Receive mentoring from a farmer engaged in a similar enterprise.
- See sustainable farming practices being used on real farms under a variety of conditions.
- Learn to view a farm as an interconnected system and learn how goals determine farming practices.
- Access opportunities for land and equipment use and/or rental.
- Craft a tailor-made farming/business plan.
The one-year Stateline Farm Beginnings® program has three components:
- Winter course (October to March): ten business planning sessions from that focus on goal-setting and planning for profit.
- Training events: CRAFT monthly field day workshops (April to October) at sustainable farms around the region. Tuition includes a $100 reimbursement for skills development workshops of your choice.
- Mentoring from a successful sustainable farmer in your field of interest. Mentoring arrangements are flexible, taking employment and family situations into account. Students may or may not be paid, depending on the agreement between the mentor and apprentice.
If you are interested in applying, click on the links below for the Information and Application packet (available in Adobe Acrobat and MS Word formats) and the Scholarship Application. (You can also find a downloadable information and application packet at the bottom of this page.)
We are no longer accepting applications for the Stateline Farm Beginnings® 8th year (2012-2013). Applications for Year 9, 2013-2014 will be available July 1, 2013.
Stateline Farm Beginnings® Scholarship Application & Net Worth Worksheet (MS Word format)
For more information, contact Sheri Doyel, Program Facilitator, at 815.389.8455 or statelinefarmbeginnings@learngrowconnect.org.
Not ready to apply yet but want to get involved now? Consider joining CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training). Meet experienced and new farmers, attend 10-12 free workshops per year, receive email information about sustainable and organic farming, resources, access to land, equipment, supplies, funding sources, workshops, and lots of other interesting information. CRAFT members get first notificaiton when the Stateline Farm Beginnings® application period begins each July.
If you are not ready to apply but would like to be on the notification list for future courses beginning each October or you have additional questions, please email us at statelinefarmbeginnings@learngrowconnect.org or 815-389-8455.
Stateline Farm Beginnings® serves northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Click here for Central Illinois Farm Beginnings®. Stateline Farm Beginnings® is a collaboration of Angelic Organics Learning Center, the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT), The Land Connection, the Land Stewardship Project, and six other partners. All Farm Beginnings® material was developed by the Land Stewardship Project based on the experiences of their farmer members. It is used by permission under license . Stateline Farm Beginnings® adapts these original materials based on the experiences of its CRAFT member farmers.
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