New Entry is a local, regional, and national leader in the field of sustainable food systems…

Since our founding in 1998, New Entry has collaborated with dozens of organizations throughout Massachusetts, New England, and across North America, to nurture healthy and vibrant local food systems through the training and support of beginning farmers.

About New Entry's National Programs

New Entry works to create a resilient food system by providing professional development, capacity building, and network support to programs that train beginning farmers or those that work to promote their success through activities that mutually benefit agricultural producers and consumers of all socio-economic backgrounds. Read more about our initiatives and programs below.

For more information on our National Programs, please contact Colleen Hanley, colleen.hanley@tufts.edu.

National Network

The FIELD Network (Farm Incubation and Education through Land-Based skills Development)

A nationwide network of agricultural training programs that share a common purpose of using land-based experiential learning to create new pathways to careers in agriculture and farm ownership.  The network is comprised of private farms, nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and other champions of next generation farmers and ranchers. Program models include incubator farms, apprenticeship training programs, campus farms, demonstration farms, and other experiential land-based farm and ranch training programs. The FIELD Network is a recent (2020) merger of the National Incubator Farm Training Initiative (NIFTI) and Ag Apprenticeship Learning Network (AgALN) facilitated by the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project.  We host an annual FIELD School (conference) that supports professional development of staff operating land-based training program models.

• The National Incubator Farm Training Initiative (NIFTI): Provided training, technical assistance, and a community of practice model to organizations that operate land-based beginning farmer training programs.

• National Ag Apprenticeship Learning Network: New Entry worked in partnership with commercial farms and organizations coordinating apprenticeships across the country to build an active learning network for Apprenticeship Training Programs. This work is geared towards formalizing a set of shared standards or best practices for meeting the learning goals of beginning farmers and ranchers who are looking to gain management and production skills by participating in apprenticeships on commercial farms.

The work of NIFTI and AgALN continues on under the umbrella of the FIELD Network! We will be updating resources from NIFTI and AgALN, and creating new resources in the years to come!

SUBSCRIBE to our new FIELD Network listserv!

• Send an email to sympa@elist.tufts.edu from the address you want to subscribe to the list.
• On the subject line of your email type: subscribe fieldnetwork FirstName LastName State
• Leave the body of the message blank and don’t use any punctuation

We emphasize practical and innovative solutions that provide measurable impacts for organizations and the communities they serve.

To find out more about how New Entry can support your work, contact National Program Manager, Colleen Hanley at Colleen.hanley@tufts.edu.