Projects

New Hampshire Agricultural Innovation Program:

USDA Rural Development awarded the North Country Resource Conservation and Development Area Council, Inc. a $155,400 Rural Business Enterprise Grant in September 2004 to provide technical assistance to the participating membership of Beginner Farmers of NH. Known as the “NH Agricultural Innovation Program (NHAIP),” and working in collaboration with the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food, the University of NH Cooperative Extension, the NH Farm Bureau Federations, the Southern NH Resource Conservation and Development Area Council, Inc. and the NH Small Business Development Center, the project goals were to develop Business Assistance Teams that would provide on-going 1:1 training for beginning farmers to help them develop a business plan over the first year, provide follow-up assistance for implementation over the course of the second year, and to encourage participants to serve as mentors for other beginner farmers thereafter. The technical assistance targets start-up, entry level, transitioning and expanding agricultural operations in rural areas throughout NH that have fewer than 5 owners/employees and annual gross revenues of less than $200,000. The project objective was to nurture the expansion of small-scale agriculture in NH to expand the industry and to create a greater critical mass and supportive infrastructure.

For a summary of the accomplishments of the project, please read the NHAIP Case Study booklet.