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Beginning Farmer Curriculum
68 Plays28 days ago
Beginning farmer educators and partners from across Michigan have come together to author a beginning farmer curriculum, rooted in participatory action learning, to offer a solid foundation for beginning farmer training programs. In this episode, Mariel Borgman and Kathy Sample talk through their contributions to the curriculum and how these modules can support effective learning and engagement for beginning farmers.
Beginning Farmer Curriculum and Resources:
Beginning Farmer Workshops:
Kalamazoo Valley Community College will be hosting a series of free workshops for beginning farmers for an opportunity to learn farming skills and provide feedback on the new curriculum modules. A produce safety-specific workshop will be held on May 29.
All workshop dates and topics are listed below. Click a link below to register.
- May 22 - Urban Agriculture and Policy
- May 29 - Produce Safety
- June 5 - Soil Health
- June 12 - Integrated Pest Management
- June 19 - Pollinators
- June 26 - Farm Financial Management
Train-The-Trainer Workshops:
A series of train-the-trainer workshops have been planned in 2025 for beginning farmer educators to receive an introduction to the curricula and teaching techniques. Click a link below to register!
- June 3 – Grand Rapids, register here
- June 6 – Flint, register here
- June 10 – Online, register here
- June 17 – Chatham, register here
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Produce Safety and FSMA
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to the Agri-Food Safety Produce Bites podcast, where we discuss all things produce safety and dive into the rules and regulations surrounding the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule.
Beginning Farmer Curriculum Overview
00:00:13
Speaker
Well, hi there. This is a podcast about the beginning farmer curriculum, which is hosted by Michigan State University Extension. My name is Kathy Sample. I work in Michigan at a place called Argus Farm Stop, which is a um an everyday farmer's market. So I have a lot of contact with farmers and I participated on the marketing part of this curriculum.
00:00:35
Speaker
Hi, everybody. My name is Mariel Borgman, and I'm a community food systems educator with Michigan State University Extension. One of the things I've been super excited about lately is this new beginning farmer curriculum.
00:00:48
Speaker
And I am one of the co-leaders for the project, along with Vicki Marone from Michigan State University. Can you give us an overview of this curriculum?
Curriculum Adaptability and Themes
00:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, so this curriculum is really unique. It was designed to be used in many different ways um to to be really adaptable to different purposes, whether you have a formal beginning farmer training program or it's just a group of farmers that are working together to try to build their skills.
00:01:20
Speaker
So the idea is that it's kind of centered around a number of themes that And groups can pick and choose from those themes. And then within the themes, there are a number of modules that can also be kind of used um as they would see fit. So let's say we're talking about land access.
00:01:42
Speaker
There's a couple of different modules in there, urban land access and rural land access, depending on the group and their interests and needs. And then within those different modules, there's a number of different activities that you could choose from. So it's really customizable ah for the group in order to make it really relevant to their individual needs.
Origins and Development of the Curriculum
00:02:05
Speaker
Great. What is what's the story behind the grant applying for this and getting a grant for it? Yeah, so this whole product started several years ago, almost I would say many years ago um at the Northern Michigan Small Farms Conference. We had a a group come together and just kind of talk about this idea planting.
00:02:26
Speaker
collaborating to build a curriculum that could be used across um any beginning farmer training program within the state, but also beyond. um So there are a lot of people involved in that conversation, educators from MSU, um from all of the different beginning farmer programs around the state.
00:02:44
Speaker
and some farmers as well to just kind of talk about the idea. And then that conversation kind of morphed into an application to the USDA's Beginning Farmer Rancher Development Grant Program.
00:02:57
Speaker
So we were able to get the funding to get the group together and work on this project. We worked on it in groups. So each group kind of took on one topic. Like Kathy was saying, she's really been working on the marketing piece of the curriculum.
00:03:14
Speaker
And then we've all kind of come together monthly as a group over the last several years to to move it forward.
Modules and Content Overview
00:03:21
Speaker
Mariel, can you give us kind of a list of the topic areas so that the listeners can understand what kinds of things are covered?
