Community Food And Agriculture Coalition

Beginning farmers and ranchers programcfac supports new and early-stage farmers in accessing farmland and launching successful farm businesses through workshops, resources, and collaboration with more than 30 statewide service providers, to ensure that conserved land is actively used for production, and beginning producers are successful.the certified farm startup program provided 12 workshops in 6 communities to 52 unique bfrs. The establishing farmer support program 102 hours of technical assistance to 45 producers. The farmer mentor training program provided 8 mentorship training sessions to 5 latter stage bfrs who then provided 138 mentorship hours to 42 early stage bfrs. The ongoing farmer support program supported 39 bfrs in visiting 46 farmland listings and provided 28 meetings for 7 farmer cohorts and a total of 52 producers

Farmland conservation/land use advocacycfac continues to be a leading voice in the effort to protect farmland in westernmontana. We hold a permanent seat on the missoula city/county food policy advisory board, increasing our ability to make change in land use, food access and more at the policy level. We are collaborating with missoula county to develop a conservation servitude program to enhance protection of smaller acreage farmland.