Young Agrarians is offering a limited number of business mentorships to new farmers to support skills development to run ecologically sustainable and financially viable farm businesses.
Click here to go the application form. Apply by Sunday, Nov. 30, 2014
Interested in potentially being a Mentor? Email: kristen@youngagrarians.org
Program Description
Whether you are in need of business basics or strategic planning for long-term growth, Young Agrarians knows that gaining business development skills is one of the big challenges facing new farmers. Our aim is to provide new farmers with an opportunity to build their business knowledge and use it to grow their farm operations to achieve long-term viability.
Mentees will receive around 40 hours of mentorship and will be paired with mentors over three to four months throughout the winter and early spring. Mentors will help you to analyze your operations and chart a course to move forward towards financial sustainability. Mentorships will be by phone, email, and where possible site visits and in-person meetings.
Program Goals
To support you to grow a sustainable farm business! Through one-on-one mentorship and peer networks, we aim to nurture educational spaces that allow new farmers to work out how to overcome obstacles and achieve business goals. Ultimately we want to see you produce an increase in: crop yields, revenues, and where possible, area of land in production.
Program Requirements of Mentee
- Commit to participating in 40-45 of mentorship hours over the course of 3-4 months.
- Participate in orientation sessions, webinars, and closing session.
- Complete an evaluation at the end of the program.
- Must submit prior year financials, land in production, and volume of food produced.
- After mentorship and season is complete, must submit end of production season financials, land in production, and volume of food produced.
- Must complete two blog posts, one in the Spring either during or after Mentorship hours are wrapped up, and one in the fall of 2015.
- Resource Map – add your farm and 1-3 of their favourite resources to the Young Agrarians U-Map: http://maps.youngagrarians.org/
- Fill out the BC Ecological Farmers Survey – to be completed upon acceptance into the program, while drinking a pot of tea: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KSC65HJ
- Mentees must also support the creation of a work schedule with their mentor.
Eligibility Criteria
- All applicants must be residents of British Columbia.
- Priority will be given (but not limited to) to new entrants into agriculture ages 18-35, having been in operation for less than 3-5 years.
Applications will be peer-reviewed. Please note that every effort will be made to provide all applicants with a match, however Young Agrarians cannot guarantee that you will be placed in the program as this is determined by the number of mentors available with the appropriate skills and know-how relevant to your farm operation.
Funding for the Young Agrarians Business Mentorship Network Pilot is provided in part by Salt Spring Coffee, Vancity, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the BC Ministry of Agriculture through programs delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC.