This report presents a draft plan for a Hudson Valley-wide farmer apprenticeship program coordinated by the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming in Cold Spring, NY. The program supports host farms to provide robust apprenticeships by offering program structure, direct training, resource coordination and network building for apprentices and for mentors.

This toolkit is designed to introduce apprenticeship training programs to the topics and frameworks that mentors have identified as challenges and that are important for mentors to address to offer a successful learning experience for their trainees. While agricultural mentors are likely experts in their field with many years of experience running an agricultural business, they still benefit from improving their skills and capacities as mentors,

The development of a registered Apprenticeship is based on a DACUM (or Developing a Curriculum), a formal process for defining skills and knowledge needed to be considered competent for a skilled occupation.

New Entry Sustainable Farming Project co-hosted a mentor training with 40 participants from across the Northeast in collaboration with the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in New York State on February 5, 2019.  The training was conducted by experienced farm mentors, Julie Sullivan (founding Quivira Coalition NAP mentor) and Polly Shyka (an experienced mentor in MOFGA’s JourneyPerson program).  The agenda provided was a working document referencing the topics discussed, tools used, and facilitators to plan and guide the day.

The Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) conducted a DACUM (Designing and Curriculum) process to help inform the skills and competencies of their Diversified Vegetable Apprenticeship (DVA) Program. This document introduces the apprenticeship program, describes the program requirements, the mentor and apprentice qualifications required, and provides examples of their skills evaluation forms, training topics, and related technical instruction tracking forms. 

The Northeast Organic Farming Association - New York (NOFA-NY) skills guide is a template where mentors and mentees can track progress of various skills across farming, including specific knowledge related to livestock, business, fruit, dairy, produce, and repair. The guide also includes a template for periodic evaluations.

Rogue Farm Corps engaged a cultural agility consultant, Gilda Montenegro-Fix to provide a training on diversity, equity and inclusion to their farm mentors.  This document contains handouts used during the training with references to the originating organizations.

Northeast Organic Farming Association - New York designed this “On Farm Skills Development Guide”

The NOFA-NY skills guide is a template where mentors and mentees can track progress of various skills across farming, including specific knowledge related to livestock, business, fruit, dairy, produce, and repair. The guide also includes a template for periodic evaluations.

These skills sheets are used at San Juan Ranch to conduct periodic skills assessments with their interns and apprentices to assess learning and mastery of the various skills taught on the ranch.  These are used in conversation with each apprentice to assess and celebrate learning and identify areas for further improvement.

Onboarding: An orientation guide for your Apprentice’s first days. A tip sheet from Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship (DGA)