Illinois Farm Beginnings 2017 – Stateline & Central

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Taylor in Beginning Farmers, Education, Training Programs // 0 Comments

Apply TODAY for Stateline Farm Beginnings and launch or expand your farm business! This yearlong training program helps WI and IL farmers evaluate and refine their farm business, learn sustainable farming practices used on real farms, develop a tailor-made farming/business plan, and begin to view the farm as an interconnected system.

Program Components:

Winter Course Sessions (October 2017 – March 2018)
- 10 sessions of the farm business planning
Upper Midwest CRAFT Field Days (April – October 2018)
- Training events at sustainable farms in northern IL and southern WI
One-on-One Mentoring (April – October 2018)
- Pairing with a farmer-mentor on a case-by-case basis
Last Session & Graduation Event (September 2018)
- Share summer-time experiences and celebrate the completion of the course!

Enrollment Ends THIS FRIDAY, September 29th!

For more information, click here. To apply, click here.

Questions? Call (815) 389-8455 or email

statelinefarmbeginnings@learngrowconnect.org.

Are you located in Central Illinois? Check out Central Illinois Farm Beginnings!

Central Illinois Farm Beginnings (CIFB) is a training program to provide the best resources, information, tools and mentoring to help you start your own farm business in Illinois or Indiana. For more information, click here.

CIFB will help you:

Craft a detailed business plan for your farm, including your vision, mission, goals, and marketing and finance strategies
Tap into the knowledge of innovative and skilled farmers
Access opportunities for land and equipment use
Receive mentoring from a farmer engaged in a similar enterprise
Develop lasting relationships with many beginning and experienced farmers, plus a wide range of relevant professionals, including USDA specialists, farmers market managers, accountants, and attorneys

Farm Beginnings is emerging as the most effective way to increase the number of beginning farmers who are building food and farm economies that are green, fair, and healthy.

Farm Beginnings is recognized as “a model that is creating strong new farm businesses across the country” by Kathleen Merrigan then U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture (in her 2012 remarks to the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program directors).

Our farmer training is unique in that it is farmer-led, community based, and focused on sustainable agriculture.

Farm Beginnings is a yearlong program that incorporates a nine-seminar farm business-planning course, a series of on-farm field day workshops, and one-on-one mentoring from area farmers. The program is embedded in a network of farmers and supported by a community of stakeholders that include bankers, business people, extension agents, investors, philanthropists and more. Creating this social infrastructure is intentional and a precursor to launching new programs, as it bolsters outcomes and plans for program sustainability.