Beginning and Veteran Farmer Training Graduation

On Saturday, August 27, three NSC clients were among eight people who graduated from the Beginning and Veteran Farmer Training. Gathered under a cluster of oak trees at Morris Arboretum, the graduates were honored by Lisa Mosca of PHS City Harvest and Shane LaBrake, their program evaluator, and received a certificate demonstrating their completion of over 350 hours of training. The trainees have spent the past nine months learning how to grow organic produce in an urban environment and have each developed a business plan for selling their products in the future. In addition to their classes in Philadelphia, they traveled to urban farms across the northeast and mid-west to see how farmers in other cities are creating sustainable businesses. Their trainers hope that they now have the tools and inspiration to grow and sell organic produce in Philadelphia, thereby increasing access to healthy food sources in neighborhoods where affordable grocery stores are scarce.

The participants had clearly developed a strong sense of community during the program as well. They told stories of how they had been to one another's homes and their upcoming plans for a Thanksgiving dinner. Although three of the graduates were not native English speakers and had moved to the US from refugee camps abroad, all eight of the participants spoke about how they had become a family over the year.

This program was sponsored by the USDA Office of Advocacy and Outreach, East Park Revitalization Alliance, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, and Nationalities Service Center.