Grow Louisiana Beginning Farmer Training Program Starts March 11 In Baton Rouge

ISABELLA FRANK

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA

The LSU AgCenter will have a free, year-long training program for Louisiana’s beginning farmers this spring. A beginning farmer is defined as those currently farming with fewer than 10 years of experience or those wanting to start farming.

Grow Louisiana provides whole-farm planning, horticulture and business training, online resources, support, networking and mentoring. The overall goal is to increase the success of agricultural communities by building a statewide network of sustainable small to medium-scale horticulture farmers and providing tools and educational resources to new farmers. This year’s program is a continuation of previous, year-long, beginning farmer trainings around the state.

The spring and fall programs will consist of six Tuesday night sessions and one Saturday session. The sessions will be held at the LSU Hill Farm Teaching Facility in Baton Rouge. The first session is Tuesday, March 11, from 6 to 9 p.m. There will be summer field days as well. Participants are expected to attend 15 of the 17 program activities. 

Participation is free and is funded by a USDA Southeast Transition to Organic Partnership Program grant.

Applications for the program should be submitted by Feb. 8 at https://bit.ly/GrowLa.

For more information Grow Louisiana organizers can be reached at cmotsenbocker@agcenter.lsu.edu or 225-578-1036.   ∆

ISABELLA FRANK: LSU AgCenter