$573K fed grant expands Wolfe's Neck Farm training program
The Freeport-based Wolfe’s Neck Farm has been awarded a three-year federal grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture totaling $573,256 to help expand the farm’s Organic Dairy Farmer Training Program to other New England farms.
The grant is being awarded through the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
“This funding will enable Wolfe’s Neck Farm to expand this apprenticeship model throughout New England, allowing us to train many more people to enter into the dairy industry in the coming years,” Wolfe’s Neck Farm Executive Director David Herring said in a release. “We will essentially become the New England regional hub for the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, developing partnerships with grazing dairies throughout the region and providing the farms with the support they need to bring on apprentices and assist in training the next generation. This is a very big deal for Maine and New England.”
The Wolfe’s Neck Organic Dairy Farmer Training Program launched in 2015 with support from Londonderry, N.H.-based organic yogurt producer Stonyfield. The program is a two-year residential apprenticeship based at the Freeport nonprofit farm. According to Wolfe’s Neck Farm, the program is offered in partnership with Wisconsin-based Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, the first accredited farming apprenticeship in the nation.
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