FARMpreneurs Impact

Farmers rarely have time to reflect and develop new business strategies that help them adapt to changing market conditions and opportunities to become more profitable and resilient.

Our mission is to create a community of practice where they can enhance their businesses' success, profitability, and resilience by providing them entrepreneurial education alongside their peers.

This work has already begun to create a lasting impact and transformation across the local food systems nationwide.

Why Is Our Work Important?

Climate Imperative

Increasing temperatures, volatile weather, droughts, and flooding have already made farming more challenging. Scaling climate-smart agriculture is a critical climate solution, and farmers are the key stakeholder we invest in.

Reliable Farm Labor

Every farm is unique, but for farmers to succeed, they must have reliable farm labor. Finding and retaining skilled farm labor is challenging, but it is an essential part of ensuring that small to medium sized farmers succeed.

Food Security

Our food system has shown its weaknesses over the recent years. Small to medium sized farmers that sell what they grow locally are the cornerstone of community resilience and food security.

Urban Expansion

As cities grow and farmland is developed, the need for successful small to medium-sized farmers increases. Investing in regional and local food systems is vital as more and more farmland is at risk from urban expansion.

Funding Challenges

As farmers look to grow and scale their operations, access to funding is crucial. Often, small to medium-sized farmers find it difficult and overwhelming to file for grants, raise capital from investors, and build relationships with banks.

Market Pressures

As shifting market conditions continue to create uncertainty and apply pressure on farms, they are at risk of thinning margins and increased costs, all while the need and demand for local food is growing.

Our Approach to Transformation

  • We host a week-long, in-person executive education boot camp for climate-smart farmers, along with ongoing continuing education and community-building activities. We guide participants through a demanding and innovative curriculum developed from decades of experience designing and delivering food systems entrepreneurship courses in leading MBA programs.

  • We provide alumni with continuing education and community beyond the week-long program, through monthly peer-learning conversations and ongoing mentorship to facilitate growth and create a supportive container for them as they implement their strategies from the strategic sprint.

  • The alumni from the strategic sprints are trained and encouraged to return to the week-long strategic sprints as faculty guides, to help facilitate learning to the next cohort of climate-smart farmers. This creates opportunity for continual mentorship by putting them in leadership opportunities, further developing their leadership skills and capabilities.

Alumni Impacts

Emma Jagoz

Moon Valley Farms

When she arrived at the program, she had just purchased land after 8 years of farming on six separate leased plots. She came with a big vision to create local jobs, build a resilient food hub, and grow healthy food for her community in the Chesapeake Bay.

Since the program, she has profitably scaled her business 7x — all with grant funding. We are also proud to say that Emma Jagoz of Moon Valley Farm holds an organic seat for the Governor's Agricultural Commission in Maryland.

John Wepking

Meadowlark Organic Farm & Mill

John Wepking arrived at the program amid a complicated, high-potential generational transition with long-time Wisconsin grain farmer Paul Bickford. He developed a solid business strategy that involved creating a vertically integrated farm-to-bakery business featuring on-site milling. When Paul passed away in 2022, John and his wife, Halee, were immediately thrust into a position of leadership and responsibility for the business they stewarded.

John and his wife were recently featured in a short-film produced by MAD Agriculture and Albert Lea Seed.

Jesse Smith

White Buffalo Land Trust

Jesse Smith serves as the Director of Land Stewardship at White Buffalo Land Trust. During the strategic sprint, he developed and refined a strategy for value-added products that would financially support the work at White Buffalo Land Trust. The program helped him develop a rubric for testing and prioritizing new product opportunities, while creating a clear strategy and presentation for the benefit of his organization's board and funders.

From the work during the FARMpreneurs Strategic Sprint, Jesse launched Figure Ate Foods, featuring their core products: persimmon vinegar and beef biltong products sourced with regenerative ingredients. The Figure Ate brand is a part of the larger White Buffalo Land Trust non-profit that stewards 1,000 acres and serves as a global hub for regenerative land stewardship, ecological monitoring, research, and education. 

Jesse was recently interviewed on the ReGen Brands Podcast, alongside Kyle Sullivan, who serves as the Director of Marketing and Communications for Figure Ate Foods.

Alumni Farmers from the January 2025 Strategic Sprints

  • Asher Wright

    Build Local Food Resilience with Downtown Farm Store

    Asher Wright of Caney Fork Farms is helping increase production and open new sales channels, including through Whole Foods and Sprouts. He is also crafting new local markets through the opening their farm store.

  • Mariela Buenrostro

    Spanish-Speaking Focused Cooperative

    Mariela Buenrostro of Raul and Family Farm is building her hub focused on equity and inclusion within her native Spanish-speaking community. As a founder, she recognizes the value and potential skills within her underserved community.

  • Garrett Waters

    High School Farm Education Curriculum

    Garrett Waters from Glade Road Growing is combining his experience as a farmer and teacher to expand community impact by building a comprehensive Farm Education program for high school students in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).

  • Veronica Mazariegos-Anastassiou

    Spanish-Speaking Focused Cooperative

    Veronica is building a food hub that will source directly from Spanish farmers and ranchers in her area. This will lower the barriers to entry for new farmers, open up new sales channels for them and strengthen their market share as part of a collective.

What Farmers Are Saying

  • “This program came at such a perfect time for our farm. It helped me build out a strategy for our events program as we build out an education site to connect deeper with our community."

    Samantha Gregory, Little Saint Farm

  • “Being a part of the cohorts and the connections we made were life changing. Setting aside a safe space to gather, off the farm, with other farmers and the faculty was life changing."

    Kyle Burns, Burns Blossom Farm

  • “I've gained a lot of clarity during this week, especially learning alongside other likeminded farmers. It's helped me develop a solid plan for the next 1-2 years on my farm. I left feeling empowered."

    Amanda Janney, KM Mushrooms

  • The curriculum, sense of community, and hospitality combined to provide an intense, yet nurturing space to find clarity and build confidence towards achieving my dreams and goals.

    Liz Krug, Endless Roots Farm

  • “This week left me inspired and confident moving forward. I'm grateful for a week with like-minded farmers and learning from expert faculty in an inspiring setting with great hospitality.“

    Adam Goldberg, Mendo Grass

  • "My experience during this strategic sprint has left me deeply inspired and empowered. I'm excited to bring what I learned back to my community. This year is going to be pivotal for us."

    Nelson Hawkins, We Grow Farms

Farmers’ Success Depends on Your Support

See Where Our FARMpreneurs Alumni Are Growing