00:03:29
Speaker
So there's some modules that are specifically for the facilitators of this curriculum. There's two topics that are really relevant to them, and that is mentorship and ah farmer peer learning communities, and then but engaging diverse farmers.
00:03:47
Speaker
But then for the individual farmer skill topics, we have land access, farm financials, pollinators, integrative pest management, urban agriculture, soil health, marketing, and of course, produce safety, since we're on the Produce Bites podcast today.
00:04:06
Speaker
How are the materials organized in each of the topic areas? So within each of the topic areas, and we'll include a link to the resources on the website so you can check them out after the podcast, but within each module, there's both a facilitator guide and then also participant handouts.
00:04:26
Speaker
So the facilitator, whether that's the the educator or a farmer that's kind of coordinating the group, that really walks them through what's included within the curriculum. So what activities are involved, some of the key like background information.
00:04:42
Speaker
One of the big things we were trying to do was make this curriculum accessible to anybody even if they don't have a lot of that technical background. So the facilitator guide goes over a lot of the information that would be needed in order to explain the topic to the learners, other resources where they could find out more information about that topic to really help them build their plans and get ready to facilitate that lesson, and then explanations of all of the different activities, materials that are needed, the time it would take to do that. So kind of ah and a nice little lesson plan for them. um And then within the participant handouts, they get key terms or key words. So they kind of learn the vocabulary that's going to be used, and it's really explained in a way that's easy to understand.
00:05:33
Speaker
the materials that are needed to do the activity and then kind of a step-by-step process. And then the last bit is a reflection. So the farmer can reflect on what they learn, talk about it with other learners, and then think about how that applies to their farm.
00:05:49
Speaker
So the way you've described this, it means that the learners are pretty actively involved in activities as it's not just they're reading a bunch of materials.
00:06:01
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. So the whole idea was for the participants to be active in the learning process. So like you said, it's not just, you know, a passive thing where they're sitting and watching a PowerPoint presentation or a lecture.
00:06:14
Speaker
We designed each of these to really focus on action learning, participatory methods. So having folks actually doing farming activities hands-on while learning the topics.
00:06:30
Speaker
And the idea was to make it super relevant to their farm. So, you know, you're going to learn how to take a soil sample. while you're learning about soils and so that you can go back and really apply that knowledge back to your operation.
00:06:44
Speaker
And the other big piece of that participatory action is that understanding that people are coming in to the learning environment with various levels of experience and everyone can teach them.
00:06:57
Speaker
everyone else something. um So there's a lot of dialogue and discussion built into the different activities so that folks can have an opportunity to share what they've learned and also learn from the other farmers and help one another really build their knowledge base collectively.
00:07:17
Speaker
Wow. So it seems like the participants should plan to join with their team. Let's say it's a beginning farmer who has ah you know a couple of people on their site or have a group that's organized so that they can actually bounce ideas off each other and and make comments as they're watching the videos or doing the activities. is that sound correct?
00:07:39
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, that's the idea. It's really intended to be group learning. That's not to say it an individual farmer couldn't get something out of this if they downloaded all the activities they could do with themselves, but it really is designed to incorporate that peer-to-peer learning, which is why one of the facilitator modules really focuses on setting up peer-to-peer learning groups and mentorship opportunities to try to help facilitate that group learning if it doesn't already exist.
00:08:08
Speaker
Great. That shows a little bit about the background of, you know organizing this kind of thing.
Produce Safety Modules
00:08:13
Speaker
Can you tell us more about the produce safety modules and activities? Yeah, absolutely.
00:08:19
Speaker
um So with the produce safety topic, we really divided it up into three modules. And so those are What are produce safety risks on the farm? um And so within this module, the participants look at the farm through the food safety lens and they talk about different activities and how that can pose a risk to fresh produce.
00:08:43
Speaker
So some of the activities within that one are ah practicing scouting for wildlife, practice water sampling, and also soil sampling for lead. And then the second kind of module is what makes food unsafe.
