Join the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and the National Agriculture Apprenticeship Learning Network for a virtual 5-part farm mentor training and labor management series designed for farmers and farm mentors that employ workers or host apprentices. This series centers farm workers' stories and guides farm managers and mentors through crucial aspects of managing and mentoring including communication, building inclusive workplace cultures, and empowering your staff. Not Our Farm, a national farm worker visibility project, will kick off the series with a human resources training led by career farmers who have spent many years working on farms not their own. Registration is free and open to all. Attend only a few or all of the mentor training workshops in the series. Please register here and direct any questions about the series to Beginning Farmer Program Specialist, Bo Dennis at bdennis@mofga.org.

This event is part of a 3-year Northeast SARE-funded grant with several partners across the region, focused on supporting farm mentors to build their capacity as educators - thereby better supporting our aspiring, beginning, or first-generation farmers. We aim to train at least 25 farmers who currently serve in agricultural mentorship positions.

The first workshop in the series is a Keynote by Not our Farm, on Centering Workers on Farms on January 10th from 3 - 6 pm Eastern Standard Time.  To kick off the Farm Mentor Training series, this workshop will consist of multiple opportunities for us all to reflect on and discuss the absolute necessity of centering workers in all aspects of our farming operations. We will approach this through the lens of human resources (interviews, onboarding, working, training) and by hearing conversations and insights from experienced career farmers who have spent many years working on farms not their own. Join us for what is sure to be a vibrant, joyful and educational workshop that will benefit any operation.

Not Our Farm is a worker visibility and support project that seeks to amplify the voices and experiences of workers on farms not their own. Visit www.notourfarm.org where you can read stories from workers all over the United States, and get a copy of their worker zine - a guide to working on farms, for workers by workers.