Farmers, like most of us, might not always pay attention to every word of a presentation. But farmers do listen to one another, and a new platform will help them connect, communicate and share information to improve their land, their yield and their prospects.

Osei-Agyemang Yeboah, Ph.D.

“This new website we are building will add in-person and virtual training, and enhance information-sharing among this client base,” said Yeboah, a professor of agribusiness and international trade. “Farmers, ranchers and especially veterans often learn more from themselves than what we provide in a classroom setting. This peer-to-peer platform will be another avenue for them to be able to digest the material we present.”

The platform will be a digital repository for existing and new hands-on training materials and presentations by CAES faculty on multiple topics, including climate-smart agriculture, soil and water conservation practices, recordkeeping and farm accounting, business and financial planning, agricultural entrepreneurship, marketing, heirs property retention, transition services for beginning farmers and AgrAbility services for farmers and veterans with disabilities. It also will serve as a virtual meeting place for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers, Ranchers, and Veteran Farmers (SDFRVs). Yeboah anticipates that the website could be up and running by the end of the year.

Yeboah will receive a three-year, $746,950 grant to carry out this outreach and assistance project. It is being funded by the 2501 Program, administered by the USDA’s Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement, to support veterans involved in agriculture and farmers and ranchers from underserved backgrounds. In October, the 2501 Program announced it would award $22.6 million to 31 grantees, including Yeboah, in fiscal year 2024.

According to Yeboah, many socially disadvantaged producers have historically lacked access to USDA programs and services and low-interest Farm Service Agency loans. This lack of support and capital contributed significantly to Black farmers in the United States losing more than $300 billion worth of acreage during the 20th century and further widening a national racial wealth gap.

Farming and ranching increasingly requires specialized business knowledge, Yeboah added. That means producers require support — from the government, from university faculty and from their peers — to improve production, yields and profits.

“Agriculture is very risky, and individual farmers cannot acquire all of the knowledge they need by themselves,” Yeboah said. “With this grant we can bring them together and have them interact with one another on this platform.

“At the end of the day,” Yeboah added, “this project is about technical assistance and increasing access for farmers and ranchers to local, district and regional USDA offices and to USDA programs and gain knowledge about available programs so they can acquire land, improve their land and become better and more productive farmers.”