Groundswell FARMer training program

about the farmer training program

This is a part time 7-month program with a focus on hands-on vegetable production, basics of livestock farming, and exposure to various farm enterprises in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. Through farm tours, speakers, and discussion, the program will explore the social and environmental impacts of agriculture. The program will also speak to some of the historical and present day structural issues that impact the food system, and challenges that new and beginning farmers face.

Photo: 2021 Alumni and Christa Nunez celebrating their last day at the Learning Farm!

"Our hope is people leave the program seeing farming as a revolutionary act that can change the way they view the world and work towards repairing the personal, environmental and social devastation that our current systems have created." - Farmer Advisory Committee

Learn more about the program

Program Goals

To empower BIPOC people who aspire to connect to the land, through a financially compensated part time program. Participants learn about land-based efforts, and gain basic skills that lead to a deeper understanding of what it means to be self-sufficient and be prepared for an entry-level job in the agricultural field. Participants leave the program knowing how to grow food from starting seed to saving seed on a small scale, get an introduction to working with livestock, have exposure to a wide range of agricultural practices, and have a foundation of knowledge and resources to pursue their next steps on their journey into agriculture.

While it can take years to fully understand the concepts and nuances of farming, and develop the confidence and practices of a seasoned farmer, the goal of the program is to excite, question and redefine what it means to be a farmer in today's world. We hope to instill a desire to grow your own food, feed others, teach, speak out and work to build a stronger network in the Finger Lakes region and beyond.

Why is this program Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) focused?

We received a Beginner Farmer Rancher Development Program Grant from the USDA to support “socially disadvantaged people” in the food system. The USDA defines this specifically as, “a group whose members have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice because of their identity as members of a group without regard to their individual qualities. Those groups include African Americans, American Indians or Alaskan natives, Hispanics, and Asians or Pacific Islanders.” In addition to meeting our grant requirements, we believe that the majority of this funding must go to the people it was intended to serve. We are still falling short with this goal, as a portion of this funding does go to our white leadership and overall organizational budgetary needs. The rest of the funding goes directly to BIPOC community farming efforts.

History of the Farmer Training Program & Groundswell

In 2019 Groundswell received A Beginner Farmer Rancher (BFRDP) Grant from the USDA to expand the incubator farm program, with the intention of creating a beginner farmer training program for marginalized people in the food system.

Groundswell staff came together with an newly formed advisory committee that was focused on centering the voices of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) farmers and community members.

In the beginning of 2020, over zoom, we attempted to explore the big challenges in modern agriculture related to race and inequity. We feel that it is important to address the fact that our modern day food system is built on racism, settler colonialism and capitalism with slavery and land theft at the foundation. Today it continues through the injustice that migrant farm workers face through low wages, lack of basic human rights on the job, no path to citizenship and increased deportation and harassment from law enforcement. Today, white farmers own approximately 95% of farmland in the United States, and there is little access to safe and affordable farm land for BIPOC farmers.

The committee designed a program that acknowledges some of these barriers through an empowering and educational setting. In the 2021 growing season, Groundswell ran a pilot program with 5 aspiring growers and food justice advocates. We are building upon the feedback and experience of the pilot year trainees and continue to work with the alumni to develop and strengthen the program for this upcoming season and 2022 trainees.

Groundswell is currently a white-led organization that is in the process of learning how to start embodying the goals and values laid out in our equity statement that was developed by the Staff, Board, and Equity and Accountability Committee four years ago. In our work we strive to be open to feedback that helps us grow and continues to shape the direction of the Farmer Training Program and the organization.

What to expect during the program

On-site Farm Training & Hands-on learning

We will spend 2 days per week on our incubator farm education site growing food for the community and ourselves and having hands-on reinforcements of classroom lessons. We will spend 1 day a week on partner farm visits where you will get first-hand exposure to different scales and structures related to growing food and lifestyle approaches to farming.

General topics include:

Field planning and organization: Seed charts, growing calendar, intro to soil test analyses
Field management and maintenance: Crop, pest, weed, water, fertility management, harvest and distribution of produce.
Food harvesting, handling and distribution: Seeing the fruits of our labor and connecting with community members who are eating the food being grown.
Farmworker job training skill development: Timeliness, efficiency, preparedness, prioritizing health and wellbeing, developing physical and mental stamina, and learning how to advocate for yourself as a farmer

Classes and Farm Tours

In addition to the hands-on training at the Education Farm Site and partner Farm sites, trainees will attend classes, farm tours, and discussions one day a week. Classroom days consist of lessons, guest speakers, field trips, and reviewing occasional homework

Soil and Plant health: Intro to botany, soil types and composition and fertility
Environmental impact and methods: Climate change, irrigation, tillage systems
History: Land theft and slavery, systematic discrimination
Current issues: Labor, access, wages and modern day racial injustice in the food system

Pictured above is our outdoor classroom space, and the 2021 cohort on an Urban farm tour.

Alumni Support

Groundswell staff will support program graduates with regular group check-ins after graduation in order to help connect graduates with resources, create and update goals, and generally further graduates’ objectives as they continue along their farming trajectory. Trainees will also be exposed to a wide variety of farms and educators that they are encouraged to stay connected with post program.

We aim to build a growing network of critical thinkers that challenge the notions of capitalism that favors profit over people. We want to invest in building a network of farmers that will work collaboratively to reimagine and create a food system that is just and fair for people, animals, and the environment.

Applications are closed for the 2022 Season

Thank you for your interest in Groundswell’s Farmer Training Program

Please fill out THIS FORM if you are interested in more information about the 2023 Program.

For more information about the program please email holly@groundswellcenter.org or call 607-319-5095

If you are interested in financially supporting this program directly, please click the button below and include “Farmer Training Program” in the comments section while making a gift.

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This Project is funded in part by the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).