Growing Together Mentorship Program

The goal of Growing Together is to connect experienced and beginning farmers and ranchers (typically defined as those with less than ten years of farming experience) to provide peer-to-peer mentoring which will result in improved knowledge of agricultural production, sales, and farm viability. The program is designed to be flexible in order to meet the needs of both the mentors and mentees.

How it Works

There is no formal curriculum, rather this program builds upon the strengths of the mentors and the educational needs of the mentees to determine relevant topics for improvement.

Choose your Topic

Mentees can choose from a variety of agriculture-related topics (cover crops, livestock, production planning, agritourism, etc.) and are paired with a mentor who has a similar operation type (i.e. livestock, diversified vegetable) and proven proficiency in the topic of interest. The dynamic nature of this program is intentional.  We understand that the needs for both parties will be different and we leave it in the hands of the participants to determine what works best for them.

Meeting Times

Mentors and mentees will determine how often they plan to meet (weekly, monthly, quarterly), how long they plan to meet, and how they plan to meet (i.e. virtually, by phone, in person).  This program operates seasonally from November to October. Our goal is that mentee applicants can prepare for the upcoming season, build relationships and establish strong foundations, and learn more about what they need by applying in the fall/winter; however, applications are open year-round.

Cost & Compensation

The program will compensate mentors at a rate of $40 per hour.  Mentees are able to use this service for free as long as they are a current partner of HDFFA

Contact Info:

Andrea Smith
Agricultural Support Manager
andrea@hdffa.org
agsupport@hdffa.org
541-390-3572

Mentee Eligibility

• Mentee must be a farmer or rancher with an agricultural operation in Central Oregon (Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson Counties and Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs) OR an employee of a farm or ranch located within Central Oregon.
• Mentee’s farm/ranch must be operational in 2023. For farmers/ranchers getting started this year, land must be secured for the 2023 season, and the mentee must be actively preparing to start growing or raising crops for the 2023 season.
• Mentee’s farm/ranch must be a current partner with the High Desert Food & Farm Alliance.
• Mentees must have fewer than 10 years of experience owning and operating their own farm/ranch (past farmhand or apprenticeship experience does not count).

HDFFA aims to be flexible, so if you do not meet one of the eligibility requirements above, please reach out to HDFFA’s Agricultural Support Manager at andrea@hdffa.org to discuss participation.

Mentee Requirements

• Mentees will be screened and deemed eligible by the Agricultural Support Manager before being connected with a mentor.
• Mentees are eligible to utilize up to 10 hours of mentorship during the 2022-23 mentorship period.
• Mentees will not be reimbursed for travel to and from the mentor’s farm.
• Dependent on funding, HDFFA may cap the number of mentees at some point if budgeted hours run out.

This project is supported by the Beginning Farmer Rancher Development Program grant [grant no. 2020-70017-32426] from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.