New Resource Center is Open for Business
By Michael Carter Jr., Small Farm Resource Center Coordinator
The Virginia Small Farm Resource Center (SFRC) is ready to serve the Commonwealth of Virginia. The new website, www.vasmallfarmers.com, provides resources and information to small and beginning farmers in Virginia and around the globe.
In 2018, the Virginia Cooperative Extension Small Farm Outreach Program (SFOP) at Virginia State University received funding from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to begin building the Virginia SFRC, a web-based clearinghouse for information, resources and news that can improve the profitability and sustainability of the state’s small and beginning farmers. To achieve this goal, the Virginia SFRC team conducted focus groups throughout the Commonwealth to assess small farmers’ current challenges and identify common needs that would guide the Virginia SFRC website content and development.
After listening to our farmers and stakeholders we built a website that best represented what was requested from the information garnered. The site has undergone various changes to make it easier to navigate and to provide the information our farmers may be seeking.
We are currently in the beginning of Phase II of development for the site. This phase will create a personalized dashboard that will allow individual users to create accounts and get content based on their interests forwarded to their phone or email.
For those in cell- and WIFI-challenged areas, a phone number is available that can be called 24 hours, 7 days a week. If a message is left, one of our Virginia SFRC representatives will follow up, generally within 24 hours after receiving the message.
The Virginia SFRC staff will also be working closely with our Cooperative Extension specialists to bring their research-based knowledge directly to farmers. This effort will create a feedback loop for Extension specialists to learn how effective and practical the information they share is in the fields, pastures and ponds of Virginia farmers.
We encourage everyone to visit www.vasmallfarmers.com and browse around. Our site is constantly changing and growing, so if you are not able to find information on a certain topic, send us an email at micarter@vsu.edu, and we will search to find the resources and add them to the site for you and others to share.
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