Looking to Jump-Start a Farm Business?
Registration Now Open for Central Illinois Farm Beginnings™
Central Illinois Farm Beginnings™, a joint project of The Land Connection and University of Illinois Extension, is a farmer-led training and support program designed to help people plan and launch farm businesses that are economically and environmentally sustainable. Whether you are interested in growing fresh fruits and vegetables for local markets, or turkeys and geese for the holidays, Farm Beginnings can help you jump-start your business.
Now in its third year in Illinois, Central Illinois Farm Beginnings links farmer trainees with successful entrepreneurial farmers via a comprehensive one-year program. The program, originally developed by the Land Stewardship Project in Minnesota, starts with farmer-led seminars that run through the fall and winter with topics that range from marketing to financial planning. In the spring and summer, participants go through a mentorship program with an experienced farmer in their area of interest. They also participate in hands-on field days at local farms where they learn skills that run from fruit-tree pruning to goat-hoof trimming.
"There is absolutely nothing like talking to the very people who have walked the path of sustainable farming,” said Bill Wilson, who participated in the first Central Illinois Farm Beginnings class. “I learned so much hearing the success stories, and even the failures, from the wide variety of farmers that presented, one class after another. Farm Beginnings will likely save me thousands of dollars in mistakes."
The Central Illinois Farm Beginnings course was developed by a local steering committee consisting of experienced farmers and farm financial advisors. It is facilitated by Terra Brockman of The Land Connection, Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant of the U of I Extension, and Leslie Cooperband, also of the University of Illinois and co-owner of Prairie Fruits Farm.
“We need to make it possible for young people—men, women and families—to be involved in farming,” says Cooperband. “It’s imperative for the well-being of our rural communities, and of our state and nation, to encourage and support farming methods that are good for the environment, as well as being economically viable.”
Central Illinois Farm Beginnings will begin this October with nine bi-weekly seminars taught by Central Illinois farmers and business professionals. Seminar topics include planning for profit, multiple marketing strategies, and building a business plan. The course tuition allows up to two members of the same farm enterprise to attend. Some scholarships are available.
Central Illinois Farm Beginnings graduates Andy and Jennifer Miller used the course to jump-start their meat goat business. "The class helped us look at our operation carefully," said Jen Miller. "We know what quality of life we want. We want to raise meat goats with a minimum of time and inputs, but still be financially sustainable. We want to utilize the pastures, so we can feed them less grain and allow the manure to fertilize the pasture."
Jen said that the course materials and the guest speakers were helpful, but it was the connections with other members of the Farm Beginnings class that was most valuable. "I know that I now have at least six people I can call on when I need help. I already email the other meat goat farmers in the group once or twice a month with questions."
“Farm Beginnings is more than a series of training sessions,” says Central Illinois Farm Beginnings co-facilitator Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant. “The foundation of the program is a mentorship component that links established farmers with course participants. Participants interact with the established farmers through field days as well as one-on-one farm visits and informal meetings.” “Many people are pessimistic about the future for family farms,” said Terra Brockman, who also facilitates the course. “But this program is proving that an environmentally and economically sound future for family farms and rural communities is possible.”
In addition to the Central Illinois program, based in the Decatur area, there is the Stateline Farm Beginnings program that serves the northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin area. The Stateline program is run by Parker Forsell, director of the Farmer Training Department and coordinator of the CRAFT program at the Angelic Organics Learning Center, an educational nonprofit organization in Caledonia, Illinois.
For more information on Central Illinois Farm Beginnings, contact Kathy McGroarty-Torres (847-570-0701; info@thelandconnection.org) or Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant (217-968-5512; cvnghgrn@uiuc.edu). Applications for Central Illinois Farm Beginnings are now being accepted online at the Central Illinois Farm Beginnings website, or you may receive an information packet and application through the mail.
For the Stateline Farm Beginnings® program, contact Annette Meach (815-494-5547; annette@csalearningcenter.org) or Parker Forsell (815-389-8455; CRAFT@CSALearningCenter.org) of the Angelic Organics Learning Center.