Exploring the Small Farm Dream
 Is Starting an Agricultural
Business Right for You?
About Explorer
The Explorer Program
is intended for those who are considering farming. Its purpose is to
help pre-venture, aspiring farmers learn what it would take to start
and mange their own commercial agricultural businesses, and decide whether
this is a path they really want to take. Its workbook and supporting
resources are designed for use in a variety of learning settings: introductory
workshops, formal four-session courses, and independent or guided self-study.
Created as a decision-making tool, Explorer can help you establish
the clear vision and goals you will need to guide a new agricultural
venture. It will help you identify and assess personal motivations, business
and farming skills, and available resources. It will help you clarify
values. The goal of Explorer is to help you decide whether starting
an agricultural business is right for you, and-based on that decision-to
help you plan practical next steps.
Participating in an Explorer Short Course
NESFI originally designed
the Explorer workbook for use in the classroom. We believe
that using the workbook in a classroom setting offers you and your
fellow classmates several benefits. First, well-prepared instructors
will guide your exploration, bringing their own business start-up
experience and farming knowledge to the class. They can answer questions
and expand on the text in ways that are keyed to your needs. Second,
you will be exploring with a group of peers-folks with similar interests
and concerns with whom you can test ideas and share experiences.
They can become the heart of your business start-up support network-both
in the classroom and beyond. And, finally, the regular weekly meeting
schedule provides both the motivation and a structure for timely
completion of your work. Explorer short courses have clearly
demonstrated their value. When asked, “Do you feel better able
now than at the beginning of your exploration to answer the question, ‘Am
I ready to start an agricultural business?’” all of the
participants completing Explorer’s pilot classes responded “yes.”
If you should decide to
participate in an Explorer short course, a copy of the workbook
will be included in your registration fee.
- Upcoming Explorer Courses,
Orientation Workshops & Related Events
Using Explorer as a Self-Study Reader
"Exploring the Small Farm Dream" is also available as
a self-study guide. If classes are not available in your area, or in the
time frame when you need to begin “exploring,” the self-study
option allows you to move ahead on your own or with a group of peers. Self-study
enables you to work at a pace that is right for you. If you and/or your peer
group want to consider a “guided self-study” option, NESFI’s
program staff may be able to help you find a local mentor who can provide
this service for you.
If you decide on the self-study
option, the success of your exploration will depend to a very large
degree on your own initiative. We urge you to establish a schedule
to complete the work and stick to it. Use every possible incentive
to keep yourself moving forward-exploring with a partner or a peer
group is one good way to keep you on track. Plan to make good use
of the supporting resources offered here on the Explorer website.
NESFI program staff is always ready to answer questions and lend
a hand. Please use the Self-Study Evaluation Form, below, to let
us know about how the self-study option has worked for you.
Explorer Resources for Course Participants & Self-Study Readers
Whether you are enrolled in an Explorer course or pursuing self-study,
you will benefit from the many supplemental Explorer resources available
here, either directly or through the NESFI Bookstore. They include books, videos,
websites and organizations that can be most helpful to you in your exploration
process. They are organized to support your progression through the workbook’s
several sections and sub-sections, and include an update section for important
new resources as they become available.
Sponsoring an Explorer Short Course
NESFI offers regularly scheduled Explorer courses at locations in
Massachusetts and adjacent areas. To support region-wide access to the Explorer Program,
it is actively seeking course sponsors from among Growing New Farmers Consortium
member organizations and other service providers who serve the Northeast beginning
farmer constituency. Toward this end, NESFI has developed an Explorer Course
Delivery Guide for Program Sponsors, Managers and Instructors, and offers Program
orientation workshops for interested course sponsors and their managers and
instructors. NESFI program staff will also work directly with service providers
that are interested in sponsoring an Explorer course. Contact us at explorer@smallfarm.org.
Information on organizing
course delivery, along with sample agendas and course session guides,
is offered in the Explorer Course Delivery Guide. Supporting
resources for Instructors are available on the password protected
Instructor’s page of this website.
Thank You…
- to the over 70 participants in Explorer pilot courses, who provided thoughtful
feedback on both the workbook and class structure, and
- to The Claneil Foundation, The Northeast Sustainable Agriculture
Research & Education
Program (NESARE), The Mid-Atlantic Consortium (WK Kellogg Foundation),
The Country Bank for Savings, and Growing New Farmers: A Northeast
Service Providers Consortium (USDA/CSREES), who provided NESFI’s Explorer Program
with generous financial support.
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