00:08:58
Speaker
And this one really gets into kind of the science behind foodborne illness and how it spreads through an environment and where um the farmers can take actions to mitigate those risks.
00:09:10
Speaker
For this one in particular, it was tricky to to make those hands-on activities because when you're talking about microbial science, it's like a little bit abstract.
00:09:20
Speaker
um But we have some really great activities. um One that talks about bacterial growth. um And this is an activity one of our educators on the project, Bill Toko, has been doing for a long time.
00:09:33
Speaker
where you show how bacteria multiplies by using jelly beans and jars. And so it gives a nice visual of how fast ah that bacteria can multiply and grow. So it takes that kind of science-y conceptual topic. It really makes it visible to the learners.
00:09:52
Speaker
We tried to also have lots of videos and online resources in addition to the hands-on things. And then the last module is what am I going to do about produce safety? So this is where the farm farmers involved get introduced to some of the strategies that they can take on their farm.
00:10:10
Speaker
And this is really, really, all of these modules are designed for grand new beginning farmers. So we're not getting into anything too complex at this point, but we're talking about things like how to build a portable handwashing station for your farm, and how to meet your local produce safety technician. um So you kind of noticed across the board that the idea was to have activities that are super relevant for a beginning farmer and also relatively easy to do for someone that doesn't have a ton of experience in farming yet, but they're going to get them to that next step to be able to start farming and continue to learn more. and We do have a lot of additional resources for people that want to learn more on these different topics that are also available on our website.
00:10:57
Speaker
Oh, that's great. That's a great overview. Is there an order in which people are supposed to take them or is like the produce safety a mandatory one? Is there any advice you'd give us about how that would be used?
00:11:09
Speaker
So we really tried to design them to not have to be done in any kind of order. There are some modules where it would be helpful to do them in a certain order. And so it's generally noted within that module.
00:11:23
Speaker
that, hey, you may want to consider doing this one first, but if people have that experience already, then maybe they don't need to take that module. That would give them a repeat. So it's really kind of up to the facilitator to decide.
00:11:37
Speaker
um But as you look at it, in some cases, it will make sense to do so something first um to kind of build that knowledge. I think there might be an example of that in the marketing curriculum.
00:11:49
Speaker
Well, I can talk a little bit about the marketing curriculum. So yeah, the marketing one is just designed to kind of ease a beginning farmer into the thought process required to how am I going to market my product?
00:12:02
Speaker
ah Because it's a pretty complicated decision. It's not a no brainer in terms of, well, I'm just going to sell it at the farmer's market or I'm just going to sell it at the end of my, in a stand at the end of my driveway.
00:12:16
Speaker
There's a lot more to making that decision if you, assuming you want to actually have enough revenue to make this worthwhile. So this is not for hobby farmers. This is for somebody who's seriously trying to figure out how can I have the most impact to the consumer?
00:12:32
Speaker
So what I did is design the marketing module in a way that first focuses on who are you as a farmer? What kind of person are you? Are you the kind of person who wants to spend your day talking to customers at a market from seven in the morning till three in the afternoon nonstop?
00:12:49
Speaker
Or would you rather monitor a stand at the end of your driveway? Or would you like to be the personality behind a you pick? Like what kind of personality traits do you have that would...
00:13:01
Speaker
ah give you an indication about which kind of customer-facing experience you would be best suited in for, knowing that if you go towards the wrong one, you're not going to be as effective. So if you, let's say you're just going to crank out a lot of product, for instance, a few products, but a lot of each of them, then you might want to do wholesale, that kind of thing. So it kind of gets you understanding yourself before you make a decision. And then the second portion of the marketing one is here are your five categories of options. You know, there's a farmer's market, which is a traditional one day a week deal, unless you live in a really robust area and you might have two days a week.
00:13:51
Speaker
A CSA, which is a community supported agriculture, like a produce box. that they would pick up somewhere. Restaurants or wholesale or distributors, that's the person I described who has a few products and a whole lot of them.
00:14:05
Speaker
An online business where you would actually sell through your online platform and fulfill orders and ah not really have customer facing except at pickup.
