Report from the Field: The Nuts and Bolts of Getting Started in Farming

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What kinds of pathways can an aspiring farmer take to get up and running? And what new tools can be found in a Northeast-based beginning farmer's toolkit? This past January, Melissa Madden of The Good Life Farm teamed up with other farmers and resource providers to present "The Nuts and Bolts of Getting Started in Farming” at the NOFA-NY Winter Conference. Here, she reflects on the presentation and shares some tips for those just starting out.


By Melissa Madden with input from Erica Frenay and Maryrose Livingston

As a beginning farmer, I am typically hungry for resources to help my planning and skill development. Before I reached my current stage in the process of Farming as a Career, I was able to bounce around through apprenticeships, manager positions and an incubator farm opportunity. These resources were essential to my personal development as both a farmer and a citizen, and when working with “aspiring” beginning farmers, I often emphasize this path. What is clear to me now is that over the past 5-10 years, resources to support the beginning farmer population have blossomed into a well-rounded set of tools designed for multiple learning styles. While both my partner and I took a very hands-on approach that landed us at our new farm (The Good Life Farm, Interlaken, NY), we barely tapped the current plethora of resources which range from non-profits, like our dear Groundswell’s programs and affiliates (Ithaca Crop Mob, Finger Lakes CRAFT), to increased offerings in sustainable agriculture at universities and colleges (see the Beginning Farmer Project, for one), to more focused apprenticeships and management positions offered through farming associations (see NOFA-NY’s new apprentice matching tool and the BioDynamic Association for examples).

From my perspective as both a farmer and Cornell’s former staff member assigned to the Dilmun Hill Student Farm, public and private resources are providing new farmers-- young and old--with everything from land acquisition advice to accounting to farm safety training and essential technical skills. Trying to encapsulate the variety of things a new farmer needs to know in any one session or resource can be daunting, and that is exactly what a group of Groundswell and Cornell- affiliated farmers and educators did this past January at NOFA-NY’s 2011 Winter Conference in Saratoga Springs, NY. Led by Erica Frenay, Cornell Small Farms Program’s Beginning Farmer Project Coordinator, we guided workshop participants through a day-long session focused on de-mystifying the farm start-up process. The “Nuts and Bolts of Getting Started in Farming” topic was in its second year at the 2011 conference, and presenters Erica Frenay and Jamie Edelstein (Wylie Fox Farm, Cato, NY) brought in extra muscle (literally) with Donn Hewes and Maryrose Livingston (Northland Sheep Dairy, Marathon, NY) and the beginning farmer perspective via my partner Garrett Miller and me. Our focus sweepingly included advising participants about goal setting, getting access to good land, start-up financing and business planning, assessing resources and skills, and marketing and profitability. The way it turned out, we might have addressed many more topics than those specifically, but these were the framework for our day.

Preview of Nov 1 Local Fair Trade Workshop in Ithaca Journal

The upcoming NOFA/Groundswell sponsored workshop on local fair trade is previewed in an article in the Ithaca Journal. The workshop, coming up on Nov 1st at Ecovillage in Ithaca, will cover just labor practices, setting fair prices for goods and the concept of "Local Fair Trade". For more information, visit the Groundswell Center's website.

Ithaca farm programs examine food pricing
EcoVillage to host Nov. 1 workshop on community-supported agriculture

By Krisy Gashler • kgashler@gannett.com • October 17, 2010, 7:45 pm

One of the pioneers of community-supported agriculture in New York will be co-leading a workshop for farmers on labor and pricing policies on Nov. 1.
Elizabeth Henderson has been growing vegetables at Peacework Organic farm near Newark, N.Y., in Wayne County for 22 years.
"Ours is the oldest community-supported agriculture project in this area," she said.
Along with Robert Hadad, Cornell Vegetable Program fresh market specialist, Henderson is scheduled to host an all-day workshop on farm labor policies, pricing and local fair trade at EcoVillage in Ithaca.
"Paperwork is not what farmers most like to do -- that's why they're farming -- but it's something that you have to do, so we're trying to make it easier," she said.
Workshop topics cover creating a safe, just workplace and calculating reasonable production costs and fair prices.
"I would like to see fair trade done in our food system, but to get a fair price, you have to be able to calculate it accurately. That's what the workshop is about: laying the groundwork for fairer trade," Henderson said.
There's no set amount that workers or farmers should make, but it should be a living wage for everyone involved, she said.
"It's wonderful, wonderful work to do, if you could make enough working at it five, even six days a week. And it's so important. You know, why are we paying a lawyer $100 an hour and a farmer minimum wage?" she said. "So many farms go out of business and it's because we live in this cheap food system, and farmers aren't paid adequately for the important work that we do."

Ithaca Crop Mob will be presenting at the NOFA-NY Winter Conference this year!

The Ithaca Crop Mob will be presenting "Stories from the Crop Mob: Barn Raising in 2010" at the NOFA-NY "Diggin' Diversity" Winter Conference in Saratoga Springs, NY this year! ICM Organizers Katie Church and Rachel Firak will be speaking with Deb Taft of the NYC Crop Mob about how our the two groups got started, how they function, and what agricultural activism and cooperative volunteerism can offer our community. The presentation will be on Sunday from 8-9:15 a.m. To register for the conference, check out the Event Schedule and learn more about the conference, visit NOFA's website at https://www.nofany.org/events/winter-conference.

Upcoming Nov 1 Workshop: Farm Labor Policies, Pricing and Local Fair Trade

Preparing the Ground for Local Fair Trade

ATTENTION FARMERS: November 1 workshop will help you understand and implement fair labor and pricing policies

To help set the stage for domestic fair trade, the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York is sponsoring a series of workshops for farmers on farm labor policies and setting prices that cover farm production costs. The Ithaca workshop will be held on November 1 and is cosponsored by Groundswell.

Farm Labor Policies, Pricing and Local Fair Trade

Elizabeth Henderson, long-time CSA farmer and leader in the international Agricultural Justice movement, is one of the presenters at the November 1 workshop.

Monday, November 1, 2010
9am - 3 pm

EcoVillage FROG Common House

Rachel Carson Way, Ithaca, NY

Charge: $35 ($30 NOFA-NY members), includes a light lunch and a copy of Richard Wiswall's The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook

Please RSVP by October 15 to Robert Hadad, Cornell Vegetable Program Fresh Market Specialist, at rgh26@cornell.edu 585-739-4065. If you include your email, you will receive an electronic copy of the Agricultural Justice Project Tool-Kit, a guide to good farm labor policies.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: Farm Labor Policies, Pricing and Local Fair Trade
For a farm to be sustainable, the farm needs a steady, well-trained labor force and the products of the farm must bring a price in the marketplace that covers the cost of production, plus a living wage for the farmer, money to do repairs and maintenance, to pay for continuing education for the farm staff, and to make improvements to the farm. Many family-scale organic farmers have the best intentions, but under the day-to-day pressures of farming, do not take the time to learn all the relevant laws and regulations, and to document their well-intentioned practices. The purpose of these workshops is to provide the concrete information and documentation a farmer needs to live up to the claim of social justice.