Farmers benefit from building knowledge about often nuanced and complex farm labor legal obligations. Farmers need to know more about their employment law obligations before they can set priorities, decide on action steps and begin to take action.  This fact sheet covers basic farm employment law in Connecticut:  minimum wage, overtime, meal and rest breaks, workers' compensation, and unemployment insurance.

A presentation from the 2015 NIFTI National Field School by Jennifer Hashley of New Entry and Aaron Newton of Lomax Farm Incubator work to support thier farmers after particiation in the incubator program.

Use this soil amendment application template developed by Cornell's GAP program (https://gaps.cornell.edu/educational-materials/decision-trees/log-sheets...) to help record what, how much and where you apply fertilizers on your farm.  This template will help you with both the Nutrient Management Plan required by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultual Resources (starting in 2016) and to help with your farm's food safety plan.   

Trainers can use this teaching module to help farmers, either as a group or one-on-one, make a plan for seeding cover crops in their field, by selecting the best cover crop for their needs and determining the right amount of cover crop seeds to purchase and plant.

This guide can be used by trainers who want to assist pre-literate and/or English- as a second language-speaking farmers with including cover crops in vegetable production and other crop rotation schedules. It covers three major types of cover crops (mustards, legumes, and ‘other’), and the potential benefits and costs of cover crops. It leads farmers through the process of identifying what they want to accomplish via cover cropping, assists them with identifying opportunities within their production schedule for insertion of cover crops, and assists farmers with selecting the cover crop or mixture of cover crops which best match their needs and goals. Some data is specific to the Southeast region of the United States, but links to resources where data appropriate to other regions can be accessed are provided. This teaching resource was developed by Lauren Bailey of The Nashville Food Project in Nashville, TN in partnership with the Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED Solutions). 

This guide can be used by trainers who want to assist pre-literate and/or English-as a second language-speaking farmers with including cover crops in vegetable production and other crop rotation schedules. It leads farmers through the process of sorting through the characteristics of specific cover crops to select the best one or mix of cover crops to meet their goals. It introduces farmers to a series of questions that they can answer throughout the growing season to evaluate the performance of the cover crops they have planted. Worksheets are provided so that trainers can assist farmers with this evaluation and with recording the results. Some data is specific to the Southeast region of the United States, but links to resources where data appropriate to other regions can be accessed are provided.This teaching resource was developed by Lauren Bailey of The Nashville Food Project in Nashville, TN in partnership with the Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED Solutions).

Guided discussion draws on farmers’ traditional strategies for dealing with catastrophic crop failures to introduce the concept of crop insurance. Participants are introduced to basic concepts and vocabulary related to insurance. USDA’s Whole Farm Revenue Protection is introduced through a discussion of its purpose and benefits.

Participants will review costs and benefits of WFRP crop insurance and learn about eligibility, the application process, required farming practices and record keeping. They will be advised on where to find assistance with accessing information about WFRP, decision making, program application, compliance, and, when appropriate, collecting payments. Trainers may need to begin by reviewing what was learned about Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP), from Module 1: Introduction to Crop Insurance. This teaching resource was developed by Linda Seyler of Global Garden Refugee Training Farm in Chicago, in partnership with the Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED Solutions).

This guide covers essential components of crop planning. Participants will learn how to fill out and complete a production plan, determine transplants needed, complete a seed order using the seed calculator tool, and weigh and bag direct-planted or direct-seeded crops. At the end, farmers will be prepared with all their seeds for spring and summer planting and the crop production information needed for the upcoming year. This teaching resource was developed by Transplanting Traditions in Chapel Hill, NC in partnership with the Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED Solutions). Refugee farmer training programs across the country provided feedback on this lesson, which is now integrated throughout the guide.

This series of six workshops covers a range of topics related to crop planning. Farmers will be introduced to the concepts of harvest windows, succession planting, and days to maturity. Multiple sessions help farmers learn how to use calendars and tables to plan their growing season. One session teaches participants how to handle orders from customers and restaurants, and plan cropping and harvest schedules accordingly. Most of the workshops are appropriate for beginning- to intermediate-level farmers.