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Dear farmers and friends,
The online course season is
almost halfway through, and now’s the time to register for our upcoming
block three courses which begin in the new year. These courses cover a
range of topics any farmer needs to succeed, such as soil health,
holistic financial planning, sheep production, season extension, and
so much more.
Our suite of online courses
is offered on a user-friendly platform, which grants registrants
permanent access to their course content. Also, courses have tiered
pricing based on household size and income to make access to the courses
more affordable and equitable for everyone.
Registration is open for all
courses, with live content starting mid-January for our third block of
courses.
Access to Capital
Mondays: January 15 –
February 19
It can be very difficult to
navigate the process of getting grants or loans, especially if you did
not come to farming with a background in finance. This course will cover
the various aspects of seeking funding for a farm enterprise.
Vegetable Production II
Mondays: January 15 –
February 19
Continue where Vegetable
Production I leaves off - expand upon production from transplanting to
harvest, including information on in-season fertility, integrated pest
management, weed control options, harvesting strategies, and tips for
marketing your products.
Indoor Specialty Mushroom Production
Tuesdays: January 16 –
February 20
Mushrooms are an emerging
niche crop and can easily be grown. This course trains new and
experienced farmers in the background, techniques, marketing, and
economics of farm-scale indoor commercial production.
Holistic Financial Planning
Tuesdays: January 16 –
February 20
If you’ve been struggling to
make your farm operation profitable without driving yourself into the
ground, this financial planning course is for you. You will learn how to
make financial decisions toward farm and family values and goals.
Mercados y Rentabilidad
Martes: 16 de Enero – 20 de
Febrero
¿Tiene una idea para una
empresa agrícola pero no está seguro de si es factible? Este curso le
ayudará a explorar los mercados potenciales y la rentabilidad de sus
ideas, retomando el punto donde lo dejó BF 101: Como Iniciar su Negocios
Agrícola. (Si no tomo BF 101, no hay problema, aun así puede tomar BF
102).
Goat Production
Wednesdays: January 17 –
February 21
Interesting in incorporating
goats for dairy, meat, or fiber? Goats can function as a profitable
stand-alone enterprise or can be integrated into your existing farm
structure to provide a variety of products and make use of marginal lands
that would otherwise go unused.
Season Extension with High Tunnels
Wednesdays: January 17 –
February 21
Adding weeks to your growing
season can mean attaining a premium for having products available well
before (or long after) other local growers. This course will introduce
you to unheated plastic-covered “high tunnels,” covering cost, management
and more.
Sheep Production
Wednesdays: January 17 –
February 21
Have sheep or thinking about
getting a flock? Producers of all experience levels will find something
for them in this lively, wide-ranging course. There is no one right way
to raise sheep — this course covers many of these different options.
Soil Health
Wednesdays: January 17 –
February 21
Learn how to develop a
holistic approach to preserve and build healthy soil. The health and
productivity of the soil forms the basis for any farm’s success,
profitability, and ecological sustainability.
Our program offers nearly
three dozen online courses to help farmers improve their technical and
business skills. These courses cover a range of topics any farmer needs
to succeed. Experienced farmers, extension educators, and agriculture
service providers guide students through course content, including weekly
live webinars, videos, and resources.
New additions to our online
course suite include "Growing
Uncommon Fruit," which will help you determine whether
incorporating uncommon fruit into your operation is the right decision
for you, "Tree Fruit
Scouting" on effective pest management, and "Farm
Strategies for Farmer Well-Being" on strategies to make
your farm feel more manageable.
In addition to new courses,
we are expanding our Spanish-first online course offerings with our "BF 101:
Cómo Iniciar su Negocio Agrícola," "BF 102:
Mercados y Rentabilidad," and more coming soon.
Last year we added "Goat
Production," which guides beginning farmers through the
production and marketing of goats for dairy, meat and fiber, and "Identifying
and Partnering with Mushrooms in Farms, Gardens and Forests"
to teach you basic ID, species, life cycle, and potential applications of
mushrooms to solve community-level challenges. In recent years we’ve also
added: "Access to
Capital" for anyone seeking funding for a farm
enterprise; "Cut Flower
Production" on the business of flower farming; a course
on "Beef Cattle
Management;" a primer on "Social
Media & Online Marketing" for your farm business; and
a 4-week intensive in how "Reading the
Land" can help you monitor its health.
Our growing team of online
course instructors includes experienced farmers, extension
educators, and agriculture service providers. The bulk of the course
happens on your own time, with discussions, readings, and assignments in
Teachable, our online course platform. To add to the experience, webinars
will be woven into the interface of the course for a dedicated time slot
each year to allow you to meet on a weekly basis to learn from presenters
and ask questions in real-time. If you miss one, they are always recorded
and posted for later viewing.
We are now offering need-based
scholarships for free tuition for up to 2 online courses to
eligible applicants who face an entry barrier to farming due to economic
or systemic disparities, who cannot otherwise afford to enroll and/or who
lack access to farmer training resources in their community. This
includes people who are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color),
LGBTQIA2S+, and those suffering from recent extenuating circumstances,
like job loss. We consider applications based on an assessment of equity,
need, and the resources we have available at the time of the request. Learn more
and apply by December 10.
You can browse all of our course
offerings on our website. You can learn more about our
courses, including answers to common questions, on our course FAQ.
The Cornell Small Farms
Program (SFP) helps farmers get expert assistance to facilitate all
phases of small farm business development. SFP is housed at Cornell
University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and works
collaboratively with Cornell Cooperative Extension.
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