NIFTI Webinars

Webinar: A Conversation with Lowcountry Local First

Media:

  • Video

Join us for a conversation with Brian Wheat from Lowcountry Local First (https://lowcountrylocalfirst.org/). Their Good Farming initiative supports sustainable agriculture and is designed to grow and connect the local food system by training new farmers, supporting existing farm businesses and educating consumers. Additionally, they provide consulting services for private companies, municipal government, and anchor institutions to cultivate local farms and fill gaps in economic development activities. Lowcountry Local First has transitioned their farmer training program from an incubator farm model to an apprenticeship model that incorporates apprenticeships with local food businesses as well as farms, providing pathways to careers in food throughout the value chain. Learn about this transformation and participate in the discussion to see how their transition and lessons learned might be applicable to your farmer training program.

Webinar Slides: Lowcountry Local First

Media:

  • Digital Download

A Conversation with Lowcountry Local First and the Responsive Evolution of an Incubator and Apprenticeship Program presented by Brian Wheat, Lowcountry Local First, Friday, May 11th, 2018.

NIFTI Webinar #1- Incubators 101

This webinar covers: (a) the basic framework of our new National Farm Incubator Technical Assistance Initiative and how it can help you achieve the programmatic goals of your farm incubator project; (b) the reasons for starting a farm incubator and common strategies for meeting diverse farmer training and support goals; (c) presentations on how veteran incubator projects (New Entry, as well as our project partners ALBA, the Intervale Center, the New Farmer Develop Project, and the Big River Farms Training Program) operate successful and diverse programs; and (d) a 15 minute Q&A session regarding specific program operational practices.

NIFTI Webinar #10- Teaching Financial Literacy to Farmers

Join the National Incubator Farm Training Initiative (NIFTI) to learn tools and best practices for teaching financial literacy to beginning farmers. Our presenters are Julia Shanks - Julia Shanks Food Consulting, and Gary Matteson – Farm Credit Council. The webinar will focus on practical strategies for teaching farmers how to manage the financial health of their businesses.

NIFTI Webinar #9 - Metrics and Evaluation for Incubator Projects

Media:

  • Digital Download

This webinar will focus on best practices for developing evaluation protocols for your program. Learn from the experts on how to gather data and report on outcomes. We will have presentations from: Jessie Schmidt at the University of Vermont on the “Farmer Assessment Web” tool; Maggie Donin at the Intervale Center; the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association; and NIFTI will launch its brand new resource, “The Metrics and Evaluation Toolkit for Farm Incubators”.

NIFTI Webinar #7 - Advocacy for Incubator Farms and Farmers

Media:

  • Video

This webinar covers strategies for engaging farmers in federal and local advocacy efforts related to beginning farmer issues. Hear from the Land Stewardship Project, the National Young Farmers Coalition, and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition about how your program can make sure beginning farmers voices are heard loud and clear in the upcoming Farm Bill debates.

NIFTI Webinar #6 - Transitioning Farmers Off the Incubator Site

Media:

  • Video

This webinar provides strategies for transitioning farmers successfully onto their own farm operations. Partners from the Intervale Center, the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) and the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (New Entry) will discuss farmland matching programs, helping farmers access capital, and the structure and challenges of continued support for graduates.

NIFTI Webinar #5- Land and Site Management for Incubator Farms

Media:

  • Video

This webinar covers managing shared infrastructure and incubator sites. Partners from the Intervale Center, the New American Sustainable Agriculture Project, the International Rescue Committee and the Minnesota Food Association discuss a wide variety of topics including leasing land, soil fertility management, infrastructure development, urban farming initiatives and general site maintenance (budget, staffing, etc.).

NIFTI Webinar #4- Marketing Support for Incubator Farms

Media:

  • Video

This webinar exaplains how to integrate marketing support and cooperative marketing on incubator farms. Partners from the Intervale Center, the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) and the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (New Entry) will discuss avenues for marketing incubator farmer's products, cooperative storage, distribution, and marketing infrastructure (food hubs), maintaining product quality, and food safety concerns.

NIFTI Webinar #3- Curriculum Development

This webinar covers developing appropriate curricula for beginning farmer training programs. Partners from the Minnesota Food Association (MNFA) Big River Farms Program, the New American Sustainable Agriculture Project (NASAP), and the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (New Entry) discuss different learning modules of relevance to beginning farmers, as well as provide examples of lesson plans, exercises and other teaching tools. The webinar also addresses teaching to populations with language barriers and how curricula fit into the broader incubator farm program structure.

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