00:14:17
Speaker
And even then, if you organize your pickup, you might not. be seeing the customer or maybe the on-farm stand or a you pick. So those five areas are just the categories.
00:14:29
Speaker
And then the module the module just goes through each category, what's required, what are the possibilities. it doesn't go into super great detail because There's so many variables about what product you're going to what the seasonality is, what your growing practices are. So it's more just designed to give you the framework to decide which of these would fit in with my lifestyle best. So that's, I mean, it's fairly simple. it's um It's for beginning farmers and it's designed to give them a good overview of what they're
00:15:02
Speaker
likely to experience in their whole, you know, this whole adventure that they're embarking on. There are a couple of video links to farmers who are really, really marketing driven, who talk about, this is what I do at my farm stand to make it lush. And they go through all the details about how they set things up and how they talk to customers and what the dynamic is that brings customers to not only buy one thing, but five things.
00:15:32
Speaker
And so these videos are helpful because you can see years of experience behind these people and they're willing to share it. And so we've just got some targeted information in that area.
Workshops and Community Building
00:15:46
Speaker
Mariel, why don't you tell us about the workshops that are being held to roll the the this program out, this curriculum out? Yeah. um So if you are interested in exploring this curriculum and actually going through it as a learner, we have a series of workshops planned in Kalamazoo in May and June. So they're going to be held on Thursday evenings.
00:16:10
Speaker
at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. And so you'll have an opportunity to check out the curriculum um and provide feedback and also um meet other beginning farmers as well. So the idea is to hopefully i build ah a little bit of community as well as check out the curriculum and let us know what you think of it.
00:16:31
Speaker
So i wanted to call out specifically May 29th, and that is because we're gonna be covering produce safety that day. We have ah local instructors there in Kalamazoo that are going to be delivering the curriculum for us. So there's a way to sign up for all of the different workshops, ah or you can pick or choose the topics that are interesting to you.
00:16:54
Speaker
So they kick off May 15th and they go through june twenty six um And it'll be held at their Food Innovation Center, which is a super cool facility. They have urban farm there with indoor and outdoor growing spaces as well as a food hub.
00:17:12
Speaker
um So there's also an opportunity to to check out a cool educational farm while you participate in the workshops. So we'll ah have the link ah along with podcast to sign up for that as well.
00:17:24
Speaker
Super. well that's a great opportunity to go to visit KVCC that they really have a great operation there.
Curriculum Availability and Final Edits
00:17:30
Speaker
So for the rest of the project, what's the timeline and where can people find this curriculum ultimately?
00:17:37
Speaker
A lot of the work has been done. We're just wrapping up kind of the final edits. So the the actual grant project wraps up in September of this year.
00:17:47
Speaker
so we are going to have everything thing finalized, buttoned, and zipped up on the website then. um But you can actually see a lot of it already at the website.
00:17:58
Speaker
If you go to beginningfarmercurriculum.org, you can find all all of the additional resources, the themes, the modules, um and there's also some videos that have been produced ah to tell stories of beginning farmers. so So all of that is accessible now and it will continue to get updated as we finish editing and testing and all of that.
00:18:23
Speaker
Also, if you're an educator, we have a number of train the trainer workshops that are happening this summer. We can provide some more information about those as well if you're interested in becoming a facilitator of the curriculum.
00:18:37
Speaker
Wow, Mariel, that's a very complete rundown of a project that's been going on for quite a while. Very impressive. And um I can't believe it's actually coming to the like final part of the game.
00:18:50
Speaker
So congratulations. Thanks, Kathy. Yeah, it feels really good to have it actually out there in the world now and having people try it out and let us know what they think of it. So super exciting time for the the group for sure.
Conclusion and Resources
00:19:05
Speaker
Links to anything referenced in this episode are provided in our show notes, which can be accessed on the website at canr.msu.edu slash agrifood underscore safety.
00:19:17
Speaker
Thank you to everyone for listening, and don't forget to tune in next month for another episode of our Produce Bites podcast.