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Many beginning farmers,
like Tony Daranyi, target food niches with innovative approaches.
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Cultivating
Farmers
Projects Lend Helping Hands to New and Small Producers
Tony and Barclay Daranyi began farming in 2000
near Norwood in southwest Colorado, raising chickens
on pasture, growing vegetables in hoop houses and baking bread they
sell at a nearby resort (FW01-010). They try to learn about farming
from others.
“I don’t like to be the first person on the learning
curve,” says Tony Daranyi.
Several Western SARE grants focus on helping producers like the
Daranyis climb the learning curve.
Sue Donaldson, water quality specialist with
the University of Nevada in Reno, notes that on the fringes of the
West’s bulging cities, fresh landowners settling on retired
agricultural land are rarely equipped as effective land stewards.
Yet they hunger for guidance to do the right thing.
To feed the appetite for these and other small landholders, Donaldson,
working with specialists from California, Colorado, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington,
developed training materials for ag professionals who work with
owners of small acreage (EW99-003). To date, nearly 1,000 copies
of the materials—15 PowerPoint lessons and an instructor’s
guide—have been distributed to 34 states and Australia.
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New and small farmers are
getting help to manage their land in ways that are productive
and environmentally sound. |
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In the Seattle area, in the wake of rapid urbanization and an aging
farmer population, a new breed of farmer is succeeding on small tracts
of land by selling directly to urban consumers. Few of these farmers
grew up on farms or attended an agricultural university. To assist,
Brad Goalach, a Washington extension
educator, is developing a model program called “Cultivating
Success” (SW03-016). It will train beginning and transition
farmers in understanding the essentials of farm planning, production,
stewardship and marketing.
Cinda Williams of the University of Idaho
notes that three-fourths of Washington farms and two-thirds of Idaho
farms are classified as small—from 1 to 179 acres—and
many new small farmers are emerging. Her project (EW03-009) is providing
ag professionals with an easy-to-use curriculum to train and mentor
small farmers, old and new.
In Hawaii and the Pacific Islands,
new farmers are cultivating former plantation land at a time when
residents and chefs at local restaurants, hotels and resorts are
demanding locally and sustainably grown vegetables, fruits and herbs.
To help these farmers produce and market their crops, Samir
El-Swaify of the University of Hawaii is developing a trainer
workbook and CD, Web site and manual so ag professionals can educate
new farmers (EW03-002).
“We must focus on existing and developing technologies that
enhance productivity and environmental quality as well as economic
viability. In doing so, we must avoid excluding technologies
considered to be controversial, such as biotechnology. The
Hawaiians have a concept, ahapu`a`a, which means ‘from the
mountain to the sea’ or, in Western terms, watershed, which
they used to manage all aspects of their existence. We should
view sustainability in a similar broad manner.”
Mike Harrington, executive director, Western Association of Agricultural
Experiment Station Directors, Fort Collins, Colorado
Simply Sustainable
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