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| South Carolina New and Beginning Farmer Program Application |
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The South Carolina New and Beginning Farmers program (SCNBFP) is focused on enabling new and beginning farmers to be successful, productive, and innovative members of their local agricultural community by providing them with the tools, knowledge and skills necessary to be successful entrepreneurs; sound business managers; exemplary stewards of SWAPA (soil, water, air, plants, and animals), and successful marketers of the unique products they create; and, perhaps most importantly, individuals who have a sense of pride and quality of life as a result of their investment and participation in the agricultural community of South Carolina. More information on the program is available at http://www.clemson.edu/public/ciecd/focus_areas/agribusiness/index.html.
Program collaborators include USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA-Farm Service Agency, SC Dept of Agriculture, SC Farm Bureau, South Carolina Young Farmer and Agribusiness Association, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, and Lowcountry Local First.
This project was supported by the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA, Grant #2010-03113
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| Program Eligibility and Selection Criteria |
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Any legal resident of South Carolina who is just beginning farming or who has actively farmed for less than 10 consecutive years is eligible to apply for the SCNBFP. Class sizes are limited to 36 participants who are selected by the program advisory committee based upon information provided in the program application. The program advisory committee will base their selection on a number of factors including participant readiness, seriousness and willingness to learn and integrate lessons learned, willingness to invest time and resources to actively participate, and the expected impact of the program on the success of the participant’s farming business. Consideration will also be paid to creating diverse participant groups where the possibility of peer-to-peer learning is enhanced.
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| This application consists of a number of questions designed to assess your readiness and interest in the South Carolina New and Beginning Farmer program. Please complete the questions as completely as possible. |
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| Contact Information (Individual Applicant) |
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| Please confirm that you intend for this to be an individual, not a joint, application. |
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| Contact Information (Joint Applicant) |
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| First Name, Applicant One | | |
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| Email Address, Applicant One | | |
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| Street Address, Applicant One | | |
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| Cell Phone Number, Applicant One | | |
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| Business Phone Number, Applicant One | | |
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| Home Phone Number, applicant One | | |
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| First Name, Applicant Two | | |
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| Email Address, Applicant Two | | |
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| Street Address, Applicant Two | | |
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| Cell Phone Number, Applicant Two | | |
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| Home Phone Number, Applicant Two | | |
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| Participation and Cost Expectations |
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The SCNBFP program is composed of several training, education, and business development activities that will require your participation over the course of approximately 10 months, beginning in early December 2010.
SCNBFP, though largely supported through USDA- funding, requires that participants pay for most of their own travel, lodging, and meals expenses (beyond $600 provided by grant) and that they participate fully in all portions of the program. Participants have the option of selecting one other person (e.g. a spouse or business partner) who is an integral part of their business. We ask that applicants identify whether they will be applying jointly or alone. Successful joint applications will require that any additional costs of meals, lodging, and travel be at their own expense and that joint participants be treated as a single entity for purposes of reimbursement, where it is allowable.
An initial program session will require that participants travel to Clemson’s Sandhill Research and Education Center in northeast Columbia (Scheduled for December 2nd) and that they cover only the costs of session meals.
Four or five one-day workshops, also in Columbia at Sandhill, will require participants to cover only their out-of-pocket, travel, and meals expenses. Five Site visits to successful farms will require participants to travel to the farm location, to pay for a night of lodging if required by distance, and to cover their out-of-pocket and meals expenses.
The final mid-summer (anticipated July 2011) two and a half-day meeting/workshop will require participants to pay for lodging, meals, and travel.
Travel expenses to the ten FastTrac training program sessions will be paid by participants. As these sessions will be held in three locations across the state, this should help to minimize these expenses.
Finally, $200 of travel and registration expenses associated with participation in a state-wide agricultural professional meeting will be paid by the grant. Additional expenses beyond $200 will be the participants' responsibility.
Participants will be able to choose what statewide meeting they want to use these funds for, but we are organizing group travel to Winston-Salem for program participants to attend the Carolina Farm Stewardship conference on December 3-5, following the program kickoff session. Attendance at this conference is not mandatory, but we think the program is very appropriate for program participants and CFSA has extended a break on the normal registration cost which will allow the $200 of grant funding to cover registration. Also, group transportation from Columbia will be provided for those who choose to participate. Registration includes several conference meals and receptions.
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| I certify that I fully understand the above statement and agree to the costs and time commitment entailed in this program. |
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| Farming and Related Experience |
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| Please describe your experience with the business of farming. | | |
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| Please list and briefly describe any farming-related training in which you have participated (e.g. USDA organic certification, Good Agricultural Practices - GAP). | | |
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| Please list and briefly describe any business-related training in which you have participated (e.g. FastTrac™). | | |
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| If you are actively farming, please describe your current business/operation (e.g. acres and types of crops, number and type of livestock, marketing methods, production methods). | | |
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| If you are actively farming, please describe your role in the operation. (e.g owner/operator, renter/lessee, partner, manager, farmworker) | | |
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| Please describe your current farm business record-keeping system (e.g. Quicken, Quickbooks, Excel, ledger, invoices and receipts in shoe boxes). | | |
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| Please tell us about why you are interested in the business of farming. | | |
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| Please describe up to three of the most innovative things you have personally done in the past three years in your farming operation (e.g. innovative conservation, production, or marketing practices). | | |
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| Please tell us how you learned about this program. | | |
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| What do you hope to accomplish with your farming business within the next year? | | |
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| What do you hope to accomplish with your farming business within the next five years? | | |
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| Please provide contact information for three personal and/or professional references below. |
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| Please indicate whether you and/or your spouse have off-farm employment. |
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| Please indicate the range of your total farm family income. |
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| Please indicate what percentage of your total farm family income comes from off-farm employment in a typical year. |
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| Do you have a computer in your home? |
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If you have Internet access at home how often do you generally use it?
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Check the response that corresponds with your level of computer use in each area.
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Characterize your Internet connection at home:
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