Our 2024 Mentorship Program Wrap-up
Written by MaryEllen Pitts, Mentorship Coordinator
The Mentorship Program connects mentors with mentees over the course of 10 visits, to share knowledge and experience, and to create connections within the Indiana farming community. Funding from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Block Grant has made the 2023-2024 program pilot phase possible.
At the end of our second cohort’s mentorship, the program has supported 20 farmer pairs coming together for 1,200 hours of in-person and virtual learning on topics from production, funding, farm viability, wash/pack and storage to human resources, markets/marketing, and more. In this pilot year, the first two cohorts have provided valuable constructive feedback to improve the program for future cohorts. We listened and learned a great deal from our participants, added some changes and look forward to implementing even more for the third cohort.
Here’s a brief summary of what our second cohort (January - May 2024) looked like on the ground.
The second cohort of mentor/mentee pairs was scheduled to meet in person at the end of January, 2024, but severe weather necessitated a quick pivot to a virtual meeting. Multiple virtual “rooms” were used to facilitate mentor and mentee group conversations. Pairs were able to begin setting goals together and schedule in-person farm visits and virtual meetings.
Like the first cohort, over the course of 3 ½ months, mentors and mentees have been visiting each others’ farms, conducting virtual meetings to dive into key topics of their choice, texting, speaking on the phone, and using the Mentorship Workbook to guide their interactions. In response to the first cohort’s feedback, one of the six mentor/mentee virtual meetings was changed to be in-person at a location of the pair’s choosing.
Also as a result of Cohort One’s recommendations, Optional Regional Gatherings were planned for Cohort Two, to facilitate more farmer-to-farmer learning and build relationships among Hoosier farmers. The gatherings took place in mid-April at Purdue University Student Farm (West Lafayette, IN) and Seven Ridges Eco Farm (Nashville, IN). Each gathering consisted of a casual picnic lunch and sharing questions with the group, and each farmer host gave a brief farm tour.
Cohort 2 farmers will come together for a Wrap Up Event at Teter Organic Farm on May 19. This group will also process the mentorship in pairs, among mentors, among mentees, and finally as the second pilot cohort giving us advice for the program going forward. We look forward to hearing what everyone learned (mentors are learning, too!) and how we can continue to improve the mentorship.
Our participating mentorship farmer pairs were:
Carla Kenney, Onyx Urban Farm, LLC (mentee) + Dan Perkins, Perkins’ Good Earth Farm (mentor)
Adrian Odle, Creekside Meadows Flower Farm (mentee) + Katy Rogers, Teter Organic Farm (mentor)
Ryan Lee, Lee’s Edible Acres (mentee) + Joe Ricker, At Ease Orchard (mentor)
Kai Nix, Rooted Arcadia (mentee) + David Sims, Heirloom Acres (mentor)
Nick Atchley, Atchley Farm LLC (mentee) + Shane Hansen, Rainfield Farm (mentor)
Benjamin Matthews, Warfleigh Cottage Garden (mentee) + Lisa Burke, Farming Engineers (mentor)
Alesha Taylor, Growing Good in the Hood (mentee) + Robert Pinder, Little by Little Farm, LLC (mentor)
Sedrick Green lll, Baby Greens Family Farm (mentee) + Anne Massie, Grounded Earth Farm (mentor)
Jordan Bohall, Birdie & the Bees Farm (mentee) + Jon Kulow, Seven Ridges (mentor)
Daniel Garcia, Garcia’s Gardens (mentee) + Genesis McKiernan-Allen, Full Hand Farm (mentor)
