Autumnal Offerings From FACT's Humane Farming Program
By Larissa McKenna & Samantha Gasson, FACT's Humane Farming Program team
Sam & Larissa
It’s mid-October and our fall season of services for livestock farmers is in full swing. As FACT's Humane Farming Program team members, we have the honor and pleasure of partnering with farmers across the country to improve animal welfare on their operations. The farmers in our network are fabulous, and we are continuously inspired by their innovative ideas and commitment to caring for their animals.
In case you are curious, we would like to share some of the excellent opportunities for farmers that we have going this fall, including our mentorship program, scholarships, webinars, and our popular Fund-a-Farmer Grants. Scroll down for all of the fun details ... including our first ever Pasture-Raised Turkey Directory!
Thank you for your support of our work and for being an important part of our community.
Pastured-Raised Turkey Directory
CATHIS Farm in North Carolina
Looking for a pastured bird to serve at your holiday meal? FACT has you covered! Browse through the 100+ farms organized by state in our new Pastured-Raised Turkey Directory. You might also want to check out Sam's recent blog post called Why You Should Go Pasture-Raised for Your Holiday Bird. Gobble gobble!
Short Courses for farmers
Brand new. This fall we launched our first *free* Short Course on pastured poultry production. FACT’s Short Courses are designed to help farmers achieve their goals. We've taken related webinars from our archive and bundled them together along with some new content, making it easy to absorb the knowledge we have amassed over the years. To get started, farmers can create a student account and dive right in. Everyone who registers will have free, lifetime access to our courses and the ability to access them from any device. We'll be rolling out additional courses very soon.
Free Webinars for Farmers
Here is what we have on tap - more sessions will be announced throughout the year.
October 18: Introduction to Pastured Pigs for Profit
October 25: A Deeper Dive into Kunekune Pigs
November 1: Mentorship Program Q&A with Sam and Larissa
November 3: Bison Basics
November 9: Enticing Animals to Eat “Unpalatable” Plants
December 1: Intro to Farm Animal Welfare Certifications
December 14: How to Use Photography to Tell Your Farm's Story
Please visit our webinar archive to watch previously recorded sessions. We recommend perusing through the categories listed or using our new search option to query for key words.
Scholarships for conferences and training events
As funding allows, FACT awards scholarships of up to $400 for livestock and poultry farmers to attend educational events—including virtual events—to learn knowledge, skills and best practices related to humane animal management, business and farm finance, and/or value-added production processes. We are currently accepting applications to the CFSA Sustainable Agriculture Conference, the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Conference, and many more. Farmers can also propose events on their application. Scholarships are awarded on a first come, first served basis to eligible farmers until funding is depleted.
Humane Farming Mentorship applications are available
FACT’s Humane Farming Mentorship Program is for beginning livestock and poultry farmers seeking personalized guidance from an experienced farmer on business strategies and management practices. It is designed for farmers who wish to raise their animals on pasture using sustainable, humane practices.
Last winter we matched 22 pairs of farmers in our year-long mentorship program. Our mentor/mentee teams have been working together over the past seven months to undertake individualized goals. We are currently accepting applications for our next mentorship cohort through November 30.
Save the date: Fund-a-Farmer Grants open in November
We are getting ready for our next round of Fund-a-Farmer Grant applications. FACT awards grants of up to $3,000 to farmers for projects that help them to build capacity, improve animal welfare and expand pasture-based systems for their animals. Last year we distributed over $170,000 to 60 farms across the country. Since we launched this program in 2012, we have awarded more than $857,000 worth of grants to humane farmers located in 44 states. Stay tuned for more details!
Stay in touch
Questions about any of our services? Please email us. Farmers and ranchers are also invited to subscribe to our farmer email list to receive news and notifications about upcoming funding and training opportunities.
Support FACT and Humane Farmers
Please share the good work FACT is doing with your friends, customers and family members. We are a 501c3 non-profit organization that works to ensure that all food-producing animals are raised in a humane and healthy manner, and that everyone will have access to safe and humanely-produced food. Making a gift to FACT will enable us to offer more grants, scholarships and webinars for farmers across the country. Thank you for your support!