NFU Beginning Farmer Institute Graduates

National Farmers Union’s (NFU) 2019-2020 Beginning Farmer Institute (BFI) cohort convened in Savannah, Georgia, last week for their final in-person learning session and graduation. 

Jen Ghigiarelli, left, and Akello Karamoko, right, inspect a beehive.

During the three-day-long session, the 12 participants visited Savannah Bee Company. They toured their warehouse and apiary, tasted honey samples, and learned about the company’s initiatives on agricultural education and pollinator protection. 

From there, the class traveled to the Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe, where they heard about their efforts to preserve environmental history and agricultural biodiversity and tasted some heirloom varieties of  collard greens. While they were there, Chef and farmer Matthew Raiford and his partner Jovan Sage cooked the group lunch and spoke to them about their operation. Raiford is the sixth generation to own and operate Gilliard Farms, in Brunswick, Georgia. The farm was started in 1874 by his great-grandfather Jupiter Gilliard, who was a freed slave. Today, Raiford and Sage grow organic produce and livestock and offer agricultural education, including farm tours, lectures, and cooking classes. BFI ended its day of tours at Hunter Cattle Co., a grassfed beef operation with an on-farm store, processing facility, and bed and breakfast.