FARRMS Helps Make Farming Dreams Come True
Jen Skoog’s dream of farming may not have come true without the help of FARRMS.
FARRMS (Foundation for Agricultural and Rural Resources Management and Sustainability) helps farmers and ranchers interested in sustainable agriculture plan, start and grow their businesses by providing internships, workshops, classes, field days, tours, mentors, webinars, microloans and more.
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in North Dakota is supporting FARRMS with grants to help pay for staff, provide speaker stipends and cover internship costs. NRCS’ current funding amounts to about 25% of FARRMS annual budget. Additional funding comes from other government agencies and private foundation and donors.
“We like to say, ‘We grow farmers,’” says Stephanie Blumhagen, FARRMS executive director and a small farm operator herself. “Our students are mainly small-scale beginning farmers (within their first 10 years). Most grow specialty crops, raise pastured livestock and produce value-added products. They market directly to consumers through farmers markets and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture). Some sell to restaurants and institutions.”
More than 200 students have taken FARRMS’ Farm Beginnings business planning course since 2007. The organization has made 62 grants and loans totaling nearly $479,000 in financial assistance to farmers. It has placed more 60 interns on farms or at farmers markets since 2016.
Skoog, of Christine, N.D., took the organization’s Farm Beginnings course four years ago.
“My dream was to grow sustainable, ethically raised food for my family and to give others the opportunity to enjoy it, too,” she says.
Though her husband, Ryan, farms, too -- raising corn, soybeans and alfalfa -- and Jen, an accountant, does the farm’s books, she wasn’t involved in field crop production or marketing decisions. Before starting her farm, she worked fulltime at Microsoft.
“I would have been really lost when I started my own farm business, if it were not for FARRMS,” she says.
The Farm Beginnings course introduced her to many sustainable farming practices such soil health, crop rotation and planned grazing. FARRMS also helped her make connections with other farmers and sustainable ag experts who helped and advised her as she planned her startup.
Jen launched her farm, called Family Roots Farm, in 2017. She produces fresh and pickled vegetables, herbs, raw honey, eggs, jam, chicken, pork and lamb. She sells her products direct to consumers who visit the farm and to customers at two farmers markets and an online food cooperative.
“It has certainly exceeded my expectations in a number of ways,” Jen says. “Honestly, I didn't think I could personally do it. Sometimes I tend to bite off more than I can chew. I'm amazed at the support I have received from customers and other local farmers. I have a great working relationship with other local businesses -- including other farms, food businesses, artists and restaurants. I love doing collaborations with all of them. Although I am always working on my business model, I have been able to find ways to make Family Roots Farm a very profitable business. Ample support through FARRMS and diversification within my farming model are huge factors in its success.”
Claire Lowstuter, Bismarck, N.D., had a similar experience with FARRMS. She and her husband, Derek were looking for a way to generate some income from their hobby farm, Folly Hill Farm. They were interested in finding some a unique enterprise that fit their lifestyle (they both worked fulltime off the farm and had a small child). They enrolled in Farm Beginnings in 2017.
“The program helped solidify our ideas,” she says.
Claire and Derek settled on producing duck eggs, which they sell at the BisMan Community Food Co-op in Bismarck.
FARRMS is an important asset for agriculture in North Dakota, Blumhagen says.
No other organization in the state focuses solely on small, direct market business and offers as many different programs and services, she says.
“Sustainability is at the heart of all we do,” Blumhagen says. “In all our programs we teach farmers to consider how their farming and business practices impact their community, natural environment and financial bottom line. We also teach them to view their farm as an interconnected system and that the fewer outside inputs and exports, the more sustainable their farm system. We model this with our programs and that where mentorship comes in. NRCS funds have made it possible for us to pay stipends to experienced farmers to teach and mentor beginning farmers. Jen and Claire are great examples of this. They have gone through Farm Beginnings and launched successful farm businesses. Now they are teaching the next generation. They both were mentors to our 2021 Farm Beginnings class, and share their expertise in workshops and webinars. Jen has hosted interns on her farm in 2020 and 2021 and her 2020 intern is launching her own farm this summer.”
For more information about FARRMS, see farms.org
For more about NRCS programs, see your local NRCS field office.
Media contact:
Lon Tonneson
for NRCS North Dakota
lon.tonneson@gmail.com
701-361-1105