Project Overview
Project Summary
Close proximity to markets offers farmers in Maryland and West Virginia opportunities to reduce risk through diversification into alternative enterprises or to start new businesses based on agricultural products and services. But farmers may not have the skills in strategic planning, marketing, finance, legal issues, human resource management, and credit acquisition to successfully manage a new enterprise or business. Farmers can develop these skills through training in entrepreneurship.
This project offered entrepreneurship training to farmers using a curriculum titled “NxLevel, Tilling the Soil of Opportunity. This curriculum consists of 10 sessions of 3 hours each. Training courses were held in three locations – at Carroll Community College in Westminster, Maryland, at Garret Community College in McHenry Maryland, and at the Community Technical College Shepherd in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Thirty-two farmers enrolled in the course and 31 completed the 30 hours of training in one of the three locations.
Course instructors followed up one-on-one with sixteen of the participants to assist them in with their business plans. Fourteen of the participants completed business plans and ten have reported progress in implementing some or all aspects of their business plans.
Number of Participants: 31
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
There are no promotional materials available for this project.
EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
There are no educational materials available for this project.
REPORTS & EVALUATIONS
There are no reports or evaluations available for this project.