Farm Needs Assessment
Updates
This project has been completed. THANK YOU to everyone who participated and helped make this project a success. We had over 45 farmers participate from 21 of 23 towns in Cheshire County!
We had our Community Forum for this project on April 5, 2011. We were so happy to see so many people there. We had 65 people at the Forum to hear results and join discussions to be part of the next steps.
The final report will be available to download in a few weeks, so please check back. If you have any questions about the project, or would like to request a hard copy, please email info@cheshireconservation.org or call 603.756.2988 ext 116.
Background
The Farm Needs Assessment Project was established in response to an earlier research project that identified infrastructure and skilled labor as the two most important needs for economic viability for farmers in Cheshire County. Our aim was to learn more about infrastructure such as storage, processing facilities and equipment sharing, as well as all other infrastructure needs that are important to our farms.
Research Process
We had two focus groups for this project and then followed up with 39 one-on-one interviews with farmers in Cheshire County. These interviews took place between November 2010 and February 2011.
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In addition, Land For Good has created a matrix evaluation of suitable properties for meeting labor and infrastructure needs in Cheshire County. This matrix will be available in the final version of the report.
Partnerships
The CCCD is partnering with several other local organizations including
- UNH Cooperative Extension
- Land for Good
- Antioch University New England
- First Course
- Tracie Smith of Tracie’s Community Farm
- Erin Bickford of Abenaki Springs Farm
