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Farm Foundation Opens Applications for Its FarmPath Program
- Bob Benenson
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Non-Profit to Pick 300 Farmers Across US for a 3-Year Intensive Business Curriculum
Farm Foundation, based in the north Chicago suburb of Libertyville, today (February 23) opened the application process for its innovative FarmPath program, which will be offered at no cost to selected participants.
The non-profit organization plans to choose 300 farmers from across the United States, of various levels of experience, for Year One of a three-year virtual intensive, focused on sustainable farming practices and successful farm business management.
The cohort will be winnowed to about 75 participants for Year Two, during which they will work with mentors to build and refine their business plans. Farmers who move on to Year 3 will be eligible for grants of up to $10,000.
The deadline to apply is Monday, March 23, at 5 p.m. central time. Farm Foundation is partnering on FarmPath with The Mosaic Company Foundation for Sustainable Food Systems and Pepsico Foundation.
Click the button below to visit the FarmPath website for more details and to apply. (If you are not a farmer but know one who you think should apply, please pass this info along.)
The Farm Foundation reached out to Local Food Forum this past October with an announcement of the program. When I published it, I had no idea that I would end up with a personal connection to the FarmPath program.
It turned out, though, that Jen Rosenthal — a longtime friend with lots of growing experience — was one of our subscribers who saw the story. It piqued her interest, she applied for their newly created Farm Programs Manager position, and she was hired to start the job in December. (I will be following soon with a profile of Jen and the persevering food journey that led her to Farm Foundation.)
In an interview, Jen emphasized that FarmPath is designed to assist farmers of a wide variety of growing practices and experiences.
"Our goal is to have a 300-person cohort from all around the country at different stages of experience, knowledge, farming systems," Jen said. "Anywhere from commodity row crops to market garden, homesteading, urban agriculture, first generation, fifth generation, wherever you fall."
She continued, "What's super cool is that we're trying to reach the next generation of family farm farmers, or a young farmer that maybe doesn't feel aligned growing the way mom and dad or grandma and grandpa did."
While there will be an emphasis on sustainability and regenerative agriculture, this is not a farmer training program focused on how to raise particular items of produce or livestock, but rather about how to build a farm business that is made to last.
"You have to get the business side or you'll lose the business," Jen said. "Land access is a huge barrier, and the capital needed just to get going. There are certain things that are bare minimums. You need to have a certain amount of success to have product, to be able to sell, to sustain your your business."
FarmPath is planning to hold live learning webinars about once a month, which will be recorded and made available to all cohort participants to accommodate farmers' often challenging schedules.
And to supplement the course work, FarmPath will be creating a "toolbox" of resources and guides. "It would be worth participating just for that toolkit," Jen said.