All About FACT’s Humane Farming Mentorship Program

By Samantha Gasson, Humane Farming Program Associate

FACT’s Humane Farming team is always listening, evolving, and inventing to make our program as useful, helpful, and relevant to the farmers in our network as possible. If there’s need, we work to develop the programming to fill that need. I should know, I have been involved with FACT as a livestock farmer since 2015 and as a Humane Farming Team member since 2018.

It was out of one of these needs that FACT’s Mentorship Program came into being. In 2017, based on farmer feedback, it became apparent that our farmers were struggling to find the support they needed in an agricultural system that focuses on “big ag.” Traditional programs often don’t know what to do with the diversified, pasture-based, niche operations like the ones in FACT’s farmer network.

We heard from our farmers that they really wanted to connect with other like-minded farmers – those who choose to put their hogs on pasture, allow their poultry the freedom to roam, and rotationally graze their cows. In short, they needed someone to talk things through with, someone to help prevent them from making costly mistakes. They needed a mentor.

There are farming mentorship programs throughout the country, but they are few and far between, often regional and general. FACT, being nationwide, was in a unique position to fill this void, helping pasture-based livestock farmers (or those transitioning to pasture) to connect and learn in a very personal and specific way.

When Larissa (FACT’s Humane Farming Director) first developed this program, she thought of everything, even adding in program “perks” accessible to mentees and mentors alike. She wanted this program to be personal, useful, and powerful. A tall order but one the Humane Farming Team was willing to fulfill.

First, we needed a system in place to make it personal and relevant. We jumped this first hurdle by interviewing each mentee and their potential mentor. After this initial step, the farmers talk with and essentially interview each other. These time-consuming steps are at the core of FACT’s Mentorship Program’s success.

Next, the program wanted to make sure the mentors were compensated for their time and that the mentee should supply most of the funds for this small honorarium. The remaining balance and the funds for staff time came from within the FACT program.

Third, the program puts mentees and mentors first when it comes to obtaining scholarships, prioritizing joint conferences that benefit both mentor and mentee. This allows for professional and personal development and a stronger bond between mentee and mentor.

Finally, we made sure there was money available for the mentors and mentees to visit one another by offering a small travel stipend. This isn’t always possible when farms are hundreds of miles apart, but it works wonderfully for those close.

Once all the pieces were thought out, funded, and finalized, FACT’s Humane Farming Mentorship Program became a reality.

Our inaugural year (2018) consisted of a cozy group of six mentees and six mentors. We kept the format very loose, making the initial introductions then leaving the pairs to take it from there. This first year wasn’t without its hiccups but it was a great start and proved there was a need from beginning farmers to learn and a desire from experienced farmers to give back.

The second year (2019) brought me on as Mentorship Coordinator (a position I still hold) and a leap from six to 14 mentorship pairs. This year had a lovely mixture of experience, with most of our mentees in the 2nd or 3rd year of production.

2020 brought us another year at 14 pairs. We had a wide range of mentees ranging from fiber production to pastured layer operations. It was a challenging year with a pandemic. So many conferences were cancelled or made virtual and no one had a stomach for out-of-town visits.

However, this was a resilient cohort who leaned on one another for support and advice. I think the mentors got as much out of our 2020 Mentorship year as the mentees. As interesting as it was, I hope we’ve seen our first and last pandemic!

Last year’s cohort contained a whopping 19 mentorship parings. Based on the feedback from our pandemic cohort we realized there was a need for more engagement outside the established mentorship paring. This kicked off the beginning of our Ask-An-Expert series which provides enrichment and education opportunities for the farmers participating in the program. We also hosted our first mentorship kickoff meeting which gave everyone the chance to “see” one another (I’ve really got the hang of Zoom now).

This group was a blast with everything from a mentee looking to expand their dairy operation to a cow/calf operation looking to move away from selling at the sale barn and into direct marketing their beef. They were fun, imaginative, and creative. It was a fantastic mentorship year.

Which brings us to 2022. This year, as the program continues to grow and evolve, we recently officially welcomed 22 pairs into our new cohort. We have added an extra layer of support by enlisting one of our past mentors, Paul Dorrance, to serve as a “mentor’s mentor.” We have also launched designated listservs for mentors and mentees to cultivate community, Zoom check-ins, a skill-share option which includes small “teams” focused on a specific topic, and an expansion of our Ask-An-Expert series.

It’s heartwarming when mentees tell us how their mentor changed their lives. It renews one’s faith in humanity when mentors return year after year to help yet another beginning farmer navigate the interesting world of humane farming. It's exciting to be part of a program that has the versatility and motivation to improve, the forethought to enrich existing programs, plus a leadership that listens to its farmers and has the flexibility to evolve. I love working for this organization because it has a big heart that matches its big ideas.

Who knows what the coming year will bring, but something tells me that it will be fantastic – and that we will continue to find ways to make it even better.

If you’re interested in learning more about FACT’s Mentorship Program, please visit our mentorship page. Applications for farmers who wish to participate in our 2023 cohort will be available in October 2022.If you would like to support this fantastic program, you can do so on our website.