Farm Beginnings Announces 2007-2008
Course Locations & Deadline

Classes to be Held in Marshall, Minn., & La Crosse, Wis.

CONTACT: Karen Stettler, LSP, 507-523-3366

6/21/07
LEWISTON, Minn.— One of the country’s most successful beginning farmer training programs will be holding classes in La Crosse, Wis., and Marshall, Minn., beginning this fall. The registration deadline for the 2007-2008 edition of the Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Beginnings® program is Thursday, Aug. 30. For more information, contact Karen Benson in the Land Stewardship Project’s Lewiston office at 507-523-3366, or see www.farmbeginnings.org. 

In 2007, Farm Beginnings is celebrating its 10th year of providing firsthand training in low-cost, sustainable methods of farming. The program has its roots in southeast Minnesota’s Wabasha County, where in 1997 a group of farmers approached the Land Stewardship Project about developing a community-based initiative that would train a new generation of farmers.

The course consists of a series of classes that take place twice a month between October and March. After March, course participants have the opportunity to attend on-farm educational field days. Farm Beginnings participants learn goal setting, financial planning, business plan creation, alternative marketing and innovative production techniques.

“I think the general public’s perception is that no one is interested in farming, and even if they are, there’s no way to get started,” says Karen Stettler, Program Director for Farm Beginnings. “It’s so exciting that we are able through Farm Beginnings to prove that yes, there are people interested in farming and yes, there are viable ways for them to get established and be profitable.”

During the past decade, over 300 people have graduated from the Minnesota-region Farm Beginnings program, and 60 percent of them are actively farming, according to class data. In 2005, Farm Beginnings was extended to Illinois and Nebraska. Beginning this fall, Farm Beginnings classes will be held in North Dakota.

Roger and Michelle Benrud were in the original Farm Beginnings class in 1997. The couple now operates a grass-based organic dairy farm near Goodhue, Minn., and they market their milk through the PastureLand cheese and butter cooperative. In 2005, Michelle quit her job when the operation became viable enough to support the Benruds and their two young children without off-farm income. In 2006, the Benruds were named the Goodhue County Farm Family of the Year. They said a real strength of Farm Beginnings is that established farmers from the community teach classes.

“It’s different than a university where it’s theoretical,” said Michelle. “Farm Beginnings is being taught by people who actually do it.”

“When you’re talking about something like grass-based dairying that’s not part of the mainstream, it lends more credibility to a class to have it led by successful, happy people that are doing that type of thing,” said Roger.

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RADIO BROADCASTERS: A 16-second mp3 audio file featuring Farm Beginnings grad Roger Benrud is available by clicking here.

PHOTO AVAILABLE: For a digital photo of a Farm Beginnings graduate from your area, e-mail bdevore@landstewardshipproject.org.