Central Illinois Farm Beginnings - A Brief History

What is Farm Beginnings?

Farm Beginnings is a farmer training program initiated in Minnesota almost ten years ago. It was developed as a collaboration between a group of sustainable farmers and The Land Stewardship Project (a non-profit organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture). The program encompasses several learning venues including a 10-month course (both classroom and field-based), farmer-to-farmer mentorships, and field days. The course provides a comprehensive set of resources and experiences for new farmers or those transitioning from commodity agriculture to other types of agricultural enterprises.

Farm Beginnings training addresses sustainable production, goal setting, business planning and management, and marketing practices. The course also creates a valuable opportunity for participants to network with established, sustainable farmers, the facilitators and presenters, and each other. One of the unique components of the training is that the presenters and mentors are established farmers who have and are continuing to learn from experience. A farmer-dominated steering committee provides guidance and vision for the program, and staff from the Minnesota Land Stewardship Project coordinate and facilitate all aspects of the training and mentorship parts of the program.

In its eighth year in Minnesota, Farm Beginnings has trained 225 people, over 60 percent of whom are farming currently. Graduates are farming over 6,000 acres engaging in enterprises covering a diverse spectrum: dairy (cow and goat), beef, hogs, meat goats, sheep, poultry, wholesale vegetables, Community Supported Agriculture, organic grains and specialty products such as flowers. Many Farm Beginnings participants had previously been discouraged from their interest in farming from a young age and view this program as a way to determine if and how farming makes sense for them at this point in their lives. Women make up 50% of the participants. About half do not have land or previous farm experience, 50% have had farming experience or are currently farming but are looking for new ideas and skills to succeed. Some come from intergenerational families wanting to pass a viable farming enterprise on to their children or grandchildren.

Farm Beginnings in Illinois

Who will feed Illinois? This is the critical question asked in Feed Ourselves: Strategies for a New Illinois Food System, a 2004 study completed by the firm Red Tomato. The report was commissioned to identify strategies to help build a local, sustainable and healthy food system that is accessible to all residents of Illinois. One of the barriers to developing a sustainable and healthy food system for Illinois identified in Feeding Ourselves was lack of training for beginning and transitioning farmers. Illinois Farm Beginnings directly addresses this barrier by providing the training needed to bring beginning farmers on line and to transition existing farmers to grow healthy and local produce for an emerging Illinois food system.

The long-term goals of Illinois Farm Beginnings are to expand the number of successful beginning and transitioning small and medium-sized farmers, the number of acres being farmed in ways that protect and enhance the environment, and the abundance of food products from diversified family farms to meet the growing demand for high quality, local food in Illinois. Currently there are two Farm Beginnings programs in Illinois, one in Central Illinois and the other in Northern Illinois with cross-over to Southern Wisconsin (“Stateline Farm Beginnings”).

Illinois Farm Beginnings is facilitated by individuals from the University of Illinois (Leslie Cooperband), University of Illinois Extension (Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant) and two non-profit organizations involved in sustainable agriculture and farmer education (The Land Connection—Congerville, IL, Angelic Organics CSA Learning Center—Caledonia, IL). Each of the two Illinois Farm Beginnings programs has a steering committee consisting of mostly farmers and others involved in the food system. The steering committee provides the vision and oversight for each Farm Beginnings Program.

General Description of Illinois Farm Beginnings

Illinois Farm Beginnings focuses on whole farm planning and entrepreneurship, including marketing and planning for profit. Farm Beginnings staff, mentors and organizational partners help trainees explore options for land acquisition, financing, and labor as part of the business planning process.

Farm Beginnings forges partnerships between farmers, farmer organizations, and universities. Illinois Farm Beginnings has brought people, organizations, and institutions together in an innovative collaboration that draws on the strengths and resources of each partner – making the whole more than the sum of the parts.

Farm Beginnings uses a combination of farmer-led training resources including a 10-month course (with seminars offered every other week from October to March), a series of field day workshops held at mentor’s farms (April to August), prospective farmer exchanges (Stateline FB only), and mentorships (April to October) with successful sustainable family farmers. Farm Beginnings focuses on whole farm planning. Participants develop business and marketing plans for their enterprises. The field days, exchanges, and mentorships allow trainees to learn directly from existing farmers on sustainable production, family goal setting, business planning and management, low capital cost technologies and marketing practices among other subjects.