New Entry works in partnership with commercial farms and organizations coordinating apprenticeships and other on farm learning opportunities across the country to build an active learning network for Ag Apprenticeships.
This network is designed to disseminate educational resources through websites, broad outreach, webinars, a technical assistance referral network, posting to listservs/social media, sharing through the BFRDP clearinghouse and diverse beginning farmer service provider networks.
Our physical library at our offices in Beverly, MA contains books, CD's, DVD's periodicals, pamphlets, and videos in English, Spanish, Hmong, and Khmer.
If you have a resource you would like include here, contact nesfp@tufts.edu.
Hosting and Employment, Program Development, Recruitment
The Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship (DGA) Candidate Tipsheet provides mentor candidates with tips for what to include in their profile, and factors to consider when looking for apprentices. This includes what information should be shared and how to make an interesting profile for apprentice applications.
Curriculum, Feedback and Assessment, Internship Programs, Program Development
Northeast Organic Farming Association - New York designed this “On Farm Skills Development Guide”
The NOFA-NY skills guide is a template where mentors and mentees can track progress of various skills across farming, including specific knowledge related to livestock, business, fruit, dairy, produce, and repair. The guide also includes a template for periodic evaluations.
While there are finite legal categories for on-farm labor and learning, many farms structure learning in ways that aren’t adequately described by existing terms, or that stretch the standard definitions of legal options. Here we suggest some terms and definitions for commonly used labor and learning arrangements. As a community of practice evolves in this work, we hope to continue to modify and refine these definitions. This short guide, adapted from the Ag Apprenticeship Toolkit, is intended for existing and aspiring mentor farmers and ag apprenticeship programs.
This tool was created by Angela Park in collaboration with Tiffany Chan, Curt Coffing, John Reuter, Hope Rippeon, and Ed Zuckerman of the State Capacity Building Department of the League of Conservation Voters who funded its creation. It was originally created for the Conservation Voter Movement and has been adapted by Angela. We encourage organizations to use and adapt this tool; please cite its origins when doing so.
Curriculum, Program Development, Registered Apprenticeships
The Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) conducted a DACUM (Designing and Curriculum) process to help inform the skills and competencies of their Diversified Vegetable Apprenticeship (DVA) Program. This document introduces the apprenticeship program, describes the program requirements, the mentor and apprentice qualifications required, and provides examples of their skills evaluation forms, training topics, and related technical instruction tracking forms.
Hosting and Employment, Internship Programs, Program Development, Recruitment, Registered Apprenticeships
Rogue Farm Corps’ internship and apprenticeship programs are designed to train the next generation of farmers and ranchers through a structured, educational framework that includes on-farm training, classes, farm tours, discussion groups, and independent projects. These programs are designed to meet the legal criteria for unpaid internships and apprenticeships. Host farmers partner with Rogue Farm Corps and serve as primary mentors for the interns and apprentices on their farm.
Communication, Curriculum, Feedback and Assessment
These skills sheets are used at San Juan Ranch to conduct periodic skills assessments with their interns and apprentices to assess learning and mastery of the various skills taught on the ranch. These are used in conversation with each apprentice to assess and celebrate learning and identify areas for further improvement.
Communication, Feedback and Assessment, Program Development
The DISC Personality Assessment, created by Sage Strategies, tests provides a questionnaire to figure out which of four different types of behavior is most prominent within the test taker, and gives descriptions and insights into that personality.
