By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter
Interested in starting or growing a farm, ranch or rural business?
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s Battleground to Breaking Ground program is now accepting applications for its online business planning course designed for military personnel and their families, veterans, beginning farmers and ranchers and anyone interested in agriculture.
“It’s open to everybody,” Erin Kimbrough, program coordinator, said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Radio Network. “The program is set up to serve at least 70 percent veterans and veteran families.”
The program is managed through AgriLife Extension and is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
“The Battleground to Breaking Ground program started as a one-day workshop where we talk a lot about rural business ideas, business planning and all different kinds of funding opportunities,” Kimbrough said. “It started out in about 2012, and it’s grown now into a three-phase program where you start with the one day workshop, and then you apply to phase two, which is 16 weeks of business planning.”
All of the business planning is done online and can be completed from anywhere with an internet connection.
“The business plan actually serves as the application to phase three—that is online production courses on pretty much any kind of production agriculture you might be interested in,” Kimbrough said.
Phase three includes mentorship, 100 hours of hands-on training and production agriculture online courses.
“Once they get the 100 hours and finish the courses, they get to graduate with their certificate,” Kimbrough said. “That certificate gets them access to land for lease, equipment and readily established markets at one of our training farms.”
Training farms are located in Dallas, College Station and near San Antonio. Another is in development near Fort Hood.
Applications for phase two, the online business planning courses, will be accepted through July 20.
“The application is online. It’s actually created in the same system that all of the courses are delivered in,” Kimbrough said. “We try to make it as easy as possible. Folks can answer the questions either by typing them in, or they can answer them on video.”
The application instructions for phase two of Battleground to Breaking Ground is available here.
Battleground to Breaking Ground also has a pilot project designed to help military veterans apply for loans through the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA).
“It’s only for veterans,” Kimbrough said. “We actually run the cohorts side-by-side. The application is the same. It’s just that there’s an additional couple of questions if you’re interested in Farm Service Agency loans when you finish the programs.”
Those who are interested but unable to complete the fall 2018 program are encouraged to sign up for the newsletter on the website.
The program was developed under Texas AgrAbility, which has the goal and mission of helping farmers and ranchers with a disability or chronic health condition who would like to stay in production agriculture.
“When we talk about chronic health conditions, we talk about arthritis or bad knee or a bad back,” Kimbrough said. “A lot of folks have either a chronic health condition or maybe a disability like traumatic brain injury or PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). We have additional services for that program.”
There’s not an application for that program.
“It’s especially a good place to start because all of our AgrAbility clients who have applied to the Battleground program have actually gotten in because they’re in a really good place to be able to apply,” Kimbrough said. “We’ve got them connected to their local resource team. We’ve got them started on some of the pieces of their business plans and goal settin