Stateline Farm Beginnings Course
Stateline Farm Beginnings Returns in 2021 for Its 16th Year!
The Stateline Farm Beginnings Course is a yearlong course designed to help launch or expand your farm business. This brand new format is designed to maximize learning in sync with the growing season. Each course consists of 60 contact hours of class time led by farmers and is divided into three main components:
- Farm Dreams Intensive (January to March) focused on goal-setting, writing a mission & vision statement, marketing strategies, planning for profit, creating a personalized learning plan, and developing a farm proposal.
- Skill Building Practicum (March to October) Farms visits in northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and the Chicagoland area during UM CRAFT Field Days. Participants are matched in a 1-to-1 mentorship with an experienced sustainable farmer in their field of interest. Arrangements are flexible, taking location, employment and family into account.
- Farm Business Intensive (September to December) dive into budgeting, pricing strategies, completing and understanding financial statements, and developing a business plan or 5-year strategic plan.
The Stateline Farm Beginnings Course attracts both rural and urban participants from Chicago, Rockford, Milwaukee, Madison – and everywhere in between. We also encourage veterans to apply! The program has graduated nearly 300 sustainable farmers (read Graduate Profiles) in our region. Stateline Farm Beginnings is part of the Farm Beginnings Collaborative. The Farm Beginnings model is emerging as the most effective way to increase the number of beginning farmers building food & farm economies that are green, fair, and healthy. Farm Beginnings is approved as an educational provider through the Farm Service Agency (FSA). Completion of this course fulfills the educational requirements for FSA loan applicants.
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