Home  »  Resources  » Beginning Farmer Network of Massachusetts  »  Rationale for BFNMass

Rationale for BFNMass

Most new farmers pursue non-traditional paths to agricultural education and assistance, and Massachusetts has a wealth of outreach, education, and training and technical assistance offered by multiple farm service providers. However, beginning farmers tend to use these resources sporadically and unsystematically and are often not aware of the wide range of services available. Underserved producers in particular receive limited guidance and direct assistance in their decade-plus journey transitioning from being prospective farmers to establishing permanent farm operations. Beginning farmers consistently seek assistance, and providers are anxious to offer it, but a practical system is needed to increase these connections, since coordination and cross-promotion can be disjointed at best. Even providers are often unfamiliar with the wide range of tools and services available to their beginning farmer clients. This provides a strong case for building collaboration among new entry producers, established farmers, and service providers to substantially improve access to and use of these extensive resources. Massachusetts is highly suited to such partnerships because so many farmers and farm programs are within reasonable proximity of each other. We thus look to create models for beginning farmer development that substitute for (or sometimes enhance) traditional pathways to farming careers, by maximizing access to the diverse T&TA resources available statewide.

Below you will see a graph of farmer responses to the question, “What are the biggest challenges you face in achieving success in agriculture or farming?” (Survey conducted in 2009, receiving 178 usable responses). Percentages are the blue bars. In addition, on the graph are red diamonds including the number of agricultural service providers that claim to offer these services on their website. Clearly, there are many valuable service providers in MA that offer what farmer’s need most. However, given that farmers still say they have trouble with these issues, it follows that we need to work on coordinating our efforts so farmers know how to access the services we already provide.