Stateline Farm Beginnings® 2012-2013--Application Period begins July 1, 2012.

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The Stateline Farm Beginnings 8th year (2012-2013) application period will open July 1, 2012. Apply before August 15th for the Early Bird Discount. 
 
 
 
 
If you have any questions, please email us at statelinefarmbeginnings@learngrowconnect.org or call our office at 815-389-8455. Not ready to apply yet but want to get involved now. Consider joining CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training). Meet experienced and new farmers, attend 10-12 free workshops per year, receive email information about sustainable and organic farming, resources, access to land, equipment, supplies, funding sources, workshops, and lots of other interesting information.
 
If you are interested in applying, click on the links above for the Information and Application packet (available in Adobe Acrobat and MS Word formats) and the Scholarship Application. (You can also find a downloadable information and application packet at the bottom of this page.)

 

If you are not ready to apply but would like to be on the notification list for future courses beginning each October or you have additional questions, please email us at statelinefarmbeginnings@learngrowconnect.org or 815-389-8455.

 

If you are interested in reading more or joining our CRAFT network (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training) you can read more or join CRAFT here. CRAFT members get first notificaiton when the application period begins each July.

 
Stateline Farm Beginnings® is a farmer-led training and support program designed to help people plan and launch sustainable farm businesses. Since 2005, graduates of the program have launched more than 35 new sustainable farms in our region!
Through Farm Beginnings®, you can: 

 

  • Tap the knowledge of some of the most innovative and skilled farmers operating in the Midwest.
  • Develop lifelong friendships and networks with other beginning farmers.
  • Learn critical farm management skills such as creative financing and innovative marketing strategies.
  • Receive mentoring from a farmer engaged in a similar enterprise.
  • See sustainable farming practices being used on real farms under a variety of conditions.
  • Learn to view a farm as an interconnected system and learn how goals determine farming practices.
  • Access opportunities for land and equipment use and/or rental.
  • Craft a tailor-made farming/business plan.

 

Stateline Farm Beginnings® serves northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Click here for Central Illinois Farm Beginnings® (you will be taken to a separate site).
  
The one-year Stateline Farm Beginnings® program has three components: 

 

  • Winter course (October to March): ten business planning sessions from that focus on goal-setting and planning for profit.
  • Training events: CRAFT monthly field day workshops (April to October) at sustainable farms around the region. Tuition includes a $100 reimbursement for skills development workshops of your choice.
  • Mentoring from a successful sustainable farmer in your field of interest. Mentoring arrangements are flexible, taking employment and family situations into account. Students may or may not be paid, depending on the agreement between the mentor and apprentice.

 

Stateline Farm Beginnings® is a collaboration of Angelic Organics Learning Center, the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT), The Land Connection, the Land Stewardship Project, and six other partners.

 

For more information, contact Sheri Doyel, Program Facilitator, at 815.389.8455 or statelinefarmbeginnings@learngrowconnect.org.

 

All Farm Beginnings® material was developed by the Land Stewardship Project based on the experiences of their farmer members. It is used by permission under license. To learn more, visit www.landstewardshipproject.org. Stateline Farm Beginnings® adapts these original materials based on the experiences of its CRAFT member farmers.

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