Beginning Farmer Program Evaluation Resource Library

The Beginning Farmer Program Evaluation Resource Library is a compilation of materials to assist beginning farmer and rancher training programs to conduct evaluation.

This Resource Library was created as part of the Gaining Results through Evaluation Work (GREW) project, funded through a US Department of Agriculture Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) grant. This project supports the development of strong, effective and long-lasting farmer and rancher training programs so that beginning farmers enter the field of farming and establish successful farm businesses.

This library contains hundreds of resources focused on running effective and thorough program evaluations collected by the GREW team. Some resources focus explicitly on farming projects and others provide more general program evaluation instruction. You can use the topic of interest buttons below to search for the types of materials of interest or you can type a search directly “I’m looking for…” bar. 

Below are a series of compiled tipsheets that highlight some of the key resources in the library and aggregate them into useful groupings to help navigate through the evaluation content.

Basic Evaluation Tools and Resources
There are many resources available on the web to help people conduct program evaluation. It can be somewhat overwhelming to wade through them all. To make the process simpler, we have highlighted a few key documents. These items offer basic information and guidance for different aspects of conducting evaluation.  Download the .pdf tipsheet here.

Resources for Using Self-Assessment as a Learning and Evaluation Strategy
Self-assessment in beginning farmer programs can help improve learning outcomes for participants and serve programs as an evaluation tool. GREW offers several resources for learning more about, and utilizing, self-assessment in BFR programs.  Download the .pdf tipsheet here.

Surveys, Assessments and Other Tools for Evaluating Beginning Farmer Training Programs
The GREW Resource Library contains hundreds of resources focused on running effective and thorough beginning farmer and rancher program evaluations. More than 75 new resources have been added to the library and more than 40 of these resources are examples of survey tools, reports, assessments and logic models done by peer organizations serving beginning farmers and ranchers.  Download the .pdf tipsheet here.

Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Evaluation Resources

Twelve new articles, webinars, and websites have been added to our Online Evaluation Resource Library that feature information related to incorporating equity, inclusion, and diversity into evaluation work. In this document we highlight three examples from our library as a starting point for your explorations.  Download the .pdf tipsheet here.

Please visit again – more resources will be added regularly.

If you have a resource you would like to see, have a resource you’d like to share, or have any feedback about the Resource Library, please contact nesfp@tufts.edu.

Source: CASFS Field Day Follow-Up Survey Version 2

This short hard copy survey evaluates the impact of a field day program offered by The Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) in 2019.

Source: CASFS's 2014 Technical Assistance Services Evaluation

This two page hard copy survey collects data from program participants who received technical assistance from The Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS).

Source: CASFS's Beginning Farmer and Rancher Program Survey

This online survey was sent as a follow up to The Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems participants of the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coalition who attended trainings, workshops, and received technical assistance over the 3 year grant period.

Source: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment (CREA) is located in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It is an international community of scholars/practitioners that exists to promote a culturally responsive stance in all forms of systematic inquiry including evaluation, assessment, policy analysis, applied research and action research. 

Source: Theory of Change

"The Center for Theory of Change is a non-profit organization established to promote quality standards and best practice for the development and implementation of Theory of Change, with a particular focus on its use and application in the areas of international development, sustainability, education, human rights and social change." It provides a variety of resources to better understand and implement a theory of change.

Source: Virginia Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coalition

This is the summative evaluation report of Virginia's Certified Farm Seeker Program conducted by the Virginia Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coalition.

Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention

"To get usable and accurate data from questionnaires and interviews, it is critical that you develop questions that are easily understood by the respondent. The Question Appraisal System (QAS-99) is a method for identifying and fixing miscommunication and other types of problems with questions. Use QAS-99 before formal field testing of your questions. The QAS-99 includes a checklist composed of eight steps. Within each step, you can determine whether specific problems with a question exist, and, if so, check the “YES” box associated with the particular problem."

Pages