Cultivating Farmers and Ranchers that thrive

a Beginning Farmer Rancher Development Program

Why have a beginning, farmer rancher development program?

  • Aging population of farm owners

  • Need for land succession planning; sustain & protect agricultural land

  • Need to shift reliance to “local”, and address food supply chain fragility

  • Upcoming, interested, new generation of farmers with limited access

In the CFRT program, there are 6 main program tenants:

1. Participants

  • Aspiring new or current farmers/ranchers that have been in the industry for 10 years or less

  • Emphasis on recruitment of low-income, veteran, and Hispanic populations

3. MentorshiP

  • Pairing core course participants with mentors

  • Training mentors to effectively work with mentees

  • Ongoing support to paired mentors and mentees

2. Educational

  • A core curriculum is provided by Holistic Management International over the course of 8 days, and 4 weekends

  • There will be an additional 3 days of Core curriculum offered, with topics TBD

  • Continuing education is offered in partnership with CSU, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, and the Western Colorado Food and Farm Forum

4. Land ACCESS

  • Pairing core course participants with land options to increase access

  • Numerous partnerships to support matching, lease agreements, etc.s

5. Farmer Rancher Advisory Team

  • Group of farmers and ranchers to act as an advisory team to the efforts of CFRT to ensure we are meeting our needs and reflecting our community

6. Evaluation

  • In partnership with CSU we are evaluating the effectiveness of our program and making changes based on recommendations to improve CFRT based on the findings

Coming Soon - Featured Alumni!

Cultivating Farmers and Ranchers that Thrive is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, Award # 2021-70033-35702.

Thank you to the supporters of this project

“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.”

Thomas Jefferson