Completed Project Report


Mitigating Risks for Beginning Farmers Evaluating Entering the Hemp Market

  • Award Amount: $30,000
  • Regional Center: Northeast Extension Risk Management Education Center
  • Grant Program: 2020 Education Projects

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Project Overview

This project developed and delivered 12 educational resources to over 299 beginning farmers and stakeholders to provide them with tools to decide if and how to enter the hemp market.

At least 78 farmers increased their knowledge on the risks/benefits of hemp. Thirty farmers implemented a strategy for minimizing at least one of five USDA risk management areas and an estimated 20 used this information to decide to enter or not enter the hemp market. Since the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp, beginning farmers attracted by the potential opportunities rushed towards this emerging market.

Evaluating a new crop and its potential products has its own inherent set of risks, but this evaluation is compounded for new farmers trying to navigate a rapidly changing, volatile marketplace within new federal and state regulatory framework. While hemp appeared to offer opportunities to new farmers, it posed many significant risks in all categories of risk management.

Because of Covid-19, all of this project's risk education was delivered online. Nonetheless, with NERME support and working with partners and collaborators, this UVM Extension hemp project accomplished a full educational series of webinars, factsheets, youtube videos, blogs, and FAQs for farmers and hemp stakeholders. 

Number of Participants: 78

Outcomes

Project Steps

PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS

There are no promotional materials available for this project.

EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS

There are no educational materials available for this project.

REPORTS & EVALUATIONS

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DELIVERY AREA

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