Veronica Godfrey Robinson didn’t think the swampy area of the farm she inherited from her father was of much use financially.

“I didn’t even think about the possibilities of swampland being a part of something I could do as a business,” Robinson said. But her participation in the Small Farms Leadership 360 Initiative, offered by Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T, changed her mind.

She learned that the area, roughly five acres of the 15-acre farm, might be used for conservation purposes (which can carry tax advantages) or for the production of mushrooms, or possibly rice.

“I’m still researching it,” said Robinson, who inherited the farm from her father, the late Daniel Godfrey, who was dean of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at N.C. A&T State University.

Robinson is among a dozen people in the 2025-26 class who graduated April 16 from the retooled initiative. Initially launched in 2018, the free program is designed to empower small-scale farmers with the resources, knowledge and support needed to build a successful farm enterprise and become leaders in their communities.

Raymond Thomas, Ph.D., assistant professor and Cooperative Extension agricultural market specialist, took over the program last year. It includes four in-person modules featuring educational sessions on topics such as integrated pest management, farm safety, canning, product labeling, high tunnel production, budgeting and marketing. Participants also took tours of farms across the state, a food hub and a farmers’ market.

The program, which was shortened from 18 months to six months and is limited to 25 participants per session, partners with the Agriculture Business Innovation Center. ABIC is a national center housed at A&T that offers technical assistance to agricultural business owners to plan, develop and fund ventures.

Several of the 360 graduates were a part of the pilot group for ABIC, Thomas said. Kenrett Jefferson-Moore, Ph.D., ABIC’s executive director and chair of the Department of Agribusiness, Applied Economics and Agriscience Education, invited this group to utilize ABIC’s resources as they move forward with their businesses.

“We’ll have conferences and hosting workshops here on campus,” Jefferson-Moore said. “Our goal is to make sure we build capacity within your business to make you as successful as you possibly can be.”

This year’s 360 cohort also included two Cooperative Extension agents. “We operate off the ‘train the trainer’ model,” Thomas said of Extension. “So that means that the integration of what we generate on the campus that comes from research, that comes from the academic side, we format and put it in the hands of the agents so that they can reach a wider audience.”

Extension agent John Gurganus, who works in Pender, New Hanover, Brunswick, Bladen, Robeson, Columbus, Cumberland, Sampson and Hoke counties, said his long-term goal is to implement a regional 360 program.

A surprising takeaway for him, Gurganus said, was learning who he was as a person and how he relates to other people. “Everybody knows I’m an orange,” he said, referring to the Real Colors training that aims to improve understanding of human behavior and communication with others. “I can be a little over the top sometimes,” Garganus said, chuckling.

The Real Colors training allowed participants to be more interactive with each other, Gurganus said. “I think after that, we were much more talkative. It was a lot easier to communicate,” he said.

Carolyn Williams, who co-owns and manages an 88-acre tree farm, said she was impressed with the diversity of businesses that participants want to start or are involved in. “It’s such a diverse group. It’s not just farmers,” said Williams, whose farm has been in her family for more than 160 years.

TeCora Galloway, whose short-term goal is to get a USDA license to grow hemp, ultimately hopes to win a grant for research and development for a business growing legal, medicinal cannabis.

“I’ve learned that a lot of these small farmers and agricultural initiatives are very, very helpful and eager to help people,” Galloway said. “This has just been a breath of fresh air and I want to stay in this environment.”