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.
Quivira Coalition's Agenda to host Mentor 101 introductory calls. This serves as an informational session for prospective mentors to enter and get involved with their New Agrarian Program.
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, Hosting and Employment, Program Development
New Entry Sustainable Farming Project co-hosted a mentor training with 40 participants from across the Northeast in collaboration with the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in New York State on February 5, 2019. The training was conducted by experienced farm mentors, Julie Sullivan (founding Quivira Coalition NAP mentor) and Polly Shyka (an experienced mentor in MOFGA’s JourneyPerson program). The agenda provided was a working document referencing the topics discussed, tools used, and facilitators to plan and guide the day.
This document is used by Quivira Coalition's New Agrarian Program to interview their apprentices and mentors to solicit feedback on their experience in the NAP program.
Curriculum, Feedback and Assessment, Program Development
The Northeast Organic Farming Association - New York (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.
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.
