The University of Illinois has just launched the Illinois Small Farm Apprenticeship Program, a year-long program to help potential farmers learn to be better at running the business. This professional development course:
strives to give the participants the skill sets and tools to be able to successfully manage a small-scale vegetable farm. We will be covering the whole process from farm planning, design, implementation to harvest, washing and marketing of produce while developing horticultural, managerial, organizational, business and marketing skills.
This sounds very useful and relevant, especially because small farms are hard to make successful and farmers face some extremely expensive challenges. Speaking of: If you’re accepted to the program, it’s $6,000.
You can learn more about the apprenticeship and how to apply (by October 15th) on the program’s website.
Top image from the Illinois Small Farm Apprenticeship Program website.