Michigan Four Season Farmer Development Program Accepting Applications

The Four Season Farmer Development Program (4SFDP) is a two year program designed to help individuals transition from farming experience to farm ownership.  The two primary characteristics of qualified participants are significant experience growing food in a commercial environment and an entrepreneurial drive to own you own farm business.  Upon acceptance, you will have the opportunity to earn income through your work in the program. The program’s farm campus will include stationary and mobile hoop-houses, wash-pack shed, root cellar and other farm infrastructure.  A group of farmers and other mentors will provide coaching on development of your business plan, searching for land, how to effectively evaluate your farm and business, as well as other essential skills.  In this supportive environment, you will be able to launch your business on an existing farm campus and then transition your business onto your own farm property. This program requires a 2-year full-time commitment of approximately 40 hours each week.  You will be expected to invest $1000 to the 4SFDP upon your start date.  This money will be directly invested into your crop production and business development. For more information and application click 'Read More'. Applications are due by Dec 21st, 2010.

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Compensation earned during program participation will be from farm production.  This can mean that there will be times when there is little opportunity for income, especially during the first months of the program.  Of course, weather and other factors can also play a role in the success of any farming venture.  Farmer participants should have reliable transportation to get to the program as well as that needed to carry out their business model.

The application can be accessed on the home page of selmacafe.org or directly by clicking HERE.

Thank you for taking the time to complete this application for the Four Season Farmer Development Program. Please do take your time to thoroughly answer the questions on the following pages. You can simply insert your answers into this form and email it back.  If at anytime you have a question regarding the application, please email jeff@selmacafe.org.

When completing the application, please be concise, yet thorough.  If there are additional documents or records you would like to include in this application, please fee free to attach them in your email.  We will review all you submit.