Completed Project Report


Farm to Fork Direct Market Initiative of the Virginia Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coalition Program

  • Award Amount: $50,000
  • Regional Center: Southern Extension Risk Management Education Center
  • Grant Program: 2017 Education Projects
  • Project Director: Kimberly Morgan
  • Email: klmorgan@vt.edu
  • Organization: Virginia Tech

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Project Overview

The initiative's goal was to enhance whole farm planning (WFP) programming for beginning farmers in Virginia by integrating risk management education and outreach. This project enhanced the Virginia Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coalition Program (VBFRCP), a coalition-based/statewide Extension program that provides WFP training, resources, and mentoring for beginning farmers. This project provided much needed risk management education for a diversity of beginning farmers  who are in search of market readiness support and resources in Virginia. Educational tools were developed and delivered at 3 workshops and 3 conferences. Online modules were developed with input from VT and VSU specialists, agents and non-academic partners, and will be released in Fall 2019 once pre-testing of content, assessment and evaluation tools is completed. Our work has resulted in formation of a national working group whose goal is to share online curricula to a national audience via eXtension. YouTube videos (29) which contained producer and restaurant buyer case studies were designed and released. The focus was to provide culturally appropriate examples and instruction on market and price risk management. To date, 168  farmers learned to manage and mitigate risk associated with direct marketing channels, and 40 VBFRCP service providers provided feedback for online course.

Number of Participants: 208

Outcomes

Project Steps

PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS

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EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS

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REPORTS & EVALUATIONS

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DELIVERY AREA

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