Across the United States and in Georgia, the number of small and medium–sized farms are declining and the average age of farmers is on the rise. We need new farmers, but the barriers potential farmers face when trying to grow new agricultural businesses from the ground up can be challenging. UGA Extension has developed the Journeyman Farmer Certificate Program to provide a comprehensive training program for beginning farmers.
Do you have a great backyard garden that overflows with so much produce in summer that you often think of setting up a booth at the Dallas Farmers Market to sell your overabundance? Maybe you could be a farmer and make a little extra money from the hard work and sweat equity that you put into your small acreage. To be successful, you must treat your operation like a business, and you need to learn a few tricks of the farming trade. I often joke that every farmer I know is a meteorologist, an engineer, a biologist, and an accountant, because there are so many things they learn to do to keep their farms running smoothly.
Paulding and Carroll County UGA Extension are teaming up to provide Journeyman Farmer Small Farm Business Training and the Small Fruit and Vegetable Training series this spring at the Carroll County Ag Center. If you have been thinking about elevating your backyard garden to the small farm category, this is a great opportunity to learn some skills for managing your business and growing more and better crops.
Through the Small Farm Business Session, you will learn how to create a business plan, lessons learned from successful small farms, market feasibility, balance sheets, understanding income statements, risk management, marketing and technology. This session will be taught by the UGA Small Business Development Center on Monday, March 9, from 9 am until 5 pm. This is a one-day training session and the cost to register is $25.
Through the Small Fruit and Vegetable Series, you will learn from UGA Extension Experts about soil health and fertility, soil amendments, fertilizers, crop rotations, cover crops, crop selection, equipment, post-harvest handling, and marketing. This is a three-day session that will be held on Mondays, March 16,23, and 30 from 9 am until 4pm each day. The cost to register is $75.
Registration for both sessions includes lunch on trainings days, along with instruction, and class materials. Participants can be certified in both Small Farm Business and Small Fruit and Vegetable Production by completing the courses and successfully passing a knowledge evaluation once the sessions are complete.
One of the important things you will learn is that starting small and getting some experience on another farm or mentoring from a successful small farmer can help make you more successful and give you a professional agricultural network to lean on. Participants who successfully complete both the Business Training and the Small Fruit and Vegetable production certifications will be eligible to apply for internship/mentorship with a local small farm. Intern and Mentor farms are experienced farmers who have built their small farm operation over time. Some are graduates of Journeyman Farmer Training themselves.
For more information on registration visit the Journeyman Farmer Training Program Registration information calendar event. Registration deadline is Friday, February 